I tried to open a trust account for my wife at Vanguard three years ago. A week later, still waiting for them to approve the emailed trust documents, I called Schwab and had the account open the next morning. In The Whole Earth Catalog back in the 70s there was a review of the new Apple computer by a banker. He was excited at being able to keep track of the fractions of pennies that don't get deposited as interest in customers accounts because they are below a half a cent, and how much money the bank (or he) could realize as profit by tracking it. I noticed on my Vanguard accounts the rounding of shares reinvested usually worked in Vanguard's favor, I was paying an eighth, quarter or half a penny or so more than the actual price most of the time. I tracked it one year at a cost of about a dollar for me, but if true for all their customers, a big deal for a mutual company that claims to be concerned with their customers' welfare. Vanguard would not withhold state tax from my RMD because my state doesn't require it My final straw with Vanguard was the automatic selling of the fund and sending of money every year from the inherited IRA I moved there. Because investment companies only take the number of shares out three decimal places, Vanguard sold about a dimes worth more of the funds to reach the RMD two years in a row, but they only sent me the actual amount of the RMD. The extra funds vanished. I called asking for them to either deposit it into a money market account or transfer it to my checking account like the RMD was. Was told it was a rounding error and not worth the cost. I moved my retirement funds to Fidelity, rounding evens out, I get exactly the amount of money generated from the annual sale of the fund, and they will withhold funds for my state income tax. Vanguard has better money market accounts, and three wonderful tax advantaged mutual funds I still use, but today I wouldn't open an account with them.
After my older sister retired, she warned me that it took her over a year to find successful volunteer opportunities. That if you are unhappy with the people, the commute, the work, or the color of the paint in the building, you can say goodbye. It's not a job, so it needs to be enjoyable. The best fit was something that uses skills you have, but isn't what you did for work, or why retire?
Several years before the summer Olympics in Beijing I was buying stainless steel for a factory. The owner of a supplier, just back from Japan, made a sales call. The Japanese stainless steel mill execs were all worried because China was busy building multiple stainless steel mills. The were afraid steel prices would fall. I knew there is limited nickel available (one of the metals that makes steel stainless) and the mills would have to bid the price up. That night I found a publicly traded nickel mining company in Canada trading on the NYSE, my wife and I figured out how much we could afford to loose, and we bought stock the next day. The price of nickel, and the stock, rose. When the stock price doubled I sold half, the price kept rising, then the company got bought out at a premium. We made a nice amount of money but I thought I was so smart. Then I lost too much of my gains buying losing stocks before I switched to broad ETF's and mutual funds.
Comments
I tried to open a trust account for my wife at Vanguard three years ago. A week later, still waiting for them to approve the emailed trust documents, I called Schwab and had the account open the next morning. In The Whole Earth Catalog back in the 70s there was a review of the new Apple computer by a banker. He was excited at being able to keep track of the fractions of pennies that don't get deposited as interest in customers accounts because they are below a half a cent, and how much money the bank (or he) could realize as profit by tracking it. I noticed on my Vanguard accounts the rounding of shares reinvested usually worked in Vanguard's favor, I was paying an eighth, quarter or half a penny or so more than the actual price most of the time. I tracked it one year at a cost of about a dollar for me, but if true for all their customers, a big deal for a mutual company that claims to be concerned with their customers' welfare. Vanguard would not withhold state tax from my RMD because my state doesn't require it My final straw with Vanguard was the automatic selling of the fund and sending of money every year from the inherited IRA I moved there. Because investment companies only take the number of shares out three decimal places, Vanguard sold about a dimes worth more of the funds to reach the RMD two years in a row, but they only sent me the actual amount of the RMD. The extra funds vanished. I called asking for them to either deposit it into a money market account or transfer it to my checking account like the RMD was. Was told it was a rounding error and not worth the cost. I moved my retirement funds to Fidelity, rounding evens out, I get exactly the amount of money generated from the annual sale of the fund, and they will withhold funds for my state income tax. Vanguard has better money market accounts, and three wonderful tax advantaged mutual funds I still use, but today I wouldn't open an account with them.
Post: Schwab or Vanguard?
Link to comment from January 17, 2026
After my older sister retired, she warned me that it took her over a year to find successful volunteer opportunities. That if you are unhappy with the people, the commute, the work, or the color of the paint in the building, you can say goodbye. It's not a job, so it needs to be enjoyable. The best fit was something that uses skills you have, but isn't what you did for work, or why retire?
Post: Retirement Ready
Link to comment from January 10, 2024
Several years before the summer Olympics in Beijing I was buying stainless steel for a factory. The owner of a supplier, just back from Japan, made a sales call. The Japanese stainless steel mill execs were all worried because China was busy building multiple stainless steel mills. The were afraid steel prices would fall. I knew there is limited nickel available (one of the metals that makes steel stainless) and the mills would have to bid the price up. That night I found a publicly traded nickel mining company in Canada trading on the NYSE, my wife and I figured out how much we could afford to loose, and we bought stock the next day. The price of nickel, and the stock, rose. When the stock price doubled I sold half, the price kept rising, then the company got bought out at a premium. We made a nice amount of money but I thought I was so smart. Then I lost too much of my gains buying losing stocks before I switched to broad ETF's and mutual funds.
Post: What do you consider your greatest financial mistakes?
Link to comment from August 30, 2023