I opened an account in the early 2010s, for access to TGBAX when it was still a solid fund. It filled a small hole in my portfolio (foreign bonds). Firstrade was the only game in town where one could access the cheaper Advisor class shares with a small min. Firstrade charged $9.95/trade back then.
Like much of the rest of the investing world, I abandoned TGBAX a few years later. No reason at the time to keep an empty account with Firstrade. Though I did like being able to walk into their office.
Firstrade didn't go transaction fee free until 2018, after I'd left.
https://www.firstrade.com/press/pr180824

I'm probably not going to be very useful but if you're looking to invest in the commodity there is this from Investopedia Top Natural Gas ETFs for 2023
Aside from that I have held an investment in EPD for about 10 years now. EPD is one of the largest Midstream Oil and Gas companies in North America.
Good luck with your research.

Hi there. Yogi is correct -- we decommissioned the stewardship grades some years ago when we rolled out the 'Analyst Ratings' (now called 'Medalist Ratings'), one pillar of which was 'Parent'. In essence, we relocated the stewardship assessments from the Stewardship Grade framework to the Parent pillar rating framework, but we didn't reduce our focus on these matters.
I hope this is helpful.
Let me know if you have any follow-up questions.
Kind regards,
Jeff Ptak
Morningstar Research Services

FWIW, my account was an IRA (good guess!). I closed it several years ago but the Firstrade still lets me log in though not trade, obviously. So I can pull up some info like this but cannot do things like test trades to see what happens.
Brokerages are often free to set their own mins. It's pretty well known that one can get institutional class shares with lower mins at many brokerages (typically with a TF). It works the other way, too. Sometimes brokerages set mins above the prospectus min. For example, many brokerages set a $100K min for RPHIX even though the prospectus requires only $50K.
Firstrade is just following the propsectus for MRFOX. $10K min for regular accounts, $1K for IRAs.
https://doc.morningstar.com/docdetail.aspx?ticker=MRFOX
The issue I have with Schwab's fee is that it applies to every purchase. I'm willing to pay the 49.95 basis point charge ($49.95 on $10K) one time to get access to an institutional share class of some fund that saves me 25 basis points per year with its lower ER. I'm a long term investor.
But I don't want to do that repeatedly with incremental investments. Fidelity's $5 "side door" - adding smaller amounts via auto-invest - makes the initial fee tolerable. (OTOH, Schwab offers funds with lower mins and seems to have a wider assortment.)

Thanks. May I ask why you closed Firstrade? Antiquated system but does offer a number of mutual funds institutional class without charge.

FMILX - one manager, 1.3 yrs tenure, $100-500K invested
FDSVX - two managers, 17 & 7 years tenure, both > $1 million invested

Near lowest in 25 years.
Please list best suggestions on how to play Nat Gas.

FWIW, my account was an IRA (good guess!). I closed it several years ago but the Firstrade still lets me log in though not trade, obviously. So I can pull up some info like this but cannot do things like test trades to see what happens.
Brokerages are often free to set their own mins. It's pretty well known that one can get institutional class shares with lower mins at many brokerages (typically with a TF). It works the other way, too. Sometimes brokerages set mins above the prospectus min. For example, many brokerages set a $100K min for RPHIX even though the prospectus requires only $50K.
Firstrade is just following the propsectus for MRFOX. $10K min for regular accounts, $1K for IRAs.
https://doc.morningstar.com/docdetail.aspx?ticker=MRFOX
The issue I have with Schwab's fee is that it applies to every purchase. I'm willing to pay the 49.95 basis point charge ($49.95 on $10K) one time to get access to an institutional share class of some fund that saves me 25 basis points per year with its lower ER. I'm a long term investor.
But I don't want to do that repeatedly with incremental investments. Fidelity's $5 "side door" - adding smaller amounts via auto-invest - makes the initial fee tolerable. (OTOH, Schwab offers funds with lower mins and seems to have a wider assortment.)

@Crash- I'll tell you what- when you find the perfect broker who meets each and every one of your non-negotiable demands, and has a record of perfect service for at least ten years, please let the rest of us know.

Ain’t that the truth? 90% success / satisfaction over time is pretty good in the business world. I’ve been with probably 15 different fund houses over 50 + years. Only two became so atrocious in service that I fled on account of it: Strong Funds and T.Rowe Price. Works out to about 87% success rate. And no one else has ever even come close to sharing in the dubois distinction possessed by the two afore mentioned.

@Crash, have you checked out local credit unions?

