@hank, I sincerely apologized if I came across of looking down on the posters here with respect to technology. But I am not. For sure, the internet age has enabled us to become better and well informed investors. I am typing on my iPad now but that is something I would do on my desktop Mac 10 years ago. One day when Siri would able to take diction accurately and that be another level of communicating.
We love our smart phones and they are ubiquitous in our daily. We view them as a tool and not being enslaved by them. Guess everyone have have different level of usage and sharing, thus our experience differ. We don’t use social media, Twitter and social media in order to avoid being overloaded. Hope this help to explain where I am coming from. Again, I apologize.

All I'm going to say is that Schwab reps have been waiving my I share fees for over 7 years. I'm not going to tell you how. It's not a policy you will find anywhere, just as they will match other brokers offers for cash rewards when you transfer money.
I ask for the moon and get a lot.
Schwab only charges one time fee to buy, never to sell, just as Fidelity.
Another example, I did a lot of guestimating how much we should convert from TIRA to Roth, but I wanted to see if I can get it from Schwab. My rep told me they can do. They assigned me a very knowledgeable person from their wealth management and that guy told me he has done this more than 10 years, they wanted $300, I said I will pay nothing, they agreed. We spend several hours collecting info, running his tools, and analysis.

Fidelity since 1986. Always been the best, still the best. I had a Schwab acct for a couple of years (a few years ago); the customer service was awful.

Try and spot someone who doesn’t have a cellphone / iphone in their hand.
Ooh, ooh, me, me :-) I don't usually use mobile phones, smart or otherwise.
Though I have to admit that having a mini-computer (no SIM) in my hand for guidance did recently help me walk to Starbucks in various German towns. (We collect Starbucks mugs in cities we have visited.)

At our age we have to consider that we won't be able to find a pay phone if we get in a jam driving around.
My wife's vehicle broke down yesterday outside of exurban Albuquerque. It would have been a tougher situation for her without the cell phone.
Years ago, before kids, we never worried about stuff like that. And we were a little more resilient then,

VMRXX: 5.28% SEC yield + 0.10% ER = 5.38% gross yield
VMFXX: 5.27% SEC yield + 0.11% ER = 5.38% gross yield
Vanguard taxable MMF table
For more safety (backed by full faith and credit of Treasury), VUSXX has a gross yield that's a basis point lower. Repos (used by the other funds) are overcollateralized with government securities but are not directly backed by the government.

The role of MMFs as cash investors in repos has increased over the last 20 years. One reason for the increase is the growth of assets under management in government MMFs, which are required to invest at least 99.5% of their assets in cash, U.S. government securities, or repos collateralized by cash and government securities.

https://www.sec.gov/files/mmfs-and-repo-market-021721.pdf

At Schwab $1.00 minimum. SWVXX 1 YEAR +5.27. Their prime money market, should be similar to VMRXX.

SWVXX is not currently paying 5.27%--it resets every 7 days, and is currently paying 5.16%. Its rate has been dropping for about the past 2 months. SNAXX is the Institutional Class counterpart, that is currently paying 5.3%, but requires $1 million investment to purchase it. If you intend to buy any MMkt rate currently, it is highly unlikely it will stay that high for the next 12 months, given the recent performance trend of it going lower. Everyone has an opinion, that may or may not be accurate, but I think MMkt rates will drop around .5% over the course of the next 12 months.

You may be right. How I handle this is while putting a good chunk of the income segment of my portfolio in money market funds, I have also put money into bond funds rather than CDs, so if money market yields go down from interest rates going down, bond funds (at least investment grade) will go up in value. I had been buying CDs starting a few years ago, once they matured I put them into money market funds and bond funds (some investment grade, some multisector or high yield). I now prefer the flexibility of money in money market funds and not locked into a CD, and my bond funds have exceeded what I would have received in CDs. If anything, a good substitute for a CD would be the ETF MINT (and not be locked in) or a good short term bond fund. I could turn out to be wrong, but that’s what I have been doing.

I don't know how long I will emphasize CDs, but for now, I will take advantage of CDs in an 18 month ladder. If CD rates deteriorate, I have a sizeable number of CDs maturing throughout 2025, and will reserve the option of reinvesting those proceeds into something different--I will cross that bridge when I get to it. I like CD ladders, as I always have a CD maturing every few months, giving me ongoing cash availability for adjustments in my investing options. I have historically invested in bond oefs, since I retired--I can always return to that option if necessary, but I will ride the cd horse as long as rates stay high.

At Schwab $1.00 minimum. SWVXX 1 YEAR +5.27. Their prime money market, should be similar to VMRXX.

SWVXX is not currently paying 5.27%--it resets every 7 days, and is currently paying 5.16%. Its rate has been dropping for about the past 2 months. SNAXX is the Institutional Class counterpart, that is currently paying 5.3%, but requires $1 million investment to purchase it. If you intend to buy any MMkt rate currently, it is highly unlikely it will stay that high for the next 12 months, given the recent performance trend of it going lower. Everyone has an opinion, that may or may not be accurate, but I think MMkt rates will drop around .5% over the course of the next 12 months.

