[manaboutown]

I spread my securities holdings roughly into thirds among three companies: Vanguard, Schwab and Ameriprise. Today I would not choose Ameriprise but the company is a legacy from the 1970s Olde Discount, then H&R Block years. It is still OK as I rarely trade in my accounts there because they do charge a commission beyond the spreads Vanguard and Schwab receive. My Roth IRA and C corporation accounts are still there and I would have to navigate through a paper blizzard to change companies.

Although I view Fidelity as a good company I have experienced some unsettling difficulties with them. Back in the 1970s they spread some my bond trades into several purchases/sales to increase their commissions. When I called them on it I could hear one guy laughing in the background. That did not settle well with me. More recently after I sold some commercial real estate I opened an account at Fidelity. When I attempted to open an account there for my RLT they refused to use the address I used on the personal account they had opened. I closed my account at Fidelity and doubt I will ever use them again.

As an aside when I made a large deposit into Schwab the rep I had been assigned but never met called me several times. I finally called him back to stop the calls. During our discussion I let it slip I had other accounts. He immediately rather forcefully requested I transfer them to Schwab. I declined and explained I remember Lehman Bros and other outfits no longer with us. BTW, at that time Schwab held a huge amount of long term bonds which had gone south, way south, and I was a little antsy about that for a while but I needed to be able to both buy and sell T bills which I could not do at Vanguard or Ameriprise. Schwab makes sizable sums on the deposits relegated to its bank in brokerage accounts and pays very little interest, maybe a quarter of one percent on them. When interest rates jumped customers wised up and moved most of their Schwab bank account funds into money market funds. Vanguard retains my funds in an interest bearing money market account upon which I can trade and write checks. At Schwab to trade or write a check I must first move my money from its money market fund (which pays less interest than Vanguard's) into my Schwab bank account.