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Would love some insight/suggestions/experience from this well versed and knowledgeable group.
My husband has two tax deferred accounts that have a substantial balance and that he needs to rollover into an IRA now that he is fully retired. We currently have brokerage accounts at Schwab and Vanguard and I am torn between rolling over these 2 accounts fully into one of these two brokerage houses. I like having both accounts so I don’t see closing one but want to make one our primary account. Vanguard is the king of low cost funds but I have found Schwab to have better customer service when I call (rarely) with a question or concern. I have also heard that Schwab offers “free” CFP meeting if necessary over a certain balance, not sure exactly how this works and am a bit apprehensive about a big sales push if I call to inquire. While we have always managed our own investments and will continue to do so, the complexity in retirement can lend itself to a professional at times, so the concept of meeting with a CFP does have its appeal. I am leaning towards Schwab and will inquire about any kind of transfer bonus they may have as within the next year I will be needing to move my 403bs into an IRA as well and it is larger than my husbands so I would like to choose the brokerage that will provide us the most benefit.
If you have any experience with either or thoughts about how to approach this I would love to hear them as we will be making the decision in the next week. Thanks in advance.
I’m a Vanguard customer for nearly 40 years. I can’t really speak on customer service as I have rarely dealt with them.
Same here. My investment plan at Vanguard is so simple I also rarely need customer service. I’m also in charge of my 94 yr old mother’s account at Schwab. Her “account representatives” have never once returned a call or email. The sweep cash account is a joke. I’ll give Schwab credit for a more intuitive website.
Going into retirement a few years ago, I signed up for the Vanguard Personal Advisor Service. I was assigned an advisor who was OK, but he soon moved on and was replaced by someone more junior. At a point where I felt I needed a little higher touch to calm my nerves as I moved into the decumulation phase, the model seemed to be “we’ll talk to you for 30 minutes once every six months” and answer questions. I was not impressed. I canceled and went the DIY route with a lot of help and advice here (thanks, all!) and planning via New Retirement/Boldin (would recommend).
My rollover IRA (largest amount) is at Vanguard, taxable account at E*TRADE, and a small rollover from my last employer at Fidelity. Service at E*TRADE is fine/good. Based on positive feedback here, I may take a closer look at Fidelity.
I know the dataset is for Vanguard or Schwab, but I wonder why T.Rowe Price is not in contention? I have setup IRAs originally in T.Rowe along with a employment 401K. I have had nothing but good experience with their customer service and overall ecosystem. 5 years ago I moved a significant portion to Fidelity (for diversity purposes) and have been reasonably happy, although the reporting and account manipulation is better at T.Rowe.