Which Online Brokerage Firm For Mutual Funds / Index Funds?

[William]

Up until recently, I have been holding most of my investments at Edward Jones as well as within specific mutual fund companies.  However, my new employer has their 401(k)s through Vanguard.  MMM has his money with Vanguard as well.  So far, I am very pleased with the site and its information.  I have yet to dial customer service but I will soon.  Since I am 23 years old, I love (short-term) risk!  I want to be in mutual funds* with a 10-year or longer track record.  I am looking for low expense ratio's and preferably no-load.  Where should I invest?

Some ideas:
1) Vanguard
2) TD Ameritrade (amazing customer service even late at night!)
3)Fidelity
4) Put more money in American Funds (not stellar performance compared to VG funds)
5) Charles Schwab
6) OpinionsHouse (seems sketchy but I have read good things)

Vanguard is in the lead by far but I need to do more research.  What advice do you all have?  The help is greatly appreciated!



*I would just buy into MMM's recommended Vanguard 500 Index Fund but there are countless mutual funds (some indexing) that kick the butt of the 500 year after year with an even lower ER.

[matt_g]

Vanguard

[LowER]

In a word: Vanguard!

[AlexK]

That would be amazing to have a 401k with Vanguard! My Prudential fund options average 1% fees. Vanguard is typically 0.1%.

[matt_g]

If you are still on the fence, please read this article.

http://jlcollinsnh.com/2012/09/07/stocks-part-x-what-if-vanguard-gets-nuked/

[bcg150]

I had a couple of 401k's hanging out from previous jobs about 3 years ago and decided it was a good time to consolidate into an IRA account.  I also felt this would be helpful for any future partial 401k's that may occur.

I was very nervous about the process and transfer since I didn't want to lose anything and it was the most money (still not all that much) I had ever dealt with. 

I called and spoke to their Customer support and the person I spoke with was fantastic.  I have since had a few other interactions with them and I would say only one of those occurrences were substandard but still pleasant.

Anytime anyone asks about investing, I say Vanguard.

[Undecided]

However, my new employer has their 401(k)s through Vanguard.  I have yet to dial customer service but I will soon. 

I've been satisfied with their customer service on the few instances I've need to speak with someone, but even better is that in more than ten years as a Vanguard investor, I've only needed to speak with someone a handful of times, each when dealing with a very unusual transaction (e.g., help with the intransigent custodian of an IRA I inherited, which was unwilling to process a transfer to Vanguard in the manner I requested). I like not needing to call someone for any sort of relatively normal transaction. When my wife's solo 401(k) was with Fidelity (before Vanguard offered such accounts), I felt like we needed to call Fidelity much more often.

[William]

I'm on with customer service right now (Google Voice!).  Answered all my norodic questions just fine!  I am 98% sure I will go with Vanguard.  Now I just need to pick from their growth stock mutual funds!  So many to choose from that make my American Funds look a little foolish.

[Another Reader]

I prefer Schwab.  I really dislike Vanguard's clunky website and customer service.  But they are fine if you want to buy mostly Vanguard products.  Almost anything is better than Edward Jones and a bunch of load funds.

[Tyler]

I've been very pleased with Fidelity.  They have some nice online tools and on the rare occasion I've needed to call them I found them very helpful.

If I were to to open a second account I'd probably go with Vanguard, followed by TDA or Schwab.  I've heard good things about all three. 

[chucklesmcgee]

Vanguard offers great products but I like TD Ameritrade's platform. I mostly have Vanguard's total stock market ETF VTI in my TD Ameritrade platform, which are all commission and fee-free anyway.