Best brokerage for solo 401k?

[Jarpee]

I will be opening a solo 401k this year and am wondering what brokerage service you guys use for yours? I have browsed a few boglehead threads regarding the subject and the top 3 seem to be Fidelity, Vanguard, E trade in no specific order. I will primarily use mutual funds in the account and I like the option of being able to roll over accounts (sucks Vanguard doesn't allow it), but of course I think Vanguard funds are the best. Just wondering if anyone has experience and has an opinion to share.

Thanks.

[DMFA]

Are you planning on rolling anything into it? Vanguard doesn't accept incoming rollovers. Other than that it's Fido, Schwab, and ETrade that I seem to see most often.

[Jarpee]

Yes I will likely need to rollover a SEP IRA into it.

[CM]

I use Schwab. No problems, but I didn't look anywhere else.

[Antares]

Quite happy with Fidelity for my solo 401K

[Zaphod]

You can get vanguard funds from almost any brokerage, and while thats always touted as a reason for using their platform, its not a good one. I cant stand the Vanguard site last I saw it, its archaic, slow and doesnt play well with others as noted.

I have accounts at Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, TDAmeritrade, and Interactive Brokers. Any of the first three are pretty great, look for some sort of incoming deal. For example you may get some cash and low/free trades. I have most of my accounts with BofA/Merrill so have lots of benefits including free trades. Wifes old account is Fidelity and the HSA is TDA, so theyre smaller but both still nice, I like TDA platform. The IB account is my taxable and isnt recommended for anyone that doesnt really already know what theyre doing or isnt doing anything out of the ordinary.

[The White Coat Investor]

I have Vanguard. It's fine for my needs. It doesn't take rollovers and you can't get Admiral fund ERs. Here's my post on it. Maybe I should update it:

https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/where-to-open-your-solo-401k/

If I were starting today, eTrade would be pretty attractive to me. But I do like having it all at Vanguard.

[Jarpee]

What specifically do you like about etrade over Fidelity?

[Miss Bonnie MD]

fidelity, etrade, TDA are the better ones. They all take rollovers. TDA has a roth option. Fiance's solo K is at TDA. I'll open mine there at some point.

Fidelity paperwork seems easier than the other two.

[Sneezy]

I use Fidelity and it was easy to set up and no hasssle

 

 

[pistolpete]

Just bumping this old thread... I'm about to take my first attending job soon, and I'm wondering which company to open up my solo 401k with, since I'll have some side income, and eventually plan on going into solo private practice and maxing out my solo 401k yearly. I'm mostly between Schwab and Fidelity, but open to suggestions.

I currently have my Roth IRA at Vanguard and plan to keep using Vanguard for backdoor Roths during my career. The attending job that I will take offers a 401k and a governmental 457b with Schwab that I plan to max out every year and I will be using Schwab's Personal Choice Retirement Account.

Should I just open up my solo 401k at Schwab, so that when I eventually transition to solo private practice full time, I can simply rollover my 457b and 401k to my solo 401k all within Schwab?

I don't care about loan or Roth option in my solo 401k. Expense ratios for mutual funds and ETF's are slightly better at Schwab than at Fidelity. Are there other advantages at Fidelity, E-trade or TD Ameritrade that I'm missing?

[childay]

I suspect Schwab will be a fine choice.  Some people like to diversify their brokerages but if you're planning on rolling over anyway it shouldn't matter.  We used Fidelity, no issues.

[Spatty99]

I have etrade and am pleased.  Setup was relatively easy, and they were helpful with documentation questions.  A broker in the office intially gave me the hard sell for assisted (hidden fee) management, but otherwise no issues.  They even credited my account quite a bit (thinking $500+) for the money transferred into the account for their just expired promotion.   The basic funds I am interested in are all there and fees are low.

[Sean]

Anyone aware of which company offers a solo 401k with an after-tax non-Roth contribution option as well as an in-service distribution option?  Are such plans even available anymore for solo 401k plans?  Can one be tailor made?

[pistolpete]

childay wrote:

I suspect Schwab will be a fine choice.  Some people like to diversify their brokerages but if you’re planning on rolling over anyway it shouldn’t matter.  We used Fidelity, no issues.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I think I'll go with Schwab, since they have the best expense ratios for their comparable mutual funds and ETF's vs Fidelity/Etrade/TDAmeritrade.