You may be right. How I handle this is while putting a good chunk of the income segment of my portfolio in money market funds, I have also put money into bond funds rather than CDs, so if money market yields go down from interest rates going down, bond funds (at least investment grade) will go up in value. I had been buying CDs starting a few years ago, once they matured I put them into money market funds and bond funds (some investment grade, some multisector or high yield). I now prefer the flexibility of money in money market funds and not locked into a CD, and my bond funds have exceeded what I would have received in CDs. If anything, a good substitute for a CD would be the ETF MINT (and not be locked in) or a good short term bond fund. I could turn out to be wrong, but that’s what I have been doing.

@sma3 & @Sven
I have been fortunate in my life time to have made several trips into the BWCA (or BWCAW as it's labeled now). A handful of those trips were made well before cell phones or even SAT phones were in existence. To me the BWCA is called a 'wilderness area' for a reason and you accept that knowing that it's the price you pay for admission. I go there to escape all of societies(?) conveniences and to experience life by one's skills, wits and knowledge. It's glorious.
I can see where it gives many pause however and just within the last month SAT phones were used to summon Search & Rescue assistance for two groups of canoeists HERE. The first ended tragically while the second fared better. My guess is that many more SAT phones will be rented out to canoeing parties in the coming years.
As for cell and/or smart phones, I've always left mine in my vehicle upon entry. Cell service in the BWCA is very spotty at best and most definitely should not be relied upon. Smart phones are good for taking great photo's though and they tend to be small and light weight.

I must be an outlier on this board. I fully embrace new technology that makes our lives easier. Thus we own smart phones, tablets and many more. We use them but not being consumed by them. AI is not new and it is already being used in manufacturing such as robotic welding of car frames. Self-driving cars still requires further refinement in their AI in order to be fully safely operated on the roads.
During the pandemic, these devices made our connection to friends and families so much easier and safer. Our kids were able to see and talk on weekly basis with their 90 years old grandparents through FaceTime. Will see one of the grandparent this summer. The other one passed away a year ago, but we still have those memory.
@sma3, we envy your new canoeing adventure. Many folks have great time navigating the wildness using the tried and true method with maps and compass. The other challenge is the mosquitoes that the Boundary Water is known for.

@sma3, thank you for sharing your experience with Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard brokerages. I think it is a crapshoot of which agents you deal with and that set the tone on whether that firm works for you or not. These days there are high turnovers in the financial business. Planners I talk with have less than 10 years of experience. We are working on Plan B so that my wife can handle the finance without advisors when I pass on.
Like you I also subscribed to "No Load Fund Analyst" for a number of years until they retired that business. Rather than using an advisor early on, we spent time learning about asset allocation from William Bernstein's books. NLFA became the tool to implement the target allocation in our portfolio and the value of active management. This process has proven invaluable as we survived the severe drawdowns during the dotcom and GFC crisis, and we became more informed investors and asking the right questions.
We have been DIY investors ever since. Until last year I explored using financial advisors to manage part of our portfolio. Vanguard is reasonable with 0.3% fee but the choices are limited to Vanguard products only. Think that is the same with most brokerages. This experiment ended as we moved on from Vanguard.
Fidelity offers their advisory services and I will talk with them to better understand their capabilities now that I had experience with Vanguard.

We can add property tax to this list of auto/home insurance costs. With home prices skyrocketing the last couple years assessments are also going up quite a bit. I might get a 10%+ property tax increase this year. Not looking forward to the coming tax bill.

This is really strange... I was a radio/communications tech for San Francisco Emergency Services, and for twenty years carried a $2000 high-end Motorola radio which allowed me access to a fantastic world of public safety information in real time.
After retiring I refused to even own a "smartphone". We do have one stupidphone though, and that's it. Everywhere we go it seems that almost everyone has their head buried in their smartphones... it's almost like a surreal scene from some science-fiction novel where everyone is being controlled by some evil entity.
What's seems strange is that evidently a fair number of MFO people feel pretty much the same way. I like it here... very comfortable with the MFO community. (Well, maybe except for certain baseball fans.)

Stillers: "I find nothing compelling about a 1-yr CP CD rate of 5.45% when VMRXX is paying 5.29%. On a $100K investment, the difference over the 12-months is ($5,450-$5,290 or) $160 IF the MMkt rate holds steady for the full period. That piddly difference is not a compelling difference that would cause me (at least, and I trust manty others) to lock up $100K for a year, regardless of our age................ I trust many others) notion that we won't be seeing anything near 4.70% rates in 2029 when the 5-yr CD matures."
I do not believe that MMkt rates will hold steady for the next 12 month period, and most investors can't get a MMkt paying 5.29%. Many investors prefer a more secure government MMkt fund that pays under 5%. For the past 2 months, my MMkt rates have been dropping, and I expect them to continue to drop over the next 12 months. As far what CD rates will be at the end of the next 5 year period, that is just too speculative for me to guess. When MMkt rates went to zero in 2007/2008, I doubt anyone expected them to stay at zero for the next 15 years.

