AUTHOR: Steve Spinella on 8/17/2025 FIRST: Richard Hayman on 8/17 | RECENT: David Powell on 8/31
Comments
Someone once said they wouldn't join a club that would let them be a member. I feel the same way about advisors and wealth managers for people who have less than 10 million invested. At some point the portfolio gets big enough that it's quite reasonable to hire someone to manage it--under your supervision, because it would be foolish not to supervise such a manager.
I cringe every time I hear the term "smartvestor pro."
I tend to agree that many people confuse volatility and risk. The risk that something will change in price by 20% is quite different than the risk it will become worthless. Bad debt is worthless. Distressed assets are still assets.
And distressed assets can become just like bad debt when someone else pledges them for cash. Sears in the hands of Eddie Lampert is the poster child for how it can be done! What I find emotionally hard is to sell low so that I can focus those funds on better opportunities. I try to convince myself to do it anyway and deal with my emotions as a separate issue.
I don't want to be greedy or obsessed, but I am very glad I am not still making all the mistakes I have in the past. I think I am more drawn to continual learning than satisfiction. What will I learn today?
It has been so helpful to have a summary of investments across accounts through the Schwab web interface. This includes investments at other brokerages. Other brokers, including Fidelity, offer similar tools, but I'm not as familiar with them.
As far as investing, I rank the accounts according to tax status and life expectancy, and make transactions according to that ranking when possible.
It surprises me that the brokerages do not do a better job providing interfaces for managing multiple accounts as one portfolio, but this topical discussion is showing me it is perhaps not as common as I assume it would be.
In answer to your specific question, I currently have accounts at Schwab, Fidelity, Chase, Vanguard, Merrill Lynch/BoA, and two local credit unions. I have listed them here in order of ease of use/quality of service as I experience them.
Schwab and Fidelity are very competitive, but have slightly different strengths. I think people less familiar with financial services might find Fidelity's hand holding better while others might find Schwab's procedures more efficient and requiring less patience to navigate. I have observed a lot of changes in the last decade in both regards--better hand holding and more efficient procedures at both these top providers as well as across the industry.
Unsurprisingly, Chase is the best at providing banking services in my experience. Bank of America is also good at that, but Chase if much more available in some parts of the US including here in Colorado, where BoA has just begun to show up. Earlier this week a credit union branch manager told me they were hoping the merger of their large regional CU with another large regional CU would lead to their being able to provide better services like I was used to at the ones listed earlier in the list. They are all working hard to come up with ways to provide more services, so sales resistance is also a must, and the ones higher on this list are often the best at that as well.
Thanks for these comments. Before reading this article, I was having a hard time imagining why any thoughtful person would prefer MFs over ETFs. Now I understand a bit better.
I prefer ETFs because of their transparency compared to MFs, but now I can see that for some MFs are easier to deal with, not to mention that they've been around longer and Vanguard used a patent to protect their early to market advantage for a long time.
I suspect financial education is often a bit like premarital counseling. As a pastor and a Marriage and Family Therapist, I've done my share of that, and I'm convinced that almost no one who wants to get married can seriously contemplate all the hard challenges, much less address them in advance.
It's probably also a bit like teaching the high school football team about CTE caused by repeated subconcussive blows to the head, concussions, and falls. It might be helpful, but good luck!
I learned the hard way, but not too hard! Shortly after 65, my PSA came back high and my primary care suggested I either get a urologist or go ahead and do an mpMRI. It made sense to do the MRI--cheaper, faster, and better science than waiting. My medicare advantage plan wouldn't pay for it! I went ahead and paid cash, but used their in-network provider who charged a higher cash price and had older equipment, as I later found out.
BUT I was still in the free-look first six months, so I changed to original medicare and a high-deductible plan G supplement (cheaper, but a better deal!), got a best of class mpMRI and biopsy out of state from a research urologist, and went on from there.
My moral--medicare advantage is good while you're healthy, but the whole point of buying insurance is for coverage when you're not, and everyone agrees it's either the same or worse when you're sick.