Now, THERE'S an idea. But I've just read a thing from someone else here. And I spoke to the wife. REAL customer service has been dead for many years. Among brokerages, TRP has lost my confidence. Schwab has to be better, even though Customer Service is dead there, too. Vanguard, according to many here, is downright stinky, if not stinky-poopy. And I don't cotton to Fidelity's website. ...So, Schwab it is.
____End____

msf "It's just economics. Some places do better than others (e.g. economies of scale, better training methods, more productive technology, etc.), but they are all subject to the same tradeoffs."
True for some but not all. I found over the years great tradeoffs, there are plenty of them. See examples below.
Restaurants: we love cheap, fast, good service at great prices.
Hotels: we usually stay in Fairfield Inn, Hamptons, and Holiday Inn Express. You get breakfast in all of them, they are cheaper than others and you get similar services.
Vehicles: A Camry is a much better buy than many others that cost more.
Auto, Home, and Umbrella insurance can be cheaper if you do the work as I do, and better too.
I pay nothing for Schwab services and they are better than others that would cost me more.
REI, the outdoor store has an excellent service and return policy, such as returning your shoes that you have worn for up to a year if you are not happy. Prices are good too.
I switched from cable to YouTubeTV, it's a lot cheaper for similar stuff. It's an example of big Tech, Google, eating up legacy companies.
Most of the auto mechanics I know charge a lot of money and some are not good. My mechanic has a small shop, very cheap and excellent.
Remember, more expensive doesn't guarantee better it just guarantees you will spend more.

In trying to look for clear & concise explanation of "Y" and "F" shares, I found this:
"If the ticker ends with the letter "Y", this means that it is not an F share, but a Y share."
OK, cannot argue with that at all (-:). But seriously, from the same link (from a legal outfit),
"Y shares designate American Depositary Receipts (ADR) that are being traded in the US market. Banks or other depositary institutions will hold foreign shares and issue receipts for them. This is called an ADR. The ADR will be denominated in a ratio of one ADR to X-number of foreign shares."
"While (F share) trades are executed in US dollars by US broker-dealers, the shares are settled, cleared and custodised in your local market.
An F share is created in the US when a broker-dealer files a Form 211 with FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) to create a US ticker symbol in order to report trades in the US in your company’s shares. This is not a new share. It is a reference to your existing shares via a newly created ticker symbol in the United States for reporting and trading purposes."
My story: from YEARS ago, I had a Canadian "F" share fund. Commission/fee was high - I don't remember if it was $50, but was much higher than $6.95. It had almost 3-day turnaround for trade confirmations (not for settlement!). When I complained, I was told that those don't really trade in the US. Some US aggregator/dealer trades them in Canada when he felt like it, and my broker could confirm only when he reported back. From that time on, I have avoided tickers ending in "F". Tickers ending in "Y" do trade within the US.
https://www.carstedrosenberg.com/post/what-are-f-shares

@yogibearbull - My wife’s grandfather gave her the GE stock more than 40 years ago. We sold portions over the years for down payments on two different homes. It then proceeded to lose much of its value, but my wife doesn’t want to sell it for sentimental reasons. Fortunately, it’s finally starting to rebound. The problem with selling it is that I have no idea how to figure the cost basis due to the uncertain acquisition date and reinvested dividends.

@Crash- I'll tell you what- when you find the perfect broker who meets each and every one of your non-negotiable demands, and has a record of perfect service for at least ten years, please let the rest of us know.

We're just having an online conversation here, right? The truth is, the world is extremely screwed up, wherever you look. Nobody wants to see it or hear me point it out. If people acknowledge the problem, they'd feel obligated to DO something to fix it.
Why should we always have to settle? Why shouldn't systems work FOR us?

Just posted January ratings to MFO Premium. Not that January fund performance was much to write home about. But the new features on the site are!
New metrics include:
1) ratings based on "Best Fit" Benchmarks, as assigned by Lipper,
2) an Active Passive Barometer, based on those same benchmarks,
3) ratings based on ETF Benchmarks, inspired by my colleague Devesh Shah,
4) Fund Family Ratings across all evaluation periods.
These can be found now mostly in the Calendar Year and Fixed Period Analyze tools in MultiSearch. Soon, they will be integrated more fully into the MultiSearch tool so you can screen on the values (APRVSBF and APRVSETF) and their attendant ratings (APRBF Rating and APRBE Rating), representing fund evaluation against Best Fit and ETF Benchmarks, respectfully.
The post is from Lipper's 2 February drop. Will post update with 10 February drop soon.
The update reflects a complete modernization of code used to both the background ratings computations as well as the real time screening code. The modernization effort started about a year ago and includes:
1) shared functions to reduce redundancy,
2) threading (aka parallel processing) to drastically improve background crunch time (3 hours per update vs 24),
3) explicit and strict computing modes for both background and real-time computations, which also help speed things up and helps keep programmers honest,
4) modern coding techniques such as Lists instead of Arrays and ForEach instructions instead of simple Do loops.
It had to be rolled into about ten years of patchwork code, so it took a while, but the result feels pretty good. It means much faster updates, better enhancements, and less likelihood of errors.
Give it a whirl, please. As always, if you see anything amiss, drop me a line ... will address soonest.
Enjoy,
c
PS. Remember that all the tools on the top line of the Navigator (Great Owls, Three Alarm, Quick Search, Dashboard of Profiled Funds) are free to the MFO Community.

