[ithos]

Banking System Is On “Knife’s Edge” As Fed “May Destroy The World” | Chris Whalen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhV0WtE8jDo&t=1864s

Highly renowned expert on TBTF banks, regional banks, investment bankers and brokers has a great discussion on the financial industry. Has a lot to say about Schwab and just about every other major financial institution. There is no one better.

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

Recently I picked up a book by Charles Schwab, 'Invested'.

To say it was an eye opener is an understatement. It starts with why and how he got into discount brokerage as one of its pioneers. It then goes on to report the ups, downs and very scary times his company went through. I had no idea!

I know many people, particularly those who trade a lot, use Schwab. Although I have kept a small account at Schwab for years I rarely used it. Then last year and earlier this year I sold a couple commercial real estate properties and deposited the proceeds into Schwab, primarily because I wanted to put it into T-bills. Schwab allows a retail investor to buy and sell them whereas the other two brokerages where I have historically kept most of my securities do not.

Then, surprise, surprise, I started getting phone calls from a Schwab 'Advisor' which I ignored for a time. Eventually I returned a call just to let him know I existed. When he discovered I was not a newbie and had other accounts he urged, just short of insisted, I transfer them to Schwab. I declined and told him I had a pretty good memory and remember Lehman Bros. and others which he seemed to grasp. I thereafter discovered Schwab at that time held some long term treasuries which were destined to go down as interest were rising so I still feel a little skittish about it all.

Anyway after reading this book to sleep at night I feel I need to continue to keep my securities distributed among several wirehouses and wonder if others feel the same.

Have always used only two, Fidelity and Vanguard, lately "thinking" of adding another, possibly Schwab. I do NOT like the "pushy" tendency they are ALL developing in the last few years, to "advise me". I have always explained, in a pleasant manner, not angry or insulting, but when they tell me they can "assist me" in making good decisions for my money, that they are fiduciaries only interested in doing the best for me, I just explain that might be true, but in my opinion, NO BODY, NO ONE at any brokerage, cares quite as much about ME and my money as I DO. I don't doubt at all they care about doing "right" for me, but they have a lot of customers and they simply CAN NOT care as much a about my portfolio as I do ! So, I always make that clear as they get more and more "intrusive", the word I use for how they have changed in the last few years... btw, ever read the biography of Jessie Livermore by Richard Smitten ?

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by hdanielblank

---
I concur completely. Fidelity's systems and flexibility with trading orders make it far superior to Vanguard. Vanguard has a few less expensive and broader index options but FIdelity has been quite competitive in this category. As a plug to Schwab, I have all three and find Schwab and Fidelity basically tied in almost all categories. Do NOT accept Schwab's fee-based Robo-Adviser program. They recently had to pay a fine for providing advice not in the customer's best interest. It's not that complicated to do yourself. For most client needs, set your allocation, then come back annually to see whether it's still in balance. Switch some from stocks to cash or bonds if Stocks become more than 5% more than target allocation. Do the reverse after a major selloff, invest some cash to buy stock. Holding lowest-cost index funds is definitely the best way to go.

Still have a fair amount of asserts at Vanguard, but lately, say last 8-10 years have not been as enthusiastic about them as I once was. Now have more with Fidelity, and thinking of diversifying to one more (I mentioned thinking of Schwab in a previous post) as a third. All my life when the major indexes fell in any significant manner, and most all of my friends are taking their money out of the market as fast as they could before it went even lower, that's when I have always done my serious buying ! It's worked well for me, that's all I can say, but I don't urge friends to do the same. To me when things really tank, that's my opportunity to do some serious buying compared to the dollar cost averaging in I'd normally do. To me a really BIG fire sale (crash as some call it) is an opportunity; I just jump in fast and buy as much as I can possibly afford. It's not the norm for most people, but it's worked very well for me. I don't "day trade", but again, I know many, including our own adult children, believe that is the way to build generational wealth, we all have our methods of investing is all I can say.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

Have always used only two, Fidelity and Vanguard, lately "thinking" of adding another, possibly Schwab. I do NOT like the "pushy" tendency they are ALL developing in the last few years, to "advise me". I have always explained, in a pleasant manner, not angry or insulting, but when they tell me they can "assist me" in making good decisions for my money, that they are fiduciaries only interested in doing the best for me, I just explain that might be true, but in my opinion, NO BODY, NO ONE at any brokerage, cares quite as much about ME and my money as I DO. I don't doubt at all they care about doing "right" for me, but they have a lot of customers and they simply CAN NOT care as much a about my portfolio as I do ! So, I always make that clear as they get more and more "intrusive", the word I use for how they have changed in the last few years... btw, ever read the biography of Jessie Livermore by Richard Smitten ?

My experience exactly, but it doesn't really bother me very much. I am immune to pushy salespeople. I like both Vanguard and Fidelity. Great investment companies.

[ithos]

Originally Posted by ithos

Banking System Is On “Knife’s Edge” As Fed “May Destroy The World” | Chris Whalen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhV0WtE8jDo&t=1864s

Highly renowned expert on TBTF banks, regional banks, investment bankers and brokers has a great discussion on the financial industry. Has a lot to say about Schwab and just about every other major financial institution. There is no one better.

The title is a little misleading. Probably the host was trying to maximize the clicks. Not much scare mongering. Primarily it was frank and detailed analysis.

[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

Still have a fair amount of asserts at Vanguard, but lately, say last 8-10 years have not been as enthusiastic about them as I once was. Now have more with Fidelity, and thinking of diversifying to one more (I mentioned thinking of Schwab in a previous post) as a third. All my life when the major indexes fell in any significant manner, and most all of my friends are taking their money out of the market as fast as they could before it went even lower, that's when I have always done my serious buying ! It's worked well for me, that's all I can say, but I don't urge friends to do the same. To me when things really tank, that's my opportunity to do some serious buying compared to the dollar cost averaging in I'd normally do. To me a really BIG fire sale (crash as some call it) is an opportunity; I just jump in fast and buy as much as I can possibly afford. It's not the norm for most people, but it's worked very well for me. I don't "day trade", but again, I know many, including our own adult children, believe that is the way to build generational wealth, we all have our methods of investing is all I can say.

Yes, Vanguard has changed over the last several years and not for the better IMHO.

Last I read Schwab's unrealized bond losses now amount to $19.4B.

In my old home city where I still keep my Schwab account the company recently moved its office from a very high end building in the middle of the financial district to a budget building at its edge. This happened after Schwab absorbed TD Ameritrade but still...