Locator: 48482ARCHIVES.
For the archives. Definitely not ready for prime time. Intended audience: immediate and extended family members, no one else, except perhaps friends and colleagues and my Schwab broker. LOL.
Disclaimer: I am inappropriately enthusiastic about Schwab. That's me. I'm not recommending Schwab for anyone except for my immediate and extended family members. This note is for the archives for my immediate and extended family members and no one else. I am not disparaging any other financial institutions in the note below. I'm simply making the case that for my needs, Schwab is my choice. For others, there will be other solutions. I have no relationship with Schwab except as an investor / account holder.
For the archives.
I've had accounts and investments in numerous financial institutions over the last fifty years of my life:
- national, regional, and state banks: savings (minimal) and checking account, including federal/military credit unions
- casualty insurance companies like USAA
- life insurance companies like Thrivent Financial, Sons of Norway
- mutual funds: American Century (20th Century), Vanguard, Franklin Templeton, Janus Henderson
- full-service brokers: Merrill Lynch
- discount brokers: Schwab, Ameritrade, E*Trade
- federal agencies: social security, military pension, TSP (best program ever)
- 529s for education
- all the various financial institutions involved in buying / selling real estate
- lawyers for trusts
- financial advisors
So, what is that? Upwards of two dozen different financial institutions for various reasons.
Except perhaps for life / casualty insurance, everything I've ever done when it comes to financial matters could have been done with Schwab.
For the past several years I've been talking to extended family members about investing for financial independence (I don't like to call it investing for retirement).
My son-in-law, a US Navy submarine XO in a former life, a Harvard MBA, and CIO for a Fortune 500 company headquartered overseas, never considered Schwab as an option.
Our two older granddaughters had earned income for the first time in their lives and both were now 18 years old or older, allowing them to open their own financial accounts.
My son-in-law had to transfer 401(k) assets to another financial institution, and -- surprise, surprise -- he went to Schwab and after the fact told me how easy it was and how satisfied he has been with Schwab.
Our two older granddaughters and their Roth IRAs:
the younger granddaughter wanted to open a Vanguard Roth IRA; it became problematic and cumbersome due to a pre-existing "529" -- Vanguard rules -- so, surprise, surprise - she opened a Roth IRA at Schwab, and again, did that with no experience in such financial matters and asked no help from her father or me; she did it entirely on her own, electronically, on her own.
the older granddaughter wanted to open a Fidelity Roth IRA and it was even more problematic because it involved moving money from USAA to Fidelity and it was becoming, again, difficult and cumbersome. So, in one day, over the course of an hour or so, she opened a Roth IRA with Schwab and transferred the money without any difficulty. Again, she did this all on her own without help from her father or her sister who had opened the Schwab account a few weeks earlier.
The basic problem comes down to this: every financial institution has a history and a "reason for being," or their philosophy. Example:
- insurance companies are good at insuring, not investing
- banks are good at savings and checking accounts, not investing
- Vanguard, American Century, Franklin Templeton are good with mutual funds, not self-directed investing, and not necessarily concerned about tax consequences for the investor (a subject for another day)
My son-in-law, myself and both granddaughters "enrolled" in a "retirement investing" program which I've posted at another blog. It is on-going, the course is not yet complete.
But for investing for financial independence it comes down to this for me:
- discount brokers and that comes down to three:
I've spend a lot of time sorting out pros and cons of Schwab, SoFi, and Robinhood. I've come to the conclusion for me and for my extended family Schwab is head and shoulders preferable to the others.
Three things Schwab has as "core competencies" and its philosophy:
- minimize costs/fees/etc for Schwab investors; time is money;
- provide one-stop shopping for all financial needs (including legal access --more on that later, perhaps); and,
- being laser-focused on financial independence, with as little or as much help, assistance that one wants.
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Disclaimer
Brief
Reminder
Briefly:
- I am
inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front
of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it
comes to the Bakken.
- I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
- I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.
- See disclaimer. This is not an investment site.
- Disclaimer:
this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial,
job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read
here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly:
there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.
- If anything on any of my
posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find
typographical / content errors, I will correct them.
- Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.
- I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.
- And
now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things
Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial
revolution.
- I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom.
- I've now added Oracle to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Oracle.
- Longer version here.
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The Weber Page
From a reader.
From the discount bin at a local grocery store, a $10 rack of lamb on a Weber grill.
Result:
