Choosing a Broker

I am trying to consolidate my finances (checking, retirement, 529, etc.) in
one place. I know this topic has been discussed several times, but I'm
hoping some of you can give a recommendation considering my specific
requirements.

As I said, I'd like to move all of my finances to one firm if possible. I
will have a total of about $250k that I can pull together from various other
accounts. I will primarily be a long-term mutual fund investor and I have a
strong preference for NTF and index funds. Besides mutual funds, I would
also like to do a little bit of stock trading. Perhaps 24 trades per year
and not a large number of shares. If possible, I'd like to get rid of my
traditional bank checking account and use my brokerage's checking feature
exclusively. Online bill pay is a big plus too.

I am leaning towards Fidelity. It seems to meet most of my needs and at my
proposed dollar level, the services would largely be free.

I like TD Waterhouse, but the cost of stock trades is a bit high. I also
worry about what the future will bring when the features are combined with
Ameritrade. Ameritrade doesn't have any NTF funds and I'm worried that they
will do away with TD Waterhouse's NTF program.

Again, Ameritrade doesn't have any NTF funds. That pretty much rules them
out for me.

Scotttrade - great stock trade pricing and they seem to have a wide
selection of mutual funds. However, getting money in/out of the account
seems difficult (check to local office or expensive wire Xfer to their
banking agent).

E*Trade. Banking, billpay, NTF funds. Seems great on paper, but I've got
an account there now because my company uses them for its stock incentive
program. I've had numerous little issues and customer service has been
really poor. I have been very unimpressed by them.

I would really appreciate some feedback given my specific situation and
needs. Is Fidelity really the way to go? Should I take a harder look at
some other brokers that I didn't list?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Charles

Re: Choosing a Broker

On 2006-02-04, Charles Goodman <> wrote:
> I am trying to consolidate my finances (checking, retirement, 529, etc.) in
> one place. I know this topic has been discussed several times, but I'm
> hoping some of you can give a recommendation considering my specific
> requirements.
>
> As I said, I'd like to move all of my finances to one firm if possible. I
> will have a total of about $250k that I can pull together from various other
> accounts. I will primarily be a long-term mutual fund investor and I have a
> strong preference for NTF and index funds. Besides mutual funds, I would
> also like to do a little bit of stock trading. Perhaps 24 trades per year
> and not a large number of shares. If possible, I'd like to get rid of my
> traditional bank checking account and use my brokerage's checking feature
> exclusively. Online bill pay is a big plus too.
Does Fidelity offer free checking and bill pay? I'm also leaning towards
consolidating my other brokerage accounts into Fidelity and taking
advantage of their household accounts feature. But does it really make
sense to not use regular checking account and use them instead?

>
> I am leaning towards Fidelity. It seems to meet most of my needs and at my
> proposed dollar level, the services would largely be free.
They don't have any obligation to keep them free though. If you read the
fine print, it is usually stated that fees might be changed, so there is
no guarantee..

Re: Choosing a Broker

"Charles Goodman" <> wrote in message
news:
>I am trying to consolidate my finances (checking, retirement, 529, etc.) in
>one place. I know this topic has been discussed several times, but I'm
>hoping some of you can give a recommendation considering my specific
>requirements.
>
> As I said, I'd like to move all of my finances to one firm if possible. I
> will have a total of about $250k that I can pull together from various
> other accounts. I will primarily be a long-term mutual fund investor and
> I have a strong preference for NTF and index funds. Besides mutual funds,
> I would also like to do a little bit of stock trading. Perhaps 24 trades
> per year and not a large number of shares. If possible, I'd like to get
> rid of my traditional bank checking account and use my brokerage's
> checking feature exclusively. Online bill pay is a big plus too.
>
> I am leaning towards Fidelity. It seems to meet most of my needs and at
> my proposed dollar level, the services would largely be free.

I would agree. Open a full brokerage account, giving you access to all
Fidelity funds, plus their "Funds Network" which has 1100 NTF funds from
other families.

You will qualify for their "Silver Level" commissions, $10.99 per stock
or ETF trade.

>
> I like TD Waterhouse, but the cost of stock trades is a bit high. I also
> worry about what the future will bring when the features are combined with
> Ameritrade. Ameritrade doesn't have any NTF funds and I'm worried that
> they will do away with TD Waterhouse's NTF program.
>
> Again, Ameritrade doesn't have any NTF funds. That pretty much rules them
> out for me.
>
> Scotttrade - great stock trade pricing and they seem to have a wide
> selection of mutual funds. However, getting money in/out of the account
> seems difficult (check to local office or expensive wire Xfer to their
> banking agent).
>
> E*Trade. Banking, billpay, NTF funds. Seems great on paper, but I've got
> an account there now because my company uses them for its stock incentive
> program. I've had numerous little issues and customer service has been
> really poor. I have been very unimpressed by them.
>
> I would really appreciate some feedback given my specific situation and
> needs. Is Fidelity really the way to go? Should I take a harder look at
> some other brokers that I didn't list?
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
>
> Charles
>

Re: Choosing a Broker

Charles Goodman wrote:
>
> I am trying to consolidate my finances (checking, retirement, 529,
> etc.) in one place. I know this topic has been discussed several
> times, but I'm hoping some of you can give a recommendation
> considering my specific requirements.
>
> As I said, I'd like to move all of my finances to one firm if possible.
> I will have a total of about $250k that I can pull together from
> various other accounts. I will primarily be a long-term mutual fund
> investor and I have a strong preference for NTF and index funds.
> Besides mutual funds, I would also like to do a little bit of stock
> trading. Perhaps 24 trades per year and not a large number of shares.
> If possible, I'd like to get rid of my traditional bank checking
> account and use my brokerage's checking feature
> exclusively. Online bill pay is a big plus too.
>
> I am leaning towards Fidelity. It seems to meet most of my needs and
> at my proposed dollar level, the services would largely be free.

Fidelity meets most of your needs (IMHO there is no single institution
that meets all needs perfectly). Record keeping is excellent, and
$11/trade is pretty good. They also handle Treasury auction purchases
(T-bills, notes, bonds) with no commission (no need to go through
TreasuryDirect).

For my downside observations on their bill payment service, and some
other issues, see my recent post in misc.invest.financial-plan:
news:


One question you didn't raise was ATM access. Fidelity will only give
you five free ATM transactions per month, and since they don't have
their own ATMs, it is likely that you will be paying an ATM surcharge
fee even if Fidelity doesn't charge you themselves. Also, you are stuck
using a VISA debit card; I prefer the greater protection of a pure ATM
card.



Another issue is the quality of NTF offerings. You tend to miss out on
the lowest cost funds if you restrict yourself to NTF offerings at any
fund supermarket (not just Fidelity). That's not to say you can't find
some very good funds NTF, but it is harder.


Though you say you want to get away from a traditional bank, have you
considered a consolidated banking/brokerage account? WellsTrade (part
of Wells Fargo) seems on paper (I have no personal experience with the
brokerage) to meet your needs:



When you link the account with a WellsFargo Portfolio Management
Account(R), and keep $250K combined brokerage/banking, your first 50
trades in a
year are free. (They have 800 NTF funds, but if you trade non-NTF
funds, these are also free, up to the 50 trade/year limit.)

After the first 50, the commission is $10 - less than Fidelity's stock
commission, and way less than Fidelity's $75 non-NTF fee.


Bill payment, checks, ATM access, etc. are all free. You even get ATM
surcharges rebated with $250K balance:


You get a single combined brokerage/banking statement (unlike some
banks, where the paperwork is still separate):


Downside of WF - my limited exposure with their banks (several years
ago) showed poor in-branch service (they were having a lot of trouble
digesting First Interstate Bank at the time).

Between the two (Fidelity and WF), for me Fidelity is a known entity -
generally good service, feature-rich site, and provides most (but not
all) of what I want from my financial service provider; WF is an unknown
entity (quality of service unknown, site features possibly not as good),
but substantially cheaper, and seems to have everything I (and you) want
from a financial service provider.

> Scotttrade - great stock trade pricing and they seem to have a wide
> selection of mutual funds. However, getting money in/out of the
> account seems difficult (check to local office or expensive wire Xfer
> to their banking agent).

Is this really an issue if your intent is to get rid of your bank?
Nearly everything these days can be set up with direct deposit, and they
do have checkwriting these days.

> E*Trade. Banking, billpay, NTF funds. Seems great on paper, but I've
> got an account there now because my company uses them for its stock
> incentive program.

Been there, done that. When my company spun off a subsidiary, they
forced me to either open a retail account with them (which I didn't want
to do), or pay to move the spun-off shares to another broker - I chose
the latter (Fidelity, as a matter of fact).
>
> I would really appreciate some feedback given my specific situation and
> needs. Is Fidelity really the way to go? Should I take a harder look
> at some other brokers that I didn't list?

I've given one other suggestion - but like your observation about
E*Trade, all I can say is that Wells Fargo looks great on paper. I
didn't get feedback here when I asked about their brokerage service.

--
Mark Freeland

Re: Choosing a Broker

Thanks a lot, Mark for the detailed response. Really great info. I'm
definitely going to check out Wells as an alternative to Fidelity. Schwab
is one I don't know too much about, so I was wondering if someone would
suggest them. Or, perhaps someone out there would convince me that I'm
wrong about E*Trade. Doesn't look like you are the one to do that :-)

Regarding Scottrade, I don't think they accept direct deposits. No bill
pay, either.

I found your comments (other thread you linked to) about Fidelity billpay
interesting. I currently use Wachovia, along with their bill pay service.
I get no evidence from them when a check/payment has been received.
Moreover, for check payments, they take the money out of my account on the
date the check is scheduled to arrive, even if it hasn't been presented. I
sent my mom a check for Christmas and it arrived 7 days late, but Wachovia
took my money on the scheduled delivery date. Grrrrr! Anyway, that
"downside" for Fidelity doesn't seem any worse than Wachovia.

I do worry about the quality/choice/cost of NTF funds. This is actually one
reason I was looking at Fidelity. My understanding is that they have some
reasonably competitive (cost) funds that are highly rated (Morningstar,
etc.) In general, Vanguard looks better, but stock trading and banking
options don't look nearly as good as fidelity.

Holding checks for 4 days - I will use direct deposit and very rarely will
deposit checks, so I don't think its a big deal for me.

ATMs and branch services - A bit more info about my situation...I just
accepted a job with the State Department and will be living abroad
indefinitely. Most embassies & consulates have a branch for the State
Department Credit union. I'll probably have a small account at their CU
just for the convenience of cashing checks and I suppose I can
electronically transfer money from Fidelity to the CU and then withdraw it.
In any event, ATM access is going to be expensive for me regarless because
I'll be out of the country. I will probably limit my ATM usage to a few
times a month just because of that.

As an aside, I believe I can join USAA as a result of my State Dept job.
I've considered using them as my one-stop shop, but I've heard bad things
about their brokerage.

If you have any thoughts given this additional info, I'd certainly
appreciate hearing them. You really gave me some great things to think
about with Fidelity, but I think given my specific situation, they are
acceptable. I also like the option of Wells, particularly since I don't
care about branch access.

