I called Vanguard earlier this week about a problem I has having with ETF purchases. I was on hold for less than 2-3 minutes and they figured out the issue with no problem in about the same amount of time.
I left Fidelity for Vanguard 13 years ago and have mostly been very pleased with their customer service. It seems to me that as soon as Mr. Bogle died things started falling apart. It may also be their massive growth, but I think it's the big guy's absence.
Well, they pushed Bogle out decades ago. He was the moral compass and when he left, things started going off the rails. They still have low fee's depending on which fund you choose.
I agree 100%. After Bogles death, I seriously wonder why they haven't been investigated....the valuations on small investors is too volatile to ignore by the authorities
@@anonymous135 After they pushed Bogle out, they started opening a lot of funds with higher fees, because that made them more money. Because index fund investing is "boring." It's very sad, because Bogle's intentions were so positive for average investors to understand and get into the market.
Vanguard is not a good option for someone who doesn't have a lot of time and patience. When people ask me for a recommendation, I usually send them to Fidelity.
I left Fidelity and transferred to Schwab’s intelligent portfolio. I get access to CFP for very reasonable fees. However, i don’t see a growth in investments. Unfortunately, i didn’t know bout Roth’s when i was younger and can defer money for growth in money.
Vanguard failed to make my required (internal) minimal distribution (RMD)from my IRA to my taxable acount. This had been scheduled. Last year, when I noted at tax time that no RMD had been made, I called the Vanguard rep and he acknowledged that Vanguard had failed in its fiduciary duty to make this transfer. The excise tax penalty for failure to make this transfer is 50% of the amount. Vanguard's response: get an accountant (at my expense). After researching, I petitioned the IRS with the form and showed the contract and Vanguard's failure. Then Vanguard admitted they had screwed up. After a year messing with a tax extension, I finally got my $5,000 tax penalty.
Also a Clark Howard baby here! My mother listened and watched Clark Howard ALL THE TIME when I was in highschool and college. Now in my 30, we listen to it together 😂.
To all of those touting Fidelity, please know that Fidelity has a VERY large operations office in a couple of cities in India. (Bangalore being the primary one.) When I retired from my job at Fidelity in 2019 (after 13 years there) they had over 5,000 employees in India and an additional 400 tech employees in Dalian, China. They were nearly complete in the process of out-sourcing my job description to India when I retired. As an employee, I was required to keep all of my investments at Fidelity. When I left, I moved all of them, including my Fidelity 401k, to Vanguard. My position is, if you're primarily an American company and most, if not all, of your business is done with Americans, then you should support America jobs as much as possible. Fidelity's out-sourcing of American jobs to India and China is the main reason I moved all of my assets away from them.
It’s funny then how I can easily understand the customer service reps on the phone ..they all have perfect English and are very nice .. the India/China people must be giving certain others jobs than being on the phone
@@WuzUpCB All customer service centers for Fidelity are here in the US -- Texas, Kentucky, Utah and some other states. It's the operations departments that are in India. A lot of transaction processing, computer work, etc. that customers don't see is done in India. There are, however, some Fidelity retirement department personnel that are customer facing (mainly to HR/benefits departments at client companies) that are based in India. This is the job that I did and which was slowly over about 5 years phased out of the US to India.
Vanguard. It was a bear setting up our accounts and we ultimately signed up for the Vanguard Investment Advisor service (1/3 the cost of a 1% fiduciary advisor) and he has been excellent. We now have "one throat to choke" and he prepares our plan, actively manages our allocations, and does tax loss harvesting.
My 401(k) is at Fidelity. Every stinkin' time I call there, before I get my simple question answered, I can count on 20 minutes of rep trying to review my entire portfolio, get me to meet with a local Fidelity rep at a brick and mortar office. I keep telling them no, already did that not interested as I'm DIY. I now have the majority of my retirement funds at VG. VG doesn't try to sell me anything. Fidelity hopes you're going to buy the many funds with high expense ratios. VG doesn't have any high expense ratio funds. Fidelity is in biz to make a profit. I'm sticking with VG. Also, if you're a buy and hold investor, how often do you need to call? If you wait 'til Dec 30th to call and conduct a year-end transaction, do you really expect to get through right away?
MR. CLARK regular Joe & Josephine like myself who were never taught about finances need people like you. You are protecting us. I don't know anything about Vanguard but for those who do I say Thank you for calling Vanguard on the carpet. I hope I can learn from you and help someone. You the man. Take care.
Clark, you are right about customer service with Vanguard. I had to leave them and go to Fidelity because I could never talk to anybody at Vanguard. I appreciate that Fidelity actually has a live agent near my town which I can visit whenever I need to.
