The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Investor Alley => Topic started by: teamzissou00 on June 05, 2017, 08:19:30 AM
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Hey there -
I have a few accounts in TD Ameritrade, and a buddy said he really likes Schwab. My last few interactions with Ameritrade customer service were unenjoyable, and I get annoyed that I can't see my positions with a YTD gain %.
When I explored Schwab's website, I noticed their trades are cheaper, they have a YTD gain (custom) viewing option, and there are local offices in my town.
Any thoughts on these two firms and which is preferable?
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I use Vanguard. I like them. Fwiw, Schwab also offers a checking account that reimburses all ATM fees, worldwide, and has very few fees.
If you're not doing your investing through a retirement account, you might look at the Robinhood App. It lets you do stock trades commission-free. They even offer most of the Vanguard funds, such as VTI. Sadly, Robinhood does not do retirement accounts at this time.
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I have vanguard accounts as well, but wouldn't think of using them to buy apple shares or something like that.
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No complaints with Schwab other than some difficulties recently transferring my wife's investments from Betterment. Schwab had some trouble with the cost basis info, but it was sorted after a few phone calls.
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I've been very impressed with Schwab and have been a customer for a very long time. I've found the customer service to always be very helpful, covering a range of things from handling issues to providing me education.
One value of a local office (in most cases - there are some satellite offices that don't do everything) is that if you are doing Mega Backdoor Roth or any rollovers or major deposits or anything, you can take the check to the branch. I've done that multiple times and being able to take a 10 minute drive to deposit the check vs. having to trust it to the USPS is.... very comforting.
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I've used TD for about 10 years now and I love it. I've never had any issues with them.
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Ameritrade just lowered fees, and displays the gain % you're talking about EXCEPT, apparently, if you transferred anything into your account.
Customer service, on that topic and others, has been frequently unimpressive, and I have been occasionally surprized by a simple oversight their system can't handle.
That said, never had any other problem, they now offer free DRIP investment, and they have a bundle of free ETFs. I trade at TD and index at Vanguard.
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They're virtually the same. I have accounts at TDA and Schwab for taxable.
In TDA, go to "my account", then "gains", then change the start date to Jan 1. Now you can read your YTD gain.
I get that Schwab is easier since you simply point to the account in question and get a nice heading with your overall YTD gain and also each position YTD gain but TDA is maybe what? 4 clicks?
You know you can have accounts at both places, right? Besides these 2, I also have accounts at Vanguard and Fidelity with a work account (ESPP, RSUs) at eTrade. I keep track of it all on my own unlinked spreadsheet that is never online.
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I have vanguard accounts as well, but wouldn't think of using them to buy apple shares or something like that.
That's going to cost money at most brokerages. You can do it without paying a commission if you do it via the Robinhood app. It does not do retirement accounts at this time, though.