I have an IRA with a financial advisor that I'm looking to move to a platform and handle myself. I'm not an active trader. Looking to open an account, buy some ETFs and mostly park the account and let it ride. That's basically what's my money is doing now but I'm paying the broker for it. What are your suggestions for low cost platforms?

Etrade looks to be pretty easy and is currently offering some matching funds for new accounts. Thoughts? Recommendations?

I have IRA accounts with both Schwab and Fidelity. I used to have a Financial Advisor but not now, and most likely not anytime soon.

I'm not a trader...I'm an investor. I buy and hold for the long term (I align with Charlie Munger).

I would recommend either as both work well for me.

Quick thoughts:

Given your investment style, the good news is that almost any brokerage will likely work well for you. The more exotic traders have a tougher time balancing option capabilities, margin, etc.

Best overall: Schwab

Best cash sweep: Fidelity automatically invests any cash in the account in high-yield money market, Schwab and some others don't.

Best incentives: For sure CALL everyone you're considering and see what their best offer is. I suspect places like Robinhood and Webull will offer the most, but sometimes Fidelity or Schwab will match (especially if the account is large enough).

From personal experience, I'd recommend against Wells Fargo Advisors, Merrill Lynch Edge, and anything with Optum Bank.

Good luck! Sounds like you're making a good move!

Robinhood's 2% match ended last month, they were the only one I know of that paid Roth transfer bonus into the Roth so untaxed and on top of contribution limits

Webull still has 3% (up to 15K bonus) through June, conditions are 5 year hold period and at least 1 year Premium subscription ($40)
https://www.webull.com/ko-yield/1741942548585-aa19a4


last year RH had 3% uncapped and Webull 4.5%, don't think any of the big firms will ever come close to those matches

I agree with others who say Fidelity, Schwab and vanguard. Also its not incommon for your old bank to charge an account closing fee and often the new firm will reimburse you for those fees.

Most firms will give you a sign on bonus, most charge a close out fee, some reimburse that fee. You can have an FA without paying fees, just open a discount account, buy what you want then transfer it. Why would you do that? Your heirs. I would not be comfortable giving my kids a lot of money and a 1-800 # to call and take 10 year distributions from. My wife, maybe. My SIL has a $4.5mm brokerage with a full service FA, she never trades. It's all in JPM stock and she takes the RMD and dividends, she's a widow and her only daughter is an airhead. She pays no fees, the dividends pretty much cover her RMD. An FA will do anything to keep your assets and while that may be annoying to you, it makes me feel better knowing he'll try and stop my kids from overspending.

I have Fidelity, Vanguard, and Scwhab.

I hate Vanguard.

Schwab and Fidelity are equal in my opinion for trading.

I like Fidelity because you can buy fractional shares of any stock.

If you're going to buy a couple ETFs and let them ride...play paper rocks scissors and choose one of them.

El Chupacabra said:

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I have Fidelity, Vanguard, and Scwhab.

I hate Vanguard.

Schwab and Fidelity are equal in my opinion for trading.

I like Fidelity because you can buy fractional shares of any stock.

If you're going to buy a couple ETFs and let them ride...play paper rocks scissors and choose one of them.

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Schwab also offers what they call "stock slices" for fractional shares.

Generally, Vanguard offers the lowest fees on all products they offer, but are much more limited once you get away from their own portfolio.

Fidelity, shockingly, doesn't offer a trade known as a protective put, where you buy stock and a corresponding put simultaneously (think of simply the opposite of a buy/write), using combined limit orders. It's one of my favorite trading methods, and probably the biggest reason I won't switch from Schwab, even though I like Fidelity's money market sweep a lot better.

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I hate Vanguard.

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My daughter had a very poor experience with Vanguard. It took her months to get Vanguard to transfer her 401K proceeds from a prior employer to Fidelity. She said their Customer Service was terrible. FWIW.

Vanguard's website is TERRIBLE!

I've moved everything from Vanguard to Fidelity, and am very satisfied with Fidelity.