I gave Vanguard a chance too, but they said they would ignore all of our existing low cost basis stocks so I though that was a no go.
Years ago I suggested to a friend what became Vanguard Personal Advisor Select. (At the time there was only one tier, with a $50K min.)
Vanguard was good about preserving investments with large gains and only selling them off gradually over several years. It was a pleasant contrast to TIAA, where this person had watched as an "advisor" immediately sold off everything at the start.
TIAA compounded the problem later by harvesting a loss in a taxable account while purchasing the same security in an IRA - thus generating a wash sale and permanently destroying the ability to declare the harvested loss.
On the tax front, Vanguard seems to be doing okay. Someone else I know with them was told that an account had recently crossed the designated allocation ranges and Vanguard could rebalance. Given that this was in a taxable account and rebalancing would recognize gains, Vanguard provided the option of rebalancing or not.
Maybe you just got hold of an inexperienced person at Vanguard or someone who was having a bad day.

@sven
Fido was wife's 401k custodian so most of her retirement money is there.
Our joint taxable account we started in 1988 at Schwab when we had an advisor for mutual funds. He used Littman-Gregory " No Load Fund Analyst" ( anybody else remember them?) so I finally decided I could do it myself with the newsletter. Then they stopped the newsletter and I didn't think it was worth a 0.7% fee on top of MF fees. Fortunately Fund Alarm was available.
While the advisors at Schwab changed frequently in the past, they have been stable the last 10 years. I can email the guy we have and he responds quickly.
I don't use them for investment advice but they are helpful with paperwork etc. I did explore their financial planning but decided I could do just as well with investments for now.
We never really connected to someone at Fido. I gave them a chance last year to demonstrate their ideas about financial planning and they kinda blew it. The rep didn't seem interested in following up and all they offered was Fido mutual funds.
I gave Vanguard a chance too, but they said they would ignore all of our existing low cost basis stocks so I though that was a no go.
I am sorta in the "paranoid" level of account security ( like Andy Grove) and I think having about a 50/50 split in brokerages is not a bad idea.
If they have good analytics, I have missed them, so I use M* and Quicken and a lot of the stuff people use here.

The "usual suspects" in insurance do seem to require you to have an auto policy with them before they will sell you an umbrella policy. Try working with an independent agent. They are familiar with a variety of lesser known but still solid companies.
I used our building's insurance agent to find a better homeowner's policy. They also priced out an umbrella policy (coupled with the homeowner's policy). They got a good price for each, and I've been using them for about 3 years. They couldn't beat the price I was getting on auto, so I stayed where I was for that policy.
Since my agent's company handles east coast policies, I can't recommend them to you. I'm sure you can find good agents where you are.

Just an FYI FWIW -
For a number of years now, my home and auto insurance are with separate companies. I could not get them to be cheaper with the same company and with multi-policy discount. In any case, at renewal time of my home owners' I tried to get an umbrella from the home owners' company and I was told that car insurance and not home insurance is used as a base for writing umbrella because car is the biggest source of additional (unanticipated) liability, and as such I should ask the car insurance company to underwrite the umbrella or I can just buy a separate umbrella policy without any connection to the car or home insurance. I have not independently verified the accuracy of the above.
I just ended up increasing the liability in the home insurance to the max allowed in there.

Thanks to all for the information, both here and via PM. Years ago, Fidelity used to offer various tiered bonuses. Here, e.g. is its 2018 promotion:
https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/fidelity/Cash-Offer.pdf
Since then, Fidelity limited its public promotions to $1M+ transfers, and subsequently hid promotions altogether. So Fidelity fell off my radar and I hadn't considered them. I'm now encouraged to check directly with them to see what they might do.
Similarly, I've received enough of a nudge regarding Schwab's willingness to deal that I'll check with them as well. It's a solid firm, one I've used off and on for many years.
Going either way I'm still left with the question of what to do with bank cash and Treasury cash. (I still keep a modest amount of cash in a bank just in case of another liquidity freeze; the latter is to keep state income taxes down.)
I could use an internet bank for FDIC-covered cash (many still paying 5%+), and something like SGOV or USFR for liquid Treasury cash.
Finally, regarding the transfer process, I did read The Finance Buff's piece when it came out. It's a good guide in general for doing transfers even though it contains some Vanguard-specific info. Having moved assets back and forth over the years, I am familiar with the process. In fact, it's Vanguard's adding a new fee to do this that is motivating me to look around.
Again, thanks.

Agree.
How many tech stocks survived the dot-com bubble ?
Can the investors stay put during 80% drawdown?
There is something to be said about having a balanced asset allocation for most years. 2022 was an exception.

@AndyJ : It's been a few years, but I can remember being dam happy to get three %. That was for 2 year CD. I started reaching out a few months early , but such is the life of an investor. Interesting times await us ! Rolling some early, rolling some late

Jobs and average hourly pay were both up above expectations, so this morning the whole suite of T yields are up, mainly in 2y and longer. 3y does look better.