[And not only is the insurance company rewarded for delaying and denying coverage, but they are rewarded when sick people switch away from their plan and choose something else.]
Even if you can't qualify for a supplement plan, original medicare can be a good choice if you can afford the copays in the event you need to. For people likely to be visiting this forum, that is often the case.
These are great points, Bogdan. I think Kurt offers an equally great point--tax free inheritance. If our heirs are in different tax situations, we can even direct the tax free inheritance to the one who benefits most while compensating for this benefit in the amount given to the one(s) in lower tax brackets. (Traditional IRAS and 401ks result in tax burdens for the heirs in contrast to unsheltered assets and roth accounts.)
One item I might demote--increased taxes on social security and increased premiums for medicare. For people like me who face them, they actually are small issues, even though they are a bit cliff-like in nature. Since savers will be savers, if we have large accounts we will probably have ongoing high taxable incomes in retirement, unlike some of our peers who had higher incomes (and spent them) while working.
When I found Humble Dollar, and perhaps lacking said humility, offered an article to Jonathan, he didn't just reject it, he explained why. My immediate response was, "Well, I don't need to write this anyway." But I continued to read Humble Dollar and a while later I thought, "I should listen to Jonathan and rewrite that article as he suggested."
I have not become one of the greatly loved authors on the forum, but I am grateful that he edited that one and perhaps a couple more and published them on the forum. That was a gift to me if not to anyone else, and I know I am only one of many who received that gift. What a thing! Not only did I get to read his writing and see his editing at work for many others, but also to receive this same inclusion in a gentle, loving way.
Comments
Someone once said they wouldn't join a club that would let them be a member. I feel the same way about advisors and wealth managers for people who have less than 10 million invested. At some point the portfolio gets big enough that it's quite reasonable to hire someone to manage it--under your supervision, because it would be foolish not to supervise such a manager. I cringe every time I hear the term "smartvestor pro."
Post: Does My Sister Need a Financial Advisor?
Link to comment from November 8, 2025
I tend to agree that many people confuse volatility and risk. The risk that something will change in price by 20% is quite different than the risk it will become worthless. Bad debt is worthless. Distressed assets are still assets. And distressed assets can become just like bad debt when someone else pledges them for cash. Sears in the hands of Eddie Lampert is the poster child for how it can be done! What I find emotionally hard is to sell low so that I can focus those funds on better opportunities. I try to convince myself to do it anyway and deal with my emotions as a separate issue.
Post: The rules we didn’t follow
Link to comment from November 3, 2025
I don't want to be greedy or obsessed, but I am very glad I am not still making all the mistakes I have in the past. I think I am more drawn to continual learning than satisfiction. What will I learn today?
Post: Optimizer or Satisficer?
Link to comment from November 3, 2025
It has been so helpful to have a summary of investments across accounts through the Schwab web interface. This includes investments at other brokerages. Other brokers, including Fidelity, offer similar tools, but I'm not as familiar with them. As far as investing, I rank the accounts according to tax status and life expectancy, and make transactions according to that ranking when possible. It surprises me that the brokerages do not do a better job providing interfaces for managing multiple accounts as one portfolio, but this topical discussion is showing me it is perhaps not as common as I assume it would be.
Post: How do Couples Rebalance with Multiple Accounts
Link to comment from November 3, 2025
In answer to your specific question, I currently have accounts at Schwab, Fidelity, Chase, Vanguard, Merrill Lynch/BoA, and two local credit unions. I have listed them here in order of ease of use/quality of service as I experience them. Schwab and Fidelity are very competitive, but have slightly different strengths. I think people less familiar with financial services might find Fidelity's hand holding better while others might find Schwab's procedures more efficient and requiring less patience to navigate. I have observed a lot of changes in the last decade in both regards--better hand holding and more efficient procedures at both these top providers as well as across the industry. Unsurprisingly, Chase is the best at providing banking services in my experience. Bank of America is also good at that, but Chase if much more available in some parts of the US including here in Colorado, where BoA has just begun to show up. Earlier this week a credit union branch manager told me they were hoping the merger of their large regional CU with another large regional CU would lead to their being able to provide better services like I was used to at the ones listed earlier in the list. They are all working hard to come up with ways to provide more services, so sales resistance is also a must, and the ones higher on this list are often the best at that as well.