Thanks again,
Charles

"Mark Freeland" <> wrote in message
news:
> Charles Goodman wrote:
>>
>> I am trying to consolidate my finances (checking, retirement, 529,
>> etc.) in one place. I know this topic has been discussed several
>> times, but I'm hoping some of you can give a recommendation
>> considering my specific requirements.
>>
>> As I said, I'd like to move all of my finances to one firm if possible.
>> I will have a total of about $250k that I can pull together from
>> various other accounts. I will primarily be a long-term mutual fund
>> investor and I have a strong preference for NTF and index funds.
>> Besides mutual funds, I would also like to do a little bit of stock
>> trading. Perhaps 24 trades per year and not a large number of shares.
>> If possible, I'd like to get rid of my traditional bank checking
>> account and use my brokerage's checking feature
>> exclusively. Online bill pay is a big plus too.
>>
>> I am leaning towards Fidelity. It seems to meet most of my needs and
>> at my proposed dollar level, the services would largely be free.
>
> Fidelity meets most of your needs (IMHO there is no single institution
> that meets all needs perfectly). Record keeping is excellent, and
> $11/trade is pretty good. They also handle Treasury auction purchases
> (T-bills, notes, bonds) with no commission (no need to go through
> TreasuryDirect).
>
> For my downside observations on their bill payment service, and some
> other issues, see my recent post in misc.invest.financial-plan:
> news:
>
>
> One question you didn't raise was ATM access. Fidelity will only give
> you five free ATM transactions per month, and since they don't have
> their own ATMs, it is likely that you will be paying an ATM surcharge
> fee even if Fidelity doesn't charge you themselves. Also, you are stuck
> using a VISA debit card; I prefer the greater protection of a pure ATM
> card.
>
>
>
> Another issue is the quality of NTF offerings. You tend to miss out on
> the lowest cost funds if you restrict yourself to NTF offerings at any
> fund supermarket (not just Fidelity). That's not to say you can't find
> some very good funds NTF, but it is harder.
>
>
> Though you say you want to get away from a traditional bank, have you
> considered a consolidated banking/brokerage account? WellsTrade (part
> of Wells Fargo) seems on paper (I have no personal experience with the
> brokerage) to meet your needs:
>
>
>
> When you link the account with a WellsFargo Portfolio Management
> Account(R), and keep $250K combined brokerage/banking, your first 50
> trades in a
> year are free. (They have 800 NTF funds, but if you trade non-NTF
> funds, these are also free, up to the 50 trade/year limit.)
>
> After the first 50, the commission is $10 - less than Fidelity's stock
> commission, and way less than Fidelity's $75 non-NTF fee.
>
>
> Bill payment, checks, ATM access, etc. are all free. You even get ATM
> surcharges rebated with $250K balance:
>
>
> You get a single combined brokerage/banking statement (unlike some
> banks, where the paperwork is still separate):
>
>
> Downside of WF - my limited exposure with their banks (several years
> ago) showed poor in-branch service (they were having a lot of trouble
> digesting First Interstate Bank at the time).
>
> Between the two (Fidelity and WF), for me Fidelity is a known entity -
> generally good service, feature-rich site, and provides most (but not
> all) of what I want from my financial service provider; WF is an unknown
> entity (quality of service unknown, site features possibly not as good),
> but substantially cheaper, and seems to have everything I (and you) want
> from a financial service provider.
>
>> Scotttrade - great stock trade pricing and they seem to have a wide
>> selection of mutual funds. However, getting money in/out of the
>> account seems difficult (check to local office or expensive wire Xfer
>> to their banking agent).
>
> Is this really an issue if your intent is to get rid of your bank?
> Nearly everything these days can be set up with direct deposit, and they
> do have checkwriting these days.
>
>> E*Trade. Banking, billpay, NTF funds. Seems great on paper, but I've
>> got an account there now because my company uses them for its stock
>> incentive program.
>
> Been there, done that. When my company spun off a subsidiary, they
> forced me to either open a retail account with them (which I didn't want
> to do), or pay to move the spun-off shares to another broker - I chose
> the latter (Fidelity, as a matter of fact).
>>
>> I would really appreciate some feedback given my specific situation and
>> needs. Is Fidelity really the way to go? Should I take a harder look
>> at some other brokers that I didn't list?
>
> I've given one other suggestion - but like your observation about
> E*Trade, all I can say is that Wells Fargo looks great on paper. I
> didn't get feedback here when I asked about their brokerage service.
>
> --
> Mark Freeland
>