I've been doing a lot of reading about investing of late (The Intelligent Asset Allocator, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, MMM's own post on stocks:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/18/how-to-make-money-in-the-stock-market/ (not to mention the entire blog!)). I've never invested in Index funds or bonds, but I've certainly been convinced of their advantage when compared to general stock purchases and/or when mixed in a portfolio with them. Currently, my portfolio is just a small one of blue chip stocks that I've invested in through Scottrade.
Of course, I intend to save like mad and grow my portfolio, but as I'm still paying off student loans (and expect to for another couple of years), my investments won't be growing so fast as to get above the $50,000 range anytime soon. This is where my doubts about Vanguard start to come in. Comparing Scottrade to Vanguard, with the information I've been able to find, it seems like Scottrade is the way to go for now since my portfolio's overall worth will be relatively small and Scottrade tends to have cheaper commissions and no account maintenance fees. However, I know Vanguard allows for automatic dividend reinvestment and there's no fee for investing in Vanguard Index funds. Since I want to start investing more in Index funds and bonds, along with my current portfolio, I'm very interested in Vanguard. I'm just nervous I'll regret that decision or will end up paying more to maintain the portfolio than is wise.
So, Vanguard users, what are your impressions of Vanguard? Do you agree that for smaller portfolios (under $50,000), it might not be as advantageous, or do you think, given I want to invest more in bonds and Index funds anyway, the fees wouldn't be that bad? Finally, I notice it says that the first 25 trades are $7, but that is very vague - the first 25 trades in how long? The first 25 trades of the year? Of the life of the account? etc?
Thanks a lot for any information you can provide!
-Alex
P.S. One last question - anyone know how easy (or not) it is to transfer an account from one broker to Vanguard? If I make the switch, I'd like to keep my portfolio all in one place.