Post: Disappointed (and annoyed) with Vanguard.
Link to comment from October 25, 2025
Thanks for these comments. Before reading this article, I was having a hard time imagining why any thoughtful person would prefer MFs over ETFs. Now I understand a bit better. I prefer ETFs because of their transparency compared to MFs, but now I can see that for some MFs are easier to deal with, not to mention that they've been around longer and Vanguard used a patent to protect their early to market advantage for a long time.
Post: Mutual Funds Vs. ETFs Which do you prefer and Why?
Link to comment from October 25, 2025
I suspect financial education is often a bit like premarital counseling. As a pastor and a Marriage and Family Therapist, I've done my share of that, and I'm convinced that almost no one who wants to get married can seriously contemplate all the hard challenges, much less address them in advance. It's probably also a bit like teaching the high school football team about CTE caused by repeated subconcussive blows to the head, concussions, and falls. It might be helpful, but good luck!
Post: Financial Education in Middle and High School
Link to comment from October 25, 2025
I learned the hard way, but not too hard! Shortly after 65, my PSA came back high and my primary care suggested I either get a urologist or go ahead and do an mpMRI. It made sense to do the MRI--cheaper, faster, and better science than waiting. My medicare advantage plan wouldn't pay for it! I went ahead and paid cash, but used their in-network provider who charged a higher cash price and had older equipment, as I later found out. BUT I was still in the free-look first six months, so I changed to original medicare and a high-deductible plan G supplement (cheaper, but a better deal!), got a best of class mpMRI and biopsy out of state from a research urologist, and went on from there. My moral--medicare advantage is good while you're healthy, but the whole point of buying insurance is for coverage when you're not, and everyone agrees it's either the same or worse when you're sick. [And not only is the insurance company rewarded for delaying and denying coverage, but they are rewarded when sick people switch away from their plan and choose something else.] Even if you can't qualify for a supplement plan, original medicare can be a good choice if you can afford the copays in the event you need to. For people likely to be visiting this forum, that is often the case.
Post: Don’t make the wrong Medicare decision
Link to comment from October 25, 2025
These are great points, Bogdan. I think Kurt offers an equally great point--tax free inheritance. If our heirs are in different tax situations, we can even direct the tax free inheritance to the one who benefits most while compensating for this benefit in the amount given to the one(s) in lower tax brackets. (Traditional IRAS and 401ks result in tax burdens for the heirs in contrast to unsheltered assets and roth accounts.) One item I might demote--increased taxes on social security and increased premiums for medicare. For people like me who face them, they actually are small issues, even though they are a bit cliff-like in nature. Since savers will be savers, if we have large accounts we will probably have ongoing high taxable incomes in retirement, unlike some of our peers who had higher incomes (and spent them) while working.
Post: Roth Hidden Benefits
Link to comment from October 25, 2025
When I found Humble Dollar, and perhaps lacking said humility, offered an article to Jonathan, he didn't just reject it, he explained why. My immediate response was, "Well, I don't need to write this anyway." But I continued to read Humble Dollar and a while later I thought, "I should listen to Jonathan and rewrite that article as he suggested." I have not become one of the greatly loved authors on the forum, but I am grateful that he edited that one and perhaps a couple more and published them on the forum. That was a gift to me if not to anyone else, and I know I am only one of many who received that gift. What a thing! Not only did I get to read his writing and see his editing at work for many others, but also to receive this same inclusion in a gentle, loving way.
Post: Tributes to Jonathan Clements
Link to comment from September 27, 2025