"...There really is no reason for me to go there."
Very often, I'm downtown, and just a block away from Schwab's office. It would be very handy to walk in and get stuff done. Anytime. About stuff that might not even come to mind at this moment. (Isn't that why offices are THERE??? Not anymore, obviously. ORK!) Yes, I would do my trading online, with zero fees. I have a question or two for them, also, about THAT: foreign stocks incur a FEE? Even if they trade on US exchanges???? "Foreign stocks." That's what the footnote says.

The closest office for me is 25 or so miles away. I can do anything I want with my account online at home, in my underwear if I wish, in a few minutes. Even if the office was 5 minutes away, I would still never go there.
For what reason?
I started online banking/bill paying with my local bank in 2004. Then I started doing mobile check deposits several years ago with them. I drive by it nearly every day, but only go in rarely as there is no need to.

@Crash- I'll tell you what- when you find the perfect broker who meets each and every one of your non-negotiable demands, and has a record of perfect service for at least ten years, please let the rest of us know.

When did people ever wander into brokerage firms and expect to be served without delay?

@Crash- I'll tell you what- when you find the perfect broker who meets each and every one of your non-negotiable demands, and has a record of perfect service for at least ten years, please let the rest of us know.

I barely keep any spare cash in the brokerage account . . . So I guess the automatic sweep rate at Schwab or Fido would not bother me, being so miniscule.

My accounts are at Schwab, and the cash portion is rarely more than 1% of my portfolio, except for maybe the occasional day or two if I've sold something. So the minuscule rate doesn't bother me.

...Not to mention that I've waited a full day to get a call-back from Schwab, from the downtown office, which has not come. Stinky poopy. Not a good sign.

From 1997 when I moved to Schwab, up until a couple of years ago, I was very impressed with Schwab overall. It seemed to be a well-oiled machine, and that rarely happens in a business of that size. Exceptionally nice people on the phone who are usually well-informed, and a great website.
That has changed, in my experience. Most likely from taking on TD; it was too much too fast and now is a behemoth. IMO they went from a "10" to maybe an "8", if I can rate a business to that old familiar rating system.
They really upset me a year or so ago and I thought long and hard of just yanking everything. I didn't, and they did rectify some stupid things on their website that I had complained about for months. So I'll probably be there til I croak. But the luster is gone.
My local guy? I've only been there 3-4 times since '97 and a couple of those were invites. There really is no reason for me to go there.

@sma

I have not had the "sell one fund buy another" issue at Fido but usually dont do that. I find Schwab's attitude about Sweep accounts very irritating and is clearly designed to make money off of John Q Public. It seems nasty, especially coupled with their insistence on keeping cash balances high in some of their portfolios. I think the SEC went after them for that.

I don't know why it's nasty, I never use their portfolio or Intelligent Portfolios and I don't think anyone else should use these at any brokerages. What is so irritating about selling $100K of fund X and entering a trade to buy $100K in SWVXX or SNAXX? I have done it for years. If you sell shares and don't know exactly what it's going to be, you buy MM close to this amount and the rest the next day.
Most investors should just select their AA and hardly trade = not many irritations at all.
For me, there is nothing more irritating than calling Fidelity reps after I sell in an IRA, and half of them claim you can't do it, and then I insist on talking with a supervisor. That is 15 minutes and a lot longer than buying cash in 10 seconds at Schwab. I also noticed that the Fidelity reps' knowledge got lower in the last several years.

@Crash - I do not understand your problems with the Fidelity website. I think it’s fantastic. I’ve been one of their customers for 20+ years, so maybe your issues are due to lack of familiarity. I also had an account with TRP for more than 20 years until I transferred all the holdings to Fidelity. IMHO, the Fidelity website is much, much better than TRP. I used to do a lot of fund research at M* as well until it became so unwelcoming, and I actually find the Fidelity website more useful for researching and comparing funds. Although I seldom have to talk with a Fido representative on the phone, they are always very helpful and friendly. In addition, Fidelity has an office in my city, and I generally have a face-to-face meeting with my rep once a year. You do have to make an appointment, but that’s no unreasonable to me.