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    Left Schwab, go with Fidelity or Vanguard?

    I gave Schwab a try. I’m not a trader, I’m an investor, and Schwab was just too much for me. The straw that broke it for me was trying to dump a chunk into SGOV, then checking 5 days later to see it still sitting as cash.

    I called and the rep told me it was because of ‘X’. I challenged his statement, then he changed his answer to ‘Y’. Not confidence inspiring.

    I got no notification about the failed purchase, had more than enough cash to cover it, and the explanations, and the app, just didn’t make sense to me.

    So on to another brokerage. Anyone feel like recommending one of the others? A little insight from those with more experience would be great. Thanks.

    Left Schwab, go with Fidelity or Vanguard?
    byu/Tonkatte ininvesting



    Posted by Tonkatte

    View 15 Comments

    15 Comments

    1. TheCuriousBread on

      Just investing Robinhood will work. You don’t need any of the tools or fancy flow of order features. If you’re buying and holding, simpler the better.

    2. Time_Perception6669 on

      I use Fidelity and have had a good experience thus far. Friendly service and no pressure to invest in certain stocks. Would recommend

    3. sunnbeta on

      I’m not sure I understand the specific problem with Schwab that you think would be solved by going to another brokerage. I use the app and it’s pretty straightforward, and you can check order status at any time to see if a buy order has gone through or why it hasn’t. 

    4. barti0 on

      Fidelity holds cash for upto two weeks. And these are not huge transfers . I made a few hundred dollars to my daughters custodial account and my hsa was few thousand . both were on hold . I called and they said it’s standard policy! Vanguard doesn’t have this and neither does Schwab.. Seems like two weeks is excessive in the era of electronic clearing etc..

    5. Nervous_Cancel9878 on

      I use all three – vanguard and Fidelity for retirement accounts and Schwab for Brokerage. I like Schwab for thinkorswim app. Very easy to learn and use. I also think Vanguards mobile app is far more intuitive than Fidelity. And imo, Vanguard is less cluttered than Fidelity.

    6. OprahAtOprahDotCom on

      Fidelity and vanguard are both good. Vanguard is much less feature-rich. Very simple.

      I started with Schwab too and I’m never getting a Schwab account again.

    8. the_cnidarian on

      I have Schwab and Fidelity, the only difference is day trading with Think or Swim. This sounds like user error.

    9. zestypov2 on

      I use Vanguard. It’s not for high frequency traders and some will complain that it doesn’t offer currency, bank functions and other stuff. I like that it’s basic and fairly simple and their own products are solid. The website has improved quite a bit in the past two years and I find they execute trades very quickly (I’m doing mostly ETFs and bonds). I also like that their sweep account is a MM with excellent interest rates. Unlike Schwab, you don’t have to do anything to put the sweep funds in there. They go automatically. With enough AUM, basically everything is free, although they are really selling the advisor services pretty hard these days. But you can always say no.

      I hear great things about Fidelity, but I haven’t used them in years.

    10. taynt3d on

      Trading SGOV should be very straight forward, and you have provided no details as to what happened.

    11. Potato_Donkey_1 on

      Did you run afoul of three-day settlement or something? I’d like to know what X and Y were, because your trade might have failed for routine reasons. You can’t sell one thing thing and use the cash shown in your account from that sale to buy something else immediately.

      If you are authorized to borrow money during the settlement period, you can turn that cash into an immediate purchase. But for most accounts, you have to wait three market days for the first transaction to settle before moving on to the next one. That’s usually how day traders operate, as I understand it.

    14. EmpatheticAnon on

      Fidelity feels very utilitarian to me, and thats a good thing IMO. Their mobile app is a little clunky, but I give them credit for optimizing it with a redesign earlier this year. Desktop/computer site is awesome with tons of information, little confusing at first

    15. flatirony on

      I have Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, and Vanguard; and I’ve used others.

      Interactive Brokers is best for serious traders.

      Vanguard is great for hard core buy-and-holders and Bogleheads.

      I’m in between the two, and I like Fidelity the best.

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