for americans: Vanguard vs TD Ameritrade

[captainspoke]

https://www.investopedia.com/vanguard-v ... yptr=yahoo

Just putting this out there. It really looks like vanguard gets blown away in that comparison. One thing that (IMO) escapes proper emphasis is that TD ameritrade has 550 ETFs that are tradable commission-free, and it's not clear if vanguard even offers its own ETFs for commission-free trading. Both got awards for "Best for ETFs", but that's the only one that vanguard got, and there are eight more awards listed for ameritrade, including a 'best overall'. Phone service is not mentioned, but I'd guess ameritrade would come out on top there.

[mule96]

Not that I am targeted here, but it states under vanguard "On the plus side, there are 1,800 ETFs that you can trade without paying a commission". Those are basically vanguard etfs if you check their website.

Imo that comparison is only interesting if you want to do more than buy and hold etfs or funds and do day-trading and stuff like futures. If you buy only index-funds/etf, there is probably not much difference. But blowing away has a different meaning for me

[captainspoke]

Oops! Good correction.

My bad there.

**

I'm not targeting anyone, and have no skin in the game (I use schwab). I just thought this comparison would be interesting.

[adamu]

Had a quick look. My understanding is that people in the US don't need to bother with ETFs, if they want to go with Vanguard, they can just buy the funds directly.

The article doesn't mention mutual funds at all. Vanguard doesn't charge a fee to buy or sell its funds, it's commission free: https://investor.vanguard.com/investing ... tual-funds.

[captainspoke]

If you live there, finding a broker to do business with is easy. But for US expats?

TD ameritrade does deal with US expats, tho vanguard seems to be a "maybe" (at least they won't close down your account if you move abroad, as some brokers do). That's why I thought the comparison useful. (and I'd still choose ameritrade over vanguard!)