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better customer service in my opinion , more choices in investments , better on line tools as well as some tools they have for in house use only like the social security optimizer , local offices , we are private access customers and have our own dedicated person . once a year consultations that try to sell us nothing , fidelity does not manage our money at all , only we do .
the biggest plus now is vanguard does not allow simple beneficiary designations on joint accounts while fidelity does . vanguard forces you to split up joint accounts in to individual accounts or use trusts . no thanks!
Last edited by mathjak107; 08-16-2017 at 03:43 AM..
Both are respectable companies & don't think an investor could go wrong using either one although I do feel Fidelity may be more appropriate for traders. Both firms have been compressing their margins in order to gain share which is great for the consumer.
Vanguard was the leader with index/ passive investing but now Fidelity has many index offerings as well, some at even lower expense ratio's. You can purchase Vanguard funds at Fidelity but no Admiral share classes offered, do not believe Fid funds can be purchased at Vanguard though.
I personally like both co.s but as mathjak mentioned this TOD on only single owned accounts must be corrected at Vanguard if that policy is actual or a rep didn't understand the policy- I have not confirmed this myself, seems foolish if it is true and not understanding what underlying issue would cause Vanguard to have such a policy. LowExpectations is a support guy so he may know the answer to this.
I initially had all of my funds in TDAmeritrade. They were mostly Vanguard ETFs, and most were commission-free ETFs at TDA, but some were not (like VXUS). I decided to move them to Vanguard so that all purchases would be commission-free.
it is actual . you can see it in the instructions that come with their tod package ." NOT AVAILABLE FOR JOINT ACCOUNTS "
Curious of the reasoning behind such a policy as I cannot say I have heard of this with any other financial institution. Vanguard would have a reason for having such a policy or at least something to tell clients as to why- sometimes financial firms get burned/ take a loss because of procedure and then they reactively make a policy prohibiting the same occurrence in the future. Just speculating but would love to hear the reasoning behind this policy.
according to low expectations many firms do not have provisions for beneficiaries on joint accounts since they pass to each other . i guess they feel a simultaneous death is rare .
the problem i see is once one owner dies , it is easy to forget to assign another person to the tod
Just don't see what the liability or legality of not offering TOD in joint registrations- in fact I see the opposite. Heirs having to deal with the time and expense over probate all because Vanguard would not allow joint registration to have bene's. It just doesn't make sense- heck how many times do you see stories in the news where whole families are killed in an auto crash. I realize you can't fight city hall but c'mon Vanguard!
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