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- Manlobbi
Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
No. of Recommendations: 2
A former Ameritrade client now with Schwab due to the acquisition. Any longtime Schwab clients here who want to share their experience good or bad?
No. of Recommendations: 2
A former Ameritrade client now with Schwab due to the acquisition.
Me too, and so far Schwab has not been able to come up with our Berkshire cost basis prior to 2003.
I'll give them a few days.
No. of Recommendations: 3
One of my three TD accounts moved to Schwab over the weekend. Not sure why only one moved other than it is my smallest balance one that moved.
I poked around on the mobile trading app a little. It seems ok and they seem committed to keeping thinkorswim going forward. The mobile platform will be the key for me. I seem to execute about 90%+ of my trades on mobile so ease of use is high priority. I've been with TD for over 25yrs so I'm going to give them some time to work it all out.
Jeff
No. of Recommendations: 2
That might not be that bad depending on one's level of honesty. :) But depending how far back it might not make that much difference. If you sell shares I'm sure you sell based on LIFO cost.
No. of Recommendations: 4
Have had an account with Schwab since the 70's , thru the BofA acquisition & eventual sale back to 'Chuck',
( the corner office at BofA must beat their heads against the proverbial wall every day for that dumb BofA board decision)
& have nothing but good things to say about the Company & it's employees!
My brother had an account at Ameritrade which I helped him with & in the overall comparison, I felt the Schwab site was much more robust and provided the desired information in a more direct manner.
The mobile App is also easy to use for trading & all account bal info.
I have heard the account transfers are taking a bit longer than they first planned!
I added some more SCHW during the falling knife Silicon Bank debacle & so far so good, kinda the Peter Lynch principle of buying products that you have good direct experiences with.
I would guess y'all with accounts xferd to Schwab will be happy after getting used to the new account navigations.
ciao
No. of Recommendations: 2
My account doesn't reach back to the 1970s, but near enough. I've never had any cause for complaint. Margin is pretty expensive compared to places like IB, so if you're a user of margin you may want to look elsewhere. I can't report on the mobile app.
Baltassar
No. of Recommendations: 7
Schwab is one of my 3 brokerage accounts. I've used them for years and have
no complaints, though I'm mostly a passive investor so I don't need advanced
features.
One nice perk is their debit card. Benefits include:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Unlimited rebates on ATM fee worldwide
- Access to Zelle, for sending money and paying bills
I've never had a problem using my Schwab debit card at ATM machines
anywhere in the world, including China, so it's one less thing to
worry about when I travel.
-Rubic
No. of Recommendations: 5
No. of Recommendations: 5
<< Here's Frank Abagnale, of "Catch Me If You Can" fame, discussing why not to use a debit card. >>
Using a credit card for most transactions is safer, but not always practical,
especially outside the US.
In most cases, federal law limits your liability for unauthorized debit card purchases
to $50, provided you report the fraud within two business days of discovering it. If
you miss that window, your liability is limited to $500 within 60 days of reporting
an unauthorized purchase.
I have alerts set up whenever I use my debit card.
-Rubic
No. of Recommendations: 3
I am also in the group that was switched from Ameritrade to Schwab. I would especially like to hear from anyone who knows the total cost of having a Schwab account, including hidden costs not generated by trades.
Proftalon
No. of Recommendations: 1
Been a long time Schwab customer. I will attest that if you have a decent amount of money with them there are perks that add up to big money. They are not advertised though. It helps to recommend family and friends to Schwab as it seems that is also a plus for you.
No. of Recommendations: 6
Would be curious about the perks'.
No. of Recommendations: 4
'Would be curious about the perks'.
----------------------------
Not sure of the current Promotion Policy but a few yrs back, I ended up with a weekend at the Ritz-Carlton, (Half Moon Bay) and 4 rounds of golf on the Ocean Course.
I think the promo at the time required a new deposit of ~$200K, proceeds I received from a rental prop sale.
At other times the promo was top-of-the line Titleist drivers , Scotty Cameron Putters, & Sets of Cleveland Wedges...."Chuck" loves golf !
Check the Schwab website for current "Promotions"
ciao
No. of Recommendations: 6
The only minor downside with Schwab is that uninvested cash earns very low interest- currently 0.45%. You have to remember to move a money market fund. With Fidelity and Interactive Brokers, this extra step isn't needed- by default, uninvested cash pays close to 5%.
