buying Vanguard VTI in my Etrade acct verses Vanguard?

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Shallowpockets
Posts: 2533
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 9:26 am

buying Vanguard VTI in my Etrade acct verses Vanguard?

Post by Shallowpockets »

Would there be any difference in buying VTI (ETF) through my Etrade account than by using Vanguard total stock market fund.
I do not have a Vanguard account at present.
Looks like only fee is my $4.95 trade fee. Would be easier than setting up a Vanguard account and transferring money. Same goes for other Vanguard funds verses their ETF counterparts. I did a comparison on Vanguard site between the two and a difference over 10 years was $10.75. Plus for Etrade $4.95 commission. I think that is entirely reasonable.
Wanted to post this here to make sure I am not missing something, as in, you don't know what you don't know.

Thanks
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goingup
Posts: 4901
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:02 pm

Re: buying Vanguard VTI in my Etrade acct verses Vanguard?

Post by goingup »

I think that's a tough question to answer without knowing how many trades you'll make into how many funds. For instance, if you plan to contribute to 3 funds each month, you'll pay 3 X 12 X 4.95. That's $178.

When you pay $0 trading fees, you're not constrained by them. I don't pay trading fees, but if I was only going to do a few a year, it wouldn't be enough to open another account.
Topic Author
Shallowpockets
Posts: 2533
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 9:26 am

Re: buying Vanguard VTI in my Etrade acct verses Vanguard?

Post by Shallowpockets »

Thanks. That is a point to make. I was looking at a one time trade, not a regular monthly investment.
rgs92
Posts: 3436
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:00 pm

Re: buying Vanguard VTI in my Etrade acct verses Vanguard?

Post by rgs92 »

Fidelity is better for buying ETFs. You could get the Ishares total stock market ETF ITOT (the equivalent of the Vanguard one, VTI) at zero commission. Or you could just buy VTI at the same $4.95. It looks like Etrade doesn't have a good set of no-commission ETFs.
At Fidelity, you can also buy their Premium Index Funds that are just as good as Vanguard's.
Slacker
Posts: 1032
Joined: Thu May 26, 2016 8:40 am

Re: buying Vanguard VTI in my Etrade acct verses Vanguard?

Post by Slacker »

I've been looking around recently to pull my account from TDAmeritrade (due to the change of commission free ETFs).

You may want to consider Merrill Edge if you have more than $50,000 in your taxable account as this qualifies you as "Platinum". They give you 30 free trades a month when you are "Platinum".

I'll be moving to Merrill Edge after Jan 1.
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