Seeking Discount Brokerage House with low-cost funds

Can anyone tell me if there are discount brokerage houses that offer
low-cost mutual funds, such as Vanguard, without charging a Transaction Fee
to invest? I am currently with TD Waterhouse which charges a $40
transaction fee to buy and sell Vanguard investments. Do all brokerage
houses charge this fee? I cannot invest directly with Vanguard as I need to
maintain all my funds in the brokerage account to avoid an annual
maintenance fee. Thanks. Natasha

Re: Seeking Discount Brokerage House with low-cost funds

Natasha wrote:
> Can anyone tell me if there are discount brokerage houses that offer
> low-cost mutual funds, such as Vanguard, without charging a Transaction Fee
> to invest? I am currently with TD Waterhouse which charges a $40
> transaction fee to buy and sell Vanguard investments. Do all brokerage
> houses charge this fee? I cannot invest directly with Vanguard as I need to
> maintain all my funds in the brokerage account to avoid an annual
> maintenance fee. Thanks. Natasha

Vanguard don't seem to have a lot of contracts with brokerages, thus
you'd be paying transaction fees to buy/sell Vanguard funds from many
brokerages. That's also why they are the low cost leaders.

Re: Seeking Discount Brokerage House with low-cost funds

"Natasha" <> wrote

> Can anyone tell me if there are discount brokerage houses that offer
> low-cost mutual funds, such as Vanguard, without charging a Transaction
> Fee to invest? I am currently with TD Waterhouse which charges a $40
> transaction fee to buy and sell Vanguard investments. Do all brokerage
> houses charge this fee? I cannot invest directly with Vanguard as I need
> to maintain all my funds in the brokerage account to avoid an annual
> maintenance fee. Thanks. Natasha

What's an annual maintenence fee?

Anyway, since you are in a brokerage account and Vanguard is primarily a
seller of index funds, why not just use ETF's. Far more choices than
Vanguard and in many cases lower annual expenses. You will still have to pay
a commission but it should be the same as a stock trade.

Transaction fees vary by broker, some charge them, some don't those that do
have a different commission.

Re: Seeking Discount Brokerage House with low-cost funds

"PeterL" <> wrote

> Vanguard don't seem to have a lot of contracts with brokerages, thus
> you'd be paying transaction fees to buy/sell Vanguard funds from many
> brokerages. That's also why they are the low cost leaders.

They have higher fees on their index products than Fidelity and Barclay's.
They were the low cost leader, not anymore.

Re: Seeking Discount Brokerage House with low-cost funds

"Natasha" <> wrote
> Can anyone tell me if there are discount brokerage houses that offer
> low-cost mutual funds, such as Vanguard, without charging a Transaction
Fee
> to invest? I am currently with TD Waterhouse which charges a $40
> transaction fee to buy and sell Vanguard investments. Do all brokerage
> houses charge this fee? I cannot invest directly with Vanguard as I need
to
> maintain all my funds in the brokerage account to avoid an annual
> maintenance fee. Thanks. Natasha

Have you considered other discount brokerages that are cheaper than TD
Waterhouse but just to hold your stocks? I think that's your real question.
Then open an account with Vanguard so you can hold its mutual funds as you
see fit.

You'll probably have to weigh the pros and cons of this and variations on
this, of course.

Re: Seeking Discount Brokerage House with low-cost funds

"Elle" <> wrote

> Have you considered other discount brokerages that are cheaper than TD
> Waterhouse but just to hold your stocks? I think that's your real
> question.
> Then open an account with Vanguard so you can hold its mutual funds as you
> see fit.

Now I'm chuckling.

Alist of brokers that offer Vanguard funds:

these may or may not have transaction fees, you'll have to do the research.

Accutrade
Ameritrade Inc.
Ameritrade Institutional Services
Bear Stearns
Bear Stearns No-Load Transaction Fee
Bidwell & Co.
Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp
BrownCo
CommonWealth PPS
CommonWealth Universe
DATALynx
ETrade No Load Fee
Federated TrustConnect
Fidelity Institutional FundsNetwork
Fidelity Retail FundsNetwork
Financial Network Approved List
Financial Network PAM and Prime Approved
FTJ FundCHOICE
HARRISdirect
HSBC Brokerage (USA) Inc
Invesmart iDirect
Investacorp Advisory Services
InvesTrade
JPMorgan INVEST
L/PL Financial Services
Mony Securities Corp
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
Multi-Financial MultiVest
NMIS
Pershing LLC
Prudential 401(k)
Raymond James
Raymond James WRAP Eligible
RBC Dain Rauscher - FAS
RBC Dain Rauscher - Network Eligible
Royal Alliance
Schwab Institutional
Schwab Retail
Schwab RPS A/N
Schwab RPS SchwabPlan
Schwab RPS SPA
Scottrade
Securities America Advisors
Security Trust Company
Spider Securities
SunAmerica Securities Premier / Pinnacle
Sungard Expediter
T. Rowe Price
TD Waterhouse
TD Waterhouse Institutional
TRUSTlynx
UBS Financial Services Inc
Vanguard
Wachovia CustomChoice
Walnut Street Securities
WS Griffith & Co.







