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I'm totally ticked off with Merrill Edge for reasons I will not go into right now.
Need an alternative broker for NTF funds / low commission fund buys, other than Fido, TRP, Vanguard, Schwab, Scottrade, Etrade, Ameritrade, Firsttrade, Merrill Edge. I know some folks preferred ThinkOrSwim but I think it got taken over.
In my experience holding periods vary as well as early termination fees. These often mirror the fund company's rules, not USAA.
As an aside, USAA's brokerage platform (called Fund Marketplace) is a redirect away from USAA home site and is managed in some form by Fidelity. I notice most Fidelity offering have changed from TF to NTF which make owning Fido funds very affordable. You'll notice that USAA funds appear separately from the other 17,000+ funds and their fee column is annoyingly incorrect. All USAA funds are NTF, not just their Advisor share class (which often have higher fees).
Holding periods for NTF funds aren't well establish on the site...thanks for reminding me. I will ask and get back to you.
I have been thinking of moving my spiff (special investment positions) business to them.
Thanks.
Old_Skeet
Like I said in my opening post, I was looking outside the list. Scottrade I already have an account with. I a looking to consolidate my Merrill edge and etrade accounts with another broker.
The ones in my list I already have account with or had account with and they ticked me off, so looking outside that list.
I think that VF excluded most every broker that we use. Not sure what his top criteria are that excluded those brokers. There are several good broker comparisons online, that do include a few more choices. Here is one that ranks brokers by many criteria.
Thanks Maurice. I did google for the obvious, but just like the link you posted, reviews don't dive into specifics about NTF roster, holding periods, etc. Especially the one you posted seems to be geared toward stock investors. I only do Mutual Funds and not even ETFs for which Merrill Edge is actually good with no fee. Problem is Merrill Edge wants to charge me $65 for the honor of holding an account with them.
And apologies if I didn't provide details with my original question. I think it is well known I construct portfolios with individual brokers, with the best of the best I can find with each broker without overlap. TDAmeritrade, E*Trade, and Merrill Edge in my experience do not hire programmers who know math. Firstrade seems to be a back alley operation which I first thought would be a no frills operation at Scottrade. The remaining brokerages I listed I either already have account with or I manage accounts for family members so want to keep separate from our assets so there is no confusion. (I might have mentioned members in my extended family are severely investment-challenged, to have to come to me to help them manage their money).
@Vintage, Given that your list of ones you don't want includes many of the major brokers, this is a bit tricky. Since I don't know your trading style, there are two other significant ones worth mentioning. One is Interactive Brokers. For sophisticated investors who really like to trade stocks, my impression is it's one of the best, but it really isn't right for investors who are buy and hold types and probably not the best for mutual funds: https://interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=commission&p=stocks&ns=T https://interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=commission&p=funds1&ns=T Another one is Trade King: https://tradeking.com/ It is also excellent for trading stocks and for mutual funds it offers an interesting trade-off. It has I believe no NTF funds, but charges $9.95 for all mutual fund trades. The reason that is interesting is if you like to invest in fund families not on the NTF platforms such as Vanguard, Dodge & Cox and Fidelity. Funds on NTF platforms generally have higher expense ratios than ones that aren't. So Trade King could be a good secondary broker for low expense ratio kinds of funds as the trading cost for those is much less than the $17 to $50 commission you'll find at the major brokers. There is of course a real push at those brokers to buy their NTF products as they get a hefty fee--as high as 0.40% of assets--for allowing those funds on their NTF platforms.
A call into USAA provided the following information:
All USAA funds are NTF (No Transaction Fee) and there is no minimum holding period nor a early redemption fee.
TF funds (which are designated as "No Load" in FundMarketplace) is a Transaction Fee of $45 in and $45 out. An investor can minimize these costs by setting up periodic purchases and redemptions.
To determine sales fees such as loads, holding periods and redemption fees, first select the fund's ticker symbol from the main search page. This will open a separate page for that particular fund. Select the operations tab(along the top of this new page) and look for the information box "sales fees". I selected a load fund and this fund has the following sales fees:
Firstrade - at least physically, I can assure you that it is not in a back alley. Its old location was indeed a couple of blocks into an older industrial area of Flushing (i.e. toward Willets Point where Citifield is), but their new digs are half a block from the center of Flushing (near Main Street, not Wall Street). I don't use them often, but I've never had a problem with their service for basic fund investing.
ThinkOrSwim was acquired by Ameritrade in 2009 and is now marketed as another "platform" for TDA. Don't know what that means exactly.
Just to toss out a fresh name, how about Siebertnet? If you keep a high enough balance to avoid fees, it's the only way I know to get Fidelity funds NTF (outside of Fidelity), apparently even Advisor funds like New Insights (FINSX). Though TF transactions at $35 are not cheap. They seem to provide access to Franklin Templeton Advisor class shares as well, albeit with TF, e.g. Templeton Global Total Return (TTRZX).
A call into USAA provided the following information:
All USAA funds are NTF (No Transaction Fee) and there is no minimum holding period nor a early redemption fee.
... ...
Hope that is helpful.
It most certainly is bee. However, wanted to clarify when you said All USAA funds are NTF. You meant All USAA funds are NTF AND all NTF funds they offer have no minimum holding period stipulated by brokerage itself?
@VintageFreak, Only USAA Funds (ie USSCX, USNQX,etc) have no minimum holding period. As for other NFT funds on their brokerage platform I would suggest opening the fund page and clicking on the operations tab as mentioned in a previous comment.
