Fund Families

[frugal saver]

I know the new thing is to have brokerage accounts and have bits and pieces invested all over.

But I still like investing directly with a fund family. I have a relationship now with T. Rowe Price--they debit my checking monthly for my investment, and they pay for my Morningstar Premium subscription.

The other fund families I've invested with are all long since merged/gone and I'm thinking I should diversify a bit and go with another group. The only experience I have with a currently open family is when my 457 was nicely diversified and my employer dumped all my investments into Vanguard U.S. Growth--and then froze the account for nearly a year. In 1999. I lost about 85% of my value before I could get it unfrozen and moved to a basic savings account. I know Vanguard has many nice funds, but.....

Any suggestions on Fund Families that you like? This would all be taxable as I no longer work.

[Benderz]

All major fund families have nice web sites and administer your account well. You don't have to invest only in the fund family that is administering your account. I use vanguard and have a vanguard account and brokerage account for my traditional IRA and Roth IRA. In the vanguard brokerage IRA you can buy other fund families no problem. 401k is different because you dont have a choice and have a smaller selection if funds.

[corn18]

I use Fidelity (FIDO) because they are free to trade in my USAA brokerage account. Also have FIDO for my 401k. Customer service is first rate and their website is easy to use.

I got a Vanguard account based on my time with the bogleheads, but haven't used it.

FIDO ER's are now equal to or better than VG. If you are an indexer, I would run with FIDO.

[scfr]

We've been with Vanguard for a very long time and are quite happy with them.
In the past we had dealings with TRPrice (positive) and Fidelity (negative).
I'll be curious to see if any of the other fund families get recommendations. Not a bad idea to consider options other than the ones that get mentioned over and over.

[msomnipotent]

I have to find a new brokerage for my 403b that my old employer is kicking me out of. I'm kind of leaning towards Vanguard simply because of the low fees, but I was getting better returns with the funds I have in the 403b. Fidelity has given me wrong information every single time I talked to them and I simply don't trust them anymore. I don't trust Wells Fargo, either. I forgot about T Rowe Price!

[kv968]

I have to find a new brokerage for my 403b that my old employer is kicking me out of. I'm kind of leaning towards Vanguard simply because of the low fees, but I was getting better returns with the funds I have in the 403b. Fidelity has given me wrong information every single time I talked to them and I simply don't trust them anymore. I don't trust Wells Fargo, either. I forgot about T Rowe Price!

I use many brokers and fund families with my trading. I have my Roth IRA with T Rowe Price and they offer some very good funds and would definitely give them a look. However if you're looking to use a broker to buy individual stocks I would look elsewhere as their brokerage fees are on the high side.

[disneysteve]

I know the new thing is to have brokerage accounts and have bits and pieces invested all over.

I'm not sure where you heard that this is the "new thing".

The bulk of our portfolio, about $500,000, is with Vanguard. I like their offerings. I like their fees. I like their online interface. And the few times I've actually needed assistance, I've been happy with their customer service. There's a reason why they are a market leader.

Fidelity and T. Rowe Price are the 2 others that top the list. Schwab is also very good (and I have an account with them as well).

Ultimately, I think it's about identifying the fund or funds you want to invest in and then going through that company to do so.

[Gailete]

Other than our original IRAs we have all of our investment accounts at Capital One, where you can buy any stock or mutual fund you like for a small purchase fee. I have some individual stocks as well as using an American Century Growth fund. I got used to using them when they were 20th Century, but was the only fund I could find that had a low enough entry fee that I could get in. I still have our regular IRAs there, but everything else goes through Capital One. I would go nuts trying to track as many funds as you folks o. I have savings accounts for particular things such as taxes, rental security deposit and the like and then my investments. Again in this case I bought into American Century because it still had the lower cost to buy into it. Some fund families I would still be sitting on a pile of cash waiting to have enough to invest with them. I went with what I could afford and what was welcoming to me a new investor.

[Like2Plan]

I know the new thing is to have brokerage accounts and have bits and pieces invested all over.

Any suggestions on Fund Families that you like? This would all be taxable as I no longer work.

I have been going the other way--trying to reduce the number of bits and pieces invested all over. I think if you find something that works, stick with it.

I like Vanguard and Fidelity, but the name is no substitution for researching the funds in which you plan to invest.