No. of Recommendations: 1
I've never had a problem using my Schwab debit card at ATM machines
anywhere in the world, including China, so it's one less thing to
worry about when I travel.
But make sure you give a travel notice at the account website.
My card was blocked repeatedly after trying to use it outside of
my country on file. Had to call them and unblock it.
No. of Recommendations: 5
My Ameritrade account was also moved to Schwab. They did a good job of moving it seamlessly. My BRK interest has moved from Vanguard to Fidelity to Ameritrade to Schwab. All the previous moves were back in the high commision days when they would give you up to $500 for opening a brokerage account with a decent balance. I regularly moved BRK and called it my BRK dividend.
I had a Schwab account just for the commission free debit card. I once found an ATM in Argentina with a $14 fee and a $60 maximum. The only game in town during a banking issue. I ran the Schwab card about six times, and they refunded all the ATM charges.
No. of Recommendations: 1
I had money from a house sale in Schwab for a while and mostly used it to buy treasuries and a little bit of BRK stock. Didn't have any issues. Also when I had to wire out a large amount of money to pay for the new house, I had no issues wiring the money. I did call ahead to make sure there would be no issues.
The one common complaint is the lack of interest Schwab pays on cash. Personally I usually just roll cash into treasuries so it isn't a big deal for me but I believe they don't pay much compared to Fidelity/Vanguard.
I have 3 accounts with TD that have not yet been move. Apparently if you use ThinkOrSwim software, your account is likely to be one of the last ones to move. My accounts were originally set up with ThinkOrSwim and Scottrade. Never opened an account with TD although I did get use to it.
No. of Recommendations: 6
Sweeping your account cash into MMKT accounts at Schwab is a bit of a pain ,
current rates...
SWVXX. 5.23%
SNAXX. 5.38%
Another inv. offered by Schwab is a PAL loan (Pledged Asset Loan)which is available at much lower rates than a margin loan.
I used this last yr as a bridge loan in the the purchase of a home.
A separate account is set up & I pledged BRK stock for thePAL loan.
The current PAL rate is, SOFR + 2.4% for the amount I borrowed & todays SOFR is 5.3% ,
Thus, todays PAL loan Int Rate = 7.7%
vs todays margin rate of ~12% to 13%
ciao
No. of Recommendations: 13
I've had multiple Schwab accounts for at least 25 years. I have nothing but good things to say about Schwab.
I had a retirement account at TIAA, and when I retired (in 2014), I found that dealing with TIAA was consistently miserable. I finally went into the office of my local Schwab guy, told him I wanted to move everything in TIAA over to Schwab. He got TIAA on the phone while I was in his office and took care of everything while I waited. Perfect.
At tax time, Schwab records are complete, timely, and understandable. When we needed a fairly large check cut in order to purchase a condo, Schwab handled it quickly and seamlessly.
We also have accounts with Schwab Bank, and moving money around (including to a non-Schwab account) takes only a few clicks. As others have noted, the debit card is a very good deal, esp. if you travel internationally. We use it to withdraw cash from ATMs when abroad.
Trading and other fees are very low and in many cases, free. Easy, free access to M*, CFRA, and other research and news. Plenty of well-rated no-load/no-fee mutual funds available, if you're into that sort of thing.
Deep offerings of bonds, CDs. Good advice available over the phone from the bond desk. They've gently talked me out of doing dumb things a few times.
Moving money to/from money market and overnight Treasury accounts is quick, easy. Competitive rates.
I could say more, but that's prob enough.
No. of Recommendations: 9
I've been with Schwab since I started investing, around 30 years ago, and have always been happy with them. I also have used Schwab Bank' they arranged a mortgage on a house we bought after retirement when we had no W2 income. No regular bank would look at us, even though we had more than enough assets to cover the loan and to provide income in retirement.
I was not aware that I could call them and have them talk me out of doing dumb things! That would have come in handy quite a few times over the years. 🤣
No. of Recommendations: 0
I like Fidelity more than Schwab. Overall both are comparable but Fidelity is marginally better. Both far far better than Vanguard, Empower or TIAA.
Two small cons:
As someone mentioned Schwab makes their money by paying low interest on cash in account as opposed to default hy mmfs like other brokerages.
It is impossible to find YTMs for Schwab fixed income ETFs. Overall, information on Schwab and other mfs and etfs is lacking as compared to Fidelity research or etf sponsors' websites (iShares, SSGA, even Vanguard if you choose the financial advisor part of the website).
