If you use someone (fidelity, Schwab, Fisher, EJ, on and on), the client only assumes they are making money, but in reality, the hired broker is the only person making money. Most clients don't know what they are making, nor what they are paying in loads/fees when somebody else controls everything. I have helped over a dozen friends with their portfolios and every 1 of them was using a brokerage house to run their portfolio, and every 1 of them when I looked at it weren't making the money they could have been making, no where close to what I was making, and most of them were in loaded funds or funds that had higher fees that an index fund. I will always remember a couple of friends that when they went in to fire their broker, they got a response: "I was just going to call you about making some changes", classic!
Since I have been doing my own management, I have used many of these firms websites to manage my portfolio. Overall, I like Schwabs different websites. I haven't used fidelity's or anybody else's site in over a decade, so maybe another brokerage house leapfrogged Schwabs. I get so many perks being with Schwab that would cost me a lot of money if I had to pay for them being somewhere else.
As for AI, Schwab has had their Robo-advisor investment process that cost nothing to use, for many years now. The drawback is this robot process keeps some cash (could be good or bad) sitting in your portfolio.
After 2021, I get out of the market completely when I see issues coming up instead of riding it out and put my $$$ in money market funds. I did this at the end of 2021 and last December. When I think the market will turn around or the economy will get better, I get back in. No fund manager will do this, and I never did this either before 2021. But now it's a game with me on how close I can time the market. While others will wait for months and months of gains to get back to being even, I start making money from the start or pretty close to the start of the rally. Plus, there are always certain stocks that look to be favored after a downturn that I jump into and ride them until they stall. Some of these made me hundred(s) of percent gains when I was getting back into the market during 2023. There are many companies that are prime to make a lot of money when things turn around this time too, its just a waiting game now.
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