"Natasha" <> wrote in message
news:a00a9$429f2b5d$943f726c$
> Can anyone tell me if there are discount brokerage houses that offer
> low-cost mutual funds, such as Vanguard, without charging a Transaction
> Fee to invest? I am currently with TD Waterhouse which charges a $40
> transaction fee to buy and sell Vanguard investments. Do all brokerage
> houses charge this fee? I cannot invest directly with Vanguard as I need
> to maintain all my funds in the brokerage account to avoid an annual
> maintenance fee. Thanks. Natasha
>

Re: Alist of brokers that offer Vanguard funds:

Thanks, Ed. That was my actual question. I'm seeking an alternative
brokerage firm to TD Waterhouse to invest in several different funds that
they charge transaction fees on. I'll check the ones on your list. Natasha

"Ed" <> wrote in message
news:
> these may or may not have transaction fees, you'll have to do the
> research.
>
> Accutrade
> Ameritrade Inc.
> Ameritrade Institutional Services
> Bear Stearns
> Bear Stearns No-Load Transaction Fee
> Bidwell & Co.
> Broker Dealer Financial Services Corp
> BrownCo
> CommonWealth PPS
> CommonWealth Universe
> DATALynx
> ETrade No Load Fee
> Federated TrustConnect
> Fidelity Institutional FundsNetwork
> Fidelity Retail FundsNetwork
> Financial Network Approved List
> Financial Network PAM and Prime Approved
> FTJ FundCHOICE
> HARRISdirect
> HSBC Brokerage (USA) Inc
> Invesmart iDirect
> Investacorp Advisory Services
> InvesTrade
> JPMorgan INVEST
> L/PL Financial Services
> Mony Securities Corp
> Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
> Multi-Financial MultiVest
> NMIS
> Pershing LLC
> Prudential 401(k)
> Raymond James
> Raymond James WRAP Eligible
> RBC Dain Rauscher - FAS
> RBC Dain Rauscher - Network Eligible
> Royal Alliance
> Schwab Institutional
> Schwab Retail
> Schwab RPS A/N
> Schwab RPS SchwabPlan
> Schwab RPS SPA
> Scottrade
> Securities America Advisors
> Security Trust Company
> Spider Securities
> SunAmerica Securities Premier / Pinnacle
> Sungard Expediter
> T. Rowe Price
> TD Waterhouse
> TD Waterhouse Institutional
> TRUSTlynx
> UBS Financial Services Inc
> Vanguard
> Wachovia CustomChoice
> Walnut Street Securities
> WS Griffith & Co.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Natasha" <> wrote in message
> news:a00a9$429f2b5d$943f726c$
>> Can anyone tell me if there are discount brokerage houses that offer
>> low-cost mutual funds, such as Vanguard, without charging a Transaction
>> Fee to invest? I am currently with TD Waterhouse which charges a $40
>> transaction fee to buy and sell Vanguard investments. Do all brokerage
>> houses charge this fee? I cannot invest directly with Vanguard as I need
>> to maintain all my funds in the brokerage account to avoid an annual
>> maintenance fee. Thanks. Natasha
>>
>
>

Re: Seeking Discount Brokerage House with low-cost funds

Just so you understand, the brokerage firms only get paid from the
"load". They are charging a fee because that is the only way they get
paid. I do believe that most people benefit from working with a good
financial planner but I do not think most self proclaimed financial
planners are very good.
If you are going to "go it alone" instead of looking for an ETF, the
hot no-load mutual fund, or an index fund, why not use an asset
allocation fund. Almost every company has a few.
DO NOT look for the lowest fee, look for the best performance and the
right characteristics for you.

Re: Seeking Discount Brokerage House with low-cost funds

FPS wrote:
>
> Just so you understand, the brokerage firms only get paid from the
> "load". They are charging a fee because that is the only way they
> get paid.

A load is a fee charged by the fund, regardless of whether it is sold
through a broker or directly by the fund. It is not a fee charged by a
broker. The broker just passes the load through to the investor. (NB -
in countries other than the U.S. funds are often free to waive the load
if sold directly to the investor, so I am speaking strictly about the
U.S. here.)

Funds share the load money with the selling agent (brokerage), so that
is one way in which the brokerage can get paid.

Brokerages can charge transaction fees for funds, just as they charge
transaction fees (i.e. commissions) for other security transactions.
These broker-initiated fees are not loads; in fact, some brokers charge
transaction fees on top of the loads that they pass through from the
fund.

Brokerages keep the transaction fees, just as they keep stock
commissions. So that is a second way that brokerages can get paid.

Many brokerages sell funds with neither a load nor a transaction fee.
These are noload, no transaction fee funds (duh!), or NTF funds. The
brokerage usually (not always) still gets paid. Brokerages charge the
funds a percentage of assets to service the accounts. Typically this is
0.35% *per year*, but can range as high as the 0.40% that Schwab
charges.



This is a third way in which brokerage get paid.

But, there is always the possibility the a brokerage chooses not to get
paid at all. Fund families like Vanguard and Fidelity never pay for
shelf space for their noload funds. Brokerages can offer these funds
without a transaction fee if they want to. They might choose to do this
because those funds serve as loss leaders, attracting customers who
might also execute revenue-generating transactions at the brokerage. So
far, it hasn't seemed to turn out that way, and brokerages that try this
tend to give it up after some time. Scottrade is only the latest in
this line.


To the OP who was looking for a brokerage that offered Vanguard NTF, I
believe (at least judging from its website), that FirsTrade(R) is still
going the no fees on all funds route. You might check it out.



Note that they do not list all of Vanguard funds, and they do not offer
Admiral shares. For example, I don't see Calvert Social Index, Capital
Opportunity, International Explorer, etc.
--
Mark Freeland