Fidelity vs Vanguard vs Schwab: My Take Having Used All 3 for 20+ Years

Fidelity support is one of the best parts. The wait times are short, and their support agents are knowledgeable and helpful. I don't think I've ever waited more than 5 minutes to get to a human.

Vanguard's UI (user interface) is like something designed by a bunch of first year law students, who tried so hard to show their "legal knowledge".

My portfolio for the past 30 years has always been self managed and I own 3 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock (BRK:A) which I bought in at about $17,000 during the mid 90s, I’m currently liquidating some of these positions to incoporate new Gen. Stocks, but am I better off re-investing into Gold as it seems stocks are a little too unstable right now.

Fidelity also has tools, resources, apps for every demographic. Whether you're in retirement or in high school, there's somebody you can talk to and a tool on their platform that will allow you to invest or save appropriately.

SO glad you released this video in particular Blcktken300. I was accumulating AR and then saw your video last year saying that you see Blcktken300 may hit 300-400 and then you changed your view. Great and very informative!!! Thanks

Heads up for younger folks who have not yet reached the estate planning phase of your life- our relatively straightforward estate plan involved a 1-2 page instruction letter for successor beneficiaries. We had accounts at both Fidelity and Vanguard at the time. Fidelity requested one minor change in language, but accepted the custom beneficiary letter. Vanguard told us that at assets with them over 1.2 mm we “weren’t even close” to the kind of customer that they’d accept a custom beneficiary designation from. That was the end of our 35 year relationship with Vanguard. Mind you, these were not complex instructions with a million contingencies. We were shocked that they wouldn’t do it.

Vanguard's Settlement Fund is also a Money Market producing 5%. Seemed like that got glossed over in the video. That particular weakness is unique to Schwab.

4:33 #3 - Cash management features/ options was a great point of discussion. Thanks for including it in your evaluation criteria!👍

I switched from Vanguard to Schwab and I have zero complaints. Their customer service is excellent and their technology and UI is very good. I had been using their checking with its excellent benefits for many years before switching all my investment accounts over. Okay, one complaint. What Rob mentioned about not having automatic transfer of cash to money market. Hopefully, they’ll add that. I’m pretty good about doing it myself but it would be a nicety.

That's a solid list! I'm also big on Blcktken300 , avalanche, algo, and matic too.

I wish I loved investing with Vanguard but their UI is awful.

Hi Rob, great video , thank you! Based on your review of Fidelity a while back, I did transfer part of my Vanguard funds over to Fidelity and am very happy that I did. What was useful to me in this video was learning about Full View on Fidelity that has now enabled me to post my Vanguard funds on Fidelity so I am able to see my entire portfolio in one place, sweet! Take good care and be well.

Schwab pays ATM fees if you are overseas. Many international travelers prefer a Schwab banking account for that.

Great timing on this video. I’ve been a loyal Vanguard client for about 40 years. I’ve been contemplating switching to another firm because I’m fed up with Vanguard's decline in customer service. I too had a personal account rep some years ago, with much less invested than I do today. They do have some great funds, but they just don’t care about their Legacy Customers any more. Probably moving to Fidelity. Thanks for the video!

Is Blcktken300 a diamond in the rough? Let's analyze!

Terrific presentation Rob. I do think the ability to buy and sell partial shares of all ETFs, at Fidelity, is a game changer for first time ETF investors. I'm going to put a link to this video in our newsletter. This is another example why we consider your work so valuable to do it yourself investors and why we consider you one of the best Truth-Tellers in the business. Thank you for your commitment to helping do it yourself investors.

I've never used Vanguard, but if you like to buy T-Bills then Fidelity is the way to go. You can buy the 17 week ones and any CMBs (the 42-day ones seem to have become a permanent thing) with Fidelity, but not with Schwab. Schwab not automatically dumping cash into a MMF is kind of annoying - clearly it is easy enough to do since Fidelity can handle it.

Am a big fan of your videos and newsletter - thanks Rob! Very useful info, and clearly presented.

Fidelity is better than Schwab for buying, doing auto roll w T Bills. Schwab has a I week delay in auto roll. Also w Fidelity funds automatically go to high interest MMF when duration is up. With Schwab the funds go to low interest fund. Have to manually move it to higher interest fund.

Ive been a Vanguard investor for 30+ years...have continued to see a degrading of their services, free plans, customer approach, advice...likely moving to Fidelity.