dkturner wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 6:51 am
beyou wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 12:20 am
What exactly can't you do online with Vanguard ?
In theory you can do virtually everything at Vanguard online. In practice the online stuff frequently either doesn’t work or doesn’t work properly.
My most recent “encounter” with Vanguard online was in early January when I wanted to update my IRA RMD for 2025. My profile said I was having 10% of my RMD withheld for federal income tax. Wrong. I clicked on the link to make a change to my actual withholding rate and it didn’t work. It kept up coming back to 10%. Called my Vanguard representative and got a team member who explained the system wasn’t working properly and went on to correct the error.
This happens frequently. It’s usually not the same thing over and over again - it’s just random incompetence.
Could you see the correction online after they modified it ?
As a retired developer and IT manager, I can say such less frequent actions often do not get automated at all, or if so, maybe not beta tested well enough. A function needed and used everyday will always get more attention than one used annually by only a portion of clients. Even worse are new acct setup, this is often the most poorly automated at smaller firms that do not have mass retail volume like the big 3 discussed regularly. That said, they should do it right or not at all.
My secondary broker has some offline functions, but competent people answer in a timely manner and get the job done, which is not my preference but better than using poorly tested broken online functions.
The main thing broken that I use is portfolio watch, but the biggest problem is how it handles external holdings, which is incorrect after recent changes and they refuse to fix with dumb explanation why it cant/wont be fixed. I guess external holdings are not a priority. Again, they should remove the feature, or fix it. But they leave it knowingly broken.