My wife has a 403b option through her job. Of the funds available to her through her provider, the best option is a target retirement date fund with an expense ratio of 1.02%. She also has a self-directed brokerage option through TD Ameritrade. My thought was that we could use this option to purchase Vanguard funds instead with their lower expenses.
Her plan provider charges a yearly fee of $60 for the SDBA, plus any fees that TD Ameritrade charges. From speaking with a TD Ameritrade rep on the phone, it seems that if you plan to buy shares each month through a systematic purchase agreement, they waive their normal transaction fees except for an initial setup charge. The information they emailed me, however, doesn't give any fee detail, nor does their website.
I don't want to set this up just to find out that I'm missing a fee somewhere that would make the whole thing pointless. Has anyone done something similar with TD Ameritrade? Or any other broker? Am I missing something that would make this a stupid idea? Other information if helpful to suggest alternatives: 1. We plan to max out her 403b and Roth as well. 2. combined income puts us in 25% tax bracket.