I have a very small account with Schwab, it's Meh for me.

Vanguard seems to have fallen off a cliff with their capabilities and service. They used to be neck and neck with Fidelity, but Fidelity is superior at this point. You can find all equivalent fund types at Fidelity that you can at Vanguard and in my experience they are as cheap and actually perform better in most cases.

Fidelity and Schwab seem to be the gold standards now.

WeBull is owned by the Chinese. Keep your money with them at your own risk.

I use both Schwab and Fideliity. I really like being able to use TOS w/ Schwab. It's a great platform. The nice thing about Fidelity is any cash is swept into their Money Market. With Schwab you have to manually move it back in forth - it's no big deal as you can still sell CSPs against it. You just have to sell out of it when you are assigned.

So, an update to my previous recommendation - go with Fidelity. Better and more reliable customer service. Schwab basically has fibbed to me about transfer bonus. Supposedly, they match bonuses from big companies and not the small ones like Robinhood, tastytrade, webull etc. They did not tell me this till the accounts were transferred and everything was done. I will be moving to fidelity at the next opportune moment.

I have legacy account in schwab and have been too lazy to move it. Its very bland. I have a decent chunk in vanguard. Even worse bc they have no access to crypto etf's. I moved my vanguard to robinhood. I love the interface and you can but almost anything. Wait for the matches and promotions

ToddyHill said:

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I hate Vanguard.

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My daughter had a very poor experience with Vanguard. It took her months to get Vanguard to transfer her 401K proceeds from a prior employer to Fidelity. She said their Customer Service was terrible. FWIW.

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Took me 3 months to get mine moved over. I calculated what i lost and it was north of like $40,000 I lost in the time of fighting those *******s.

It might not work for every scenario but it's best to initiate the transfer from the bank you are transferring to. I e. If you are going from Morgan Stanley to Schwab you can give your last Morgan Stanley statement to Schwab, fill out some forms and let Schwab deal with your old bank for you.

I had issues getting money transferred from health equity to my new HSA and they were being a major pain but I didn't have to do anything, my new bank handled everything and even set up a three way call to Heath Equity with me on the line to do some final verification.

Finally got around to opening a joint fidelity account so I can close my vanguard. Only vanguard account is going to be my 401k and not much I can do about that.

permabull said:

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It might not work for every scenario but it's best to initiate the transfer from the bank you are transferring to. I e. If you are going from Morgan Stanley to Schwab you can give your last Morgan Stanley statement to Schwab, fill out some forms and let Schwab deal with your old bank for you.

I had issues getting money transferred from health equity to my new HSA and they were being a major pain but I didn't have to do anything, my new bank handled everything and even set up a three way call to Heath Equity with me on the line to do some final verification.

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Yes. They want your money so let them handle getting it for you. They know all the behind the scenes things to look for when it comes to transfers anyway.

Hoyt Ag said:

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I really like the ease of use at Fidelity.

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Two things i like about Fidelity IRA accounts is that one, you can put $ and % trailing stop losses on your stocks. I use them to preserve my investment on stocks that go up significantly and two, you can purchase bitcoin in a crypto IRA account, Many brokerage firms don't allow either.

I had vanguard for 13 years and switched everything to Fidelity in December 2023. Vanguard was the first with super low fees but literally everything else about them is terrible. Fund options, app/website, and customer service all suck. I honestly don't know why anyone would use them now that everyone has super low cost index funds.

MRB10 said:

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I had vanguard for 13 years and switched everything to Fidelity in December 2023. Vanguard was the first with super low fees but literally everything else about them is terrible. Fund options, app/website, and customer service all suck. I honestly don't know why anyone would use them now that everyone has super low cost index funds.

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I'm about 90% moved to fidelity and schwab...401 will stay with vanguard + a couple dividend stocks/etfs that will just sit.

Fidelity has been much better...can buy fractional shares, options trading is great (vanguard's was the worst), and the overall platform is nicer and easier.