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My company matches 3%. Is that low or on par?
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HYSA anyone recommends?
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Rising Star
I use all three. My preferred is fidelity
use trademegastocks. com thank me later. its tax free and decentralised.
Separately, invest in your 401k as much as possible as early as possible. If your employer offers a match, be absolutely sure to take advantage of it! Choose your investments based on your investment horizon and risk tolerance. Diversify your holdings. Check your portfolio performance quarterly and adjust your holdings where it makes sense. Do not withdraw or take loans against your 401k. Best of luck to you
Fidelity has the best/easiest to use UI.
Chief
I wouldn't use any of those for "trading."
I wouldn't use any brokerage for "trading."
I wouldn't do "trading."
But I would use any of those three to buy and hold index funds. Especially Vanguard.
Chief
I did. I said that all three are fine and that I personally trust Vanguard a little more than the other two.
As for selling when you need money for something, that does mean placing a trade, but I don't think it is what anyone here means by "trading."
I’m not saying you should replace your stock portfolio. But adding even 1–5% in Bitcoin or Ethereum|Xrp can improve diversification and potentially increase long-term returns. Institutions like BlackRock and Fidelity are already heavily involved, and Bitcoin ETFs make it as simple as buying a stock. You can start small—maybe a small weekly DCA—to test the waters without taking big risks.”
Just thought I would share that I just had another McRib for dinner.
I think of "trading" and "investing" as two different things. If you're new to the markets, do not trade. Invest instead. Open an account and make periodic contributions to it. I'm a fan of ETFs and you might look at SPY, DIA, QQQ, and a few others. Do not concentrate your funds in any one stock. Diversification, even within a particular industry, is much better than no diversification at all. At Schwab (among others I'm sure), you can even buy CDs. Finally, I would avoid crypto. Read up, move slowly and methodically, diversify, and be patient.
Trading and investing both involve buying financial products to make money. But let's say surfing and tubing both involve riding a floatation device in the water for fun. These are true in so far as they go. Tubing requires you to know how to swim but surfing requires a lot more. investing requires a basic understanding of markets but trading requires a trading model for how markets work and a good understanding of when that model will return tested results and when it has devolved into random choices.
100% Fidelity
Why Fidelity 100%?
You can't go wrong with either.
Since you already have a Vanguard account, opening accounts at Fidelity and Schwab to just see how their respective interfaces look like, might be an idea.
I have all three but about 85% of my portfolio is in Vanguard. As GSK said somewhere, I trust them more than the other two.
And remember, it's not a *trading* platform but an investing one. Realizing the difference between those terms will ultimately be the guiding light of your financial life.
Any of the 3 would be good. Is there anything in particular that you need from your brokerage. For example if you need one with physical branches for you to visit, vanguard is out.
Just be careful of independence issues when using a Robo advisor. They generally are not allowable.
Enthusiast
Fidelity, once you accumulate enough it’s nice that they have folks you can chat with in person.
Being new to investments in trading portfolios can be complex. But with extra inquires you can find your feet on firm knowledge grounds.
I'll like you to consider trading currencies which gives you a low risk and maximized profit window.
You have better option trading with a transparent Broker and following a Conservative Trader. You're sure to make between 30-40% interest on your funds at the end of each month with your capital only exposed to 5% risk level.
I added a screenshot of one of my account's outcome.
I have to weigh in here too. Don't do this. I'm sure most can see it's a scam but maybe someone reading it will actually believe this is a good idea to try out. To that person, please do not fall for this.
I opened account in all 3 and found Vanguard simple and easy to use for people like me who are passive investors
Good for you starting off in investing. I'm 63 and been at it for awhile - LOL My recommendation is to contribute to your 401K enough to receive your full employer match. Free money is good. If your employer offers a Roth 401K, pay the taxes and do that. Trust me, your future 60 year old self will thank you. The problem with 401Ks nobody talks about much is one can do too good of a job with them and create a future tax bomb when they hit their 70s. That is a topic in and of itself, ask ChatGPT about it.
As far as investments, a no brainer good way to start is a target date fund, Vanguard has them. That kind of fund will be aggressive when you are younger and taper to less aggressive as you get older.
The great thing about Vanguard is it's offerings have lower costs than the others, this matters over time. The bad thing about Vanguard is it's website is simple and seemingly designed for old people. That is probably OK for now but if one is more "into" investing, Schwab offers reports and Fidelity has the best UI in my opinion. I use all 3.
Good luck and remember, dollar cost averaging over decades is your friend, don't worry about the day to day...
Long time Schwab customer here. Their bank is decent. They do have brick and mortar offices that in my area are on a skeleton crew. Schwab makes most of its money by lending out your dormant cash if you have an actively managed account if that tells you anything. Most of their newfangled schemes are boondoggles. Schwab is where you park money until you figure out what to do with it.
Well are you looking to trade or to invest? Those are vastly different things. You probably shouldn’t be “trading” as a beginner investor. Trading involves doing a ton of market research, following trends, timing the market and essentially gambling. This isn’t how to make consistent money or save for retirement.
Investing involves setting money aside consistently and letting it grow and compound slowly over time. Any platform can handle that for you. As a new investor you should be looking into low cost or free index funds to “set it and forget it.”
Each platform offers its own funds but you can invest into the most common index funds on any of them (SPLG, VOO, FXAIX, VTI, DGRO, SCHG). My personal recommendation is Fidelity because they offer zero fee index funds (Schwab & Van don’t), fractional share buying (Schwab & Van have limitations), and an easy to use platform with great customer service.
You should start with some basics such as understanding a stock vs. ETF so you know what you’re buying. And then set aside a dollar amount and a frequency and just let the money do its thing.
Thinkorswim via Schwab is my preference.
Schwab has a good platform
if you’re already at vanguard, you’ll likely get better treatment at vanguard.*
I wouldn’t go with fidelity unless you have a lot of money to clearly never be restricted. They have a lot of manual processes and will take the opportunity to skim here and there if they can.
schwab is lenient with trading permissions. Their only issue is internal clearing and PFOF. If you actively trade, your data is being aggregated and sent to market makers who will pick apart your trade.
There are DMA brokers out there but not geared towards general retail users.
*It’s not stated but as a loyal customer you can negotiate reduced fees for high volume, and get other perks if you have large deposits with a broker.
tldr: if you’re happy with vanguard, and new to personal investing, sticking with vanguard is a fine choice
Clark Howard just spoke to this yesterday in his newsletter mentioned all 3 as "go-to" options
I use all three for clients, vanguard & Fidelity for myself.
The expense ratio on money markets at vangard are lower than Fidelity but both have good personal interfaces...
I don't use Schwab but not because I don't like them... just havent used them yet for personal accounts.
Does anyone know about Charles Schwab Robo account -how it works? and is it good?
See above; you need to think about independence