Which banks, brokerage firms and other financial companies would you recommend to friends?

I’ve always liked NerdWallet for their well-researched articles, online calculators and helpful comparisons.

I’ve been an E-Trade client for a number of years They are my only broker, so I don’t have anything to compare with. But I’m very happy with their service. I can always talk to someone if I need help, they are knowledgeable, and their fees are very reasonable I like their trading platform. It is easy to use and it always works.

I was with M1 (Easy one-click rebalancing, Good incentive to move in with large portfolio and left when they grew too large to offer straight forward run of the mill customer service. Checked again lately by asking a question. Still sucks. Moved to Vanguard and experienced a sudden drop in customer service. (Try to find their help phone line number) Decided to move again to Fidelity or Schwab. HELP!

Vanguard has been my principle custodian over the years for their low fees, index funds and corporate structure that Bogel set up. ( benefit the individual investor, not the Schwab or Johnson family @ Fidelity) Competition and more transparency has brought many companies, especially new ones into the fold with some great offerings. I’ve aggregated my assets into two platforms for ease of record keeping (Vanguard-Taxable holdings and Schwab-Retirement accounts)

I have used Mint for years to aggregate many different accounts (e.g., credit cards, banks, etc.). I like Vanguard and Schwab, and am getting used to Fidelity due to the new company 401K is there.

I’ve been enjoying using the online bank Ally and the investing platform M1 Finance. I use Personal Capital to keep track of my financial life. The one thing all of these services have in common? They are totally free to use.

I like the research and planning tools for Fidelity. It also has a good online investor community with a few very knowledgeable and helpful members.

I have a small account in Schwas as their stock research offers several qualitative reports (CFRA, Argus, Credit Suisse, Morningstar).

The Morningstar XRay tool (premium) is available for free at TRowePrice. I find it handy for portfolio inspection.

For many years now I’ve roughly split our investments between Vanguard and Charles Schwab. I love Vanguard for its history and values, its ownership structure (the company is owned by its funds, so the fund shareholders actually own the company), and especially its Portfolio Watch feature (by Yodlee) wherein you can list all your investments, whether held at Vanguard or elsewhere, and automatically have an up-to-date analysis of your total portfolio (stock/bonds/cash; domestic/foreign; growth/value; large cap/small cap; etc., etc.).

I love Schwab for its history of helping the DIY investor, its low fees, and above all, its customer service. You can typically reach someone on the phone quickly, and it’s a knowledgeable person who actually wants to help you, even if your issue is a little complicated.

It might simplify my life a bit to consolidate but I like having access to the features of both, and psychologically there may be a small comfort in not having all my eggs in one basket!

I have used many different brokerage firms over the years and within the last 2 years have consolidated to Charles Schwab. I left them years ago when they didn’t lower their commissions to match the discount brokers. Now that their trading commissions are “zero” I am fully onboard with their service.