USAA is such a well-run company. I have my auto and home insurance with them. Every year, I get a dividend. I'm not upset at Schwab, but after reading this thread, I'm considering moving some assets over to USAA because I like them so much. Oh, and did I mention great customer service?
@VintageFreak, Only USAA Funds (ie USSCX, USNQX,etc) have no minimum holding period. As for other NFT funds on their brokerage platform I would suggest opening the fund page and clicking on the operations tab as mentioned in a previous comment.
Yeah, I tried that but it just takes you to M* page. Not a biggie. I'm not planning on day-trading mutual funds or anything. Would just like to know. Hopefully it is not more than 180 days, which I can handle. Just to clarify, I am not talking about early redemption fee imposed by the fund company, but rather the holding period NTF platforms themselves impose on TOP of what the fund does.
I'm going to wait till I cross my holding periods at Merrill Edge, then move assets over. Sometime between now and then I expect to open USAA account. Thank you very much @bee.
Doh! If I do not have link to military personnel, I'm not eligible to open account with USAA. Back to square one.
As they say, "USAA (the military) is looking for a few good insurance risks, GEICO are looking for the rest". Marrying a WAC (Women Army Corp) might be one suggestion, though you might have to change your name to Vintage_WAC_O'Freak.
Doh! If I do not have link to military personnel, I'm not eligible to open account with USAA. Back to square one.
The link is tenuous, at best. My xh was in the military for 3 yrs, when we were in our 20's. We are both 59 now and we've been divorced for 13 yrs and I still qualify!
Comments
@bee - USAA, surprise!!! Not a bad collection. But, I'm having trouble finding the "holding" period for NTF funds. If you can please oblige?
brokerage-review.com/
Wondering why not Scottrade?
I have been thinking of moving my spiff (special investment positions) business to them.
Thanks.
Old_Skeet
As an aside, USAA's brokerage platform (called Fund Marketplace) is a redirect away from USAA home site and is managed in some form by Fidelity. I notice most Fidelity offering have changed from TF to NTF which make owning Fido funds very affordable. You'll notice that USAA funds appear separately from the other 17,000+ funds and their fee column is annoyingly incorrect. All USAA funds are NTF, not just their Advisor share class (which often have higher fees).
Holding periods for NTF funds aren't well establish on the site...thanks for reminding me. I will ask and get back to you.
Fund Marketplace:
https://awrd.morningstar.com/SB/USAASB/USAAScreener.asp
The ones in my list I already have account with or had account with and they ticked me off, so looking outside that list.
And apologies if I didn't provide details with my original question. I think it is well known I construct portfolios with individual brokers, with the best of the best I can find with each broker without overlap. TDAmeritrade, E*Trade, and Merrill Edge in my experience do not hire programmers who know math. Firstrade seems to be a back alley operation which I first thought would be a no frills operation at Scottrade. The remaining brokerages I listed I either already have account with or I manage accounts for family members so want to keep separate from our assets so there is no confusion. (I might have mentioned members in my extended family are severely investment-challenged, to have to come to me to help them manage their money).
https://interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=commission&p=stocks&ns=T
https://interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=commission&p=funds1&ns=T
Another one is Trade King: https://tradeking.com/
It is also excellent for trading stocks and for mutual funds it offers an interesting trade-off. It has I believe no NTF funds, but charges $9.95 for all mutual fund trades. The reason that is interesting is if you like to invest in fund families not on the NTF platforms such as Vanguard, Dodge & Cox and Fidelity. Funds on NTF platforms generally have higher expense ratios than ones that aren't. So Trade King could be a good secondary broker for low expense ratio kinds of funds as the trading cost for those is much less than the $17 to $50 commission you'll find at the major brokers. There is of course a real push at those brokers to buy their NTF products as they get a hefty fee--as high as 0.40% of assets--for allowing those funds on their NTF platforms.
A call into USAA provided the following information:
All USAA funds are NTF (No Transaction Fee) and there is no minimum holding period nor a early redemption fee.
TF funds (which are designated as "No Load" in FundMarketplace) is a Transaction Fee of $45 in and $45 out. An investor can minimize these costs by setting up periodic purchases and redemptions.
To determine sales fees such as loads, holding periods and redemption fees, first select the fund's ticker symbol from the main search page. This will open a separate page for that particular fund. Select the operations tab(along the top of this new page) and look for the information box "sales fees". I selected a load fund and this fund has the following sales fees:
Hope that is helpful.
ThinkOrSwim was acquired by Ameritrade in 2009 and is now marketed as another "platform" for TDA. Don't know what that means exactly.
Just to toss out a fresh name, how about Siebertnet? If you keep a high enough balance to avoid fees, it's the only way I know to get Fidelity funds NTF (outside of Fidelity), apparently even Advisor funds like New Insights (FINSX). Though TF transactions at $35 are not cheap. They seem to provide access to Franklin Templeton Advisor class shares as well, albeit with TF, e.g. Templeton Global Total Return (TTRZX).
Only USAA Funds (ie USSCX, USNQX,etc) have no minimum holding period. As for other NFT funds on their brokerage platform I would suggest opening the fund page and clicking on the operations tab as mentioned in a previous comment.
USAA is such a well-run company. I have my auto and home insurance with them. Every year, I get a dividend. I'm not upset at Schwab, but after reading this thread, I'm considering moving some assets over to USAA because I like them so much. Oh, and did I mention great customer service?
I'm going to wait till I cross my holding periods at Merrill Edge, then move assets over. Sometime between now and then I expect to open USAA account. Thank you very much @bee.