Schwab commercial

[Panscan]

Anyone see commercial advertising s&p index funds at 3 basis point expense ratios and comparing that to fidelity and vanguard. Just thought it was funny on major channel hearing about indexing and expense ratios. Haven't really heard of that before besides some commercials that talk about not knowing how much your broker charges you.

Wonder if there's any drawbacks to the new schwab funds

[Zaphod]

Panscan wrote:

Anyone see commercial advertising s&p index funds at 3 basis point expense ratios and comparing that to fidelity and vanguard. Just thought it was funny on major channel hearing about indexing and expense ratios. Haven’t really heard of that before besides some commercials that talk about not knowing how much your broker charges you.

Wonder if there’s any drawbacks to the new schwab funds

Click to expand...

Theres no reason as long as the companies arent bad or going under in some way to choose one over the other. You should just choose what has the best mix of options, funds, ers, etc...people tend to choose "teams" though, even though it doesnt make any sense. Unless there was a quirk in the construction of the fund, an index fund is an index fund.

I think I put my wife into a couple of their 0.03% options, basically free.

[Hank]

Zaphod wrote:

Panscan wrote:

Anyone see commercial advertising s&p index funds at 3 basis point expense ratios and comparing that to fidelity and vanguard. Just thought it was funny on major channel hearing about indexing and expense ratios. Haven’t really heard of that before besides some commercials that talk about not knowing how much your broker charges you.

Wonder if there’s any drawbacks to the new schwab funds

Click to expand…

Theres no reason as long as the companies arent bad or going under in some way to choose one over the other. You should just choose what has the best mix of options, funds, ers, etc…people tend to choose “teams” though, even though it doesnt make any sense.

Click to expand...

Vanguard rules, Fidelity drools!

Okay, Vanguard, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, and Schwab all are pretty good.  We do business with all of the above except Fidelity.

Fidelity is better than Vanguard if you need to roll an IRA into a solo 401(k).  For some inexplicable reason Vanguard won't allow that.

I probably shouldn't hold a grudge indefinitely, but Fidelity used to prey upon military members with their scummy Destiny Fund contractual investment plans with a 50% front end load in the first year.  First Command invented these scummy plans, but Fidelity followed suit.  In a surprising turn of events, then-Senator Hillary Clinton led the charge against these predatory investment schemes.  http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,135346,00.html?ESRC=dod-b.nl

[jz]

I have large taxable accounts at both Schwab and Vanguard.  Schwab is serious about competing with low ER.  In most equivalent indexes, Schwab has undercut the ER of Vanguard.  I use an TD fund in one portfolio, and the ER was just lowered to 8 bp. !!!  I am in the process of converting an ishares index ETF  to Schwab equivalent with lower ER.

I suspect a Schwab revenue strategy is to promote more "products", such as their Intelligent Investor robo advisor. Both promote advisor services for customers who are not DIY. And you are aware ,  you can use Vanguard ETFs in a Schwab portfolio, and vise versa.

[pistolpete]

I love Schwab's low ER. I'll be opening up all my accounts there primarily because my new employer has 457b and 401k through them, so may as well have everything under one roof.