Never used vanguard, but I’ve had Fidelity for two decades, and now have a significant amount of money there. When I needed help with two different rollovers and moving my HSA account there, I never had to wait more than 15 or 20 seconds for somebody to talk to me on the phone. When I would send a secure message, someone would respond within an hour or two and usually I would receive at least one if not three or four phone call follow ups to make sure everything was OK. I also have a Charles Schwab account that was recently converted from a TD Ameritrade account, as of now I have had no issues, but if I did, I would move my taxable broker account to Fidelity in a minute Fidelity is my choice at this point
Been with Vanguard over 40 years. Customer service has been declining over the years and is really bad now. Sometimes it is very difficult to get any help from them.
Clark, where we live our senior apartment went up 28.5 %. We signed a new 2 year lease. The bad thing about living in Walla Walla Washington is that every senior apartments is 20-30% more. But we checked other cities in Washington and it’s just as bad. Thanks for your show. John
I missed the part where the Vanguard FEES were discussed. Poor customer service sounds like the issue... I recently started using Vanguard because other brokerages wanted crazy fees for me to buy/sell Vanguard funds. So far - seems like I'm not getting bitten by fees at Vanguard.
I rented for a good number of years. I remember seeing those fees start. They wouldn't let you bring your own washer and drier but then they'd try to rent one out to you. Another one was the mandatory trash collection. I can haul my own bag to the dumpster. The monthly pet fee is dumb. I understand a pet deposit and maybe an extra clean-up fee when you move out. A monthly fee? That's just taking advantage of the renter. You can tell them, "no," on this. I told them, "no," on the washer drier fee/rental. I said, "I had a washer and drier and you said I couldn't have it here so I gave it away. I'm not paying a fee on top of that." I won that one. Weirdly the $25/trash pick up fee they wouldn't budge on so I moved out. They lost a consistent tenant causing no problems over $25. That was their choice.
Been with Vanguard for many years. I’ve heard the horror stories and believe them but so far it hasn’t happened to me. I don’t want to move all my accounts so hopefully they’ll get it together.
Fidelity is a MUCH more accommodating company and helps you easily invest on your terms with their help and support. I have 4 monthly auto-investment transfers from my checking to my Fidelity accounts that I can turn on or off easily - week one, week two, week three, week 4. I can do $50 each week/fund, or $100 or whatever. They actual HELP guide you through the decision making process when selecting investments. Transferring between funds is super easy, too. They're just a MUCH BETTER company.
I guess i haven't been in the know with Vanguard, although I've been investing with them for over 30 years and never had a problem getting customer service help when needed!
Vanguard's website has gotten worse lately, much harder to navigate. If they improved their website they would have fewer phone calls and their service could improve
Absolutely agree with you about the website. Recently after a somewhat frustrating encounter with it, trying to make a purchase, I was prompted for a review! It just took me 15 minutes to do what used to take me 30 seconds. I'm not sure I would have been able to keep it constructive!!🙄
I've been with Vanguard for 30 years. As of late their website has gone downhill especially compared to Fidelity. Recently they sent an email to me stating they would no longer handle inherited IRA Required Minimum Distributions. I know the table is different than the standard IRA RMD, but it's just another example of customer no service. Fidelity has sent no such email. I thing the no service may be due to Vanguard trying to get everyone to pay for investing advisors. Jack Bogle would fire them all!
Customer service costs money. Perhaps Vanguard needs to raise fees a bit because it sounds like they have too many customers for the size of the customer base. When you have the size of Vanguard, the hike wouldn't need to me much per investor. Poor customer service is inexcusable.
I left Vanguard because they imposed a penalty on me that was extreme for my mistake and was the first I ever made. I tried to tell them this penalty would result in me leaving them even though they lost nothing for my mistake. They didn't even care told me I could leave and would not let me talk to someone with ability to work out a better solution. I had a considerable amount of money with them and I pulled it all after 8 years because I felt many years of being loyal and dollar cost average into my account for a long time they treated me like I did not matter to them and there attitude put me off. Thats fine I will go where I am treated better.
I would imagine that notable businesses like Clark Howard's would receive the best possible service from Vanguard, but we everyday folks will not get that level of attention...
I have been with Vanguard for 10 years. I noticed only a couple times the calls and hold times were difficult. Lately I have noticed no delays and have been able to get help within 5 minutes with anything I needed.
Been at Vanguard for over 35 years. I’ve notice when I look at the performance page the balances aren’t correct. The balance is correct on the summary page. I haven’t gotten an answer why the balance is correct on the performance page. Very concerning!
Years ago I invested $10,000 in a Vanguard fund. I had all the dividends and capital gain distributions reinvested, for years. Then came an economic downturn. As a result the NAV for the fund dropped causing the value of my account to drop below $10,000. So Vanguard was going to charge me a service because my account was valued under $10K even though my original purchase was $10K. They refused to reverse the fee. So I liquidated my account even though it was at a loss. I know it was not a smart move on my part but I have no regrets.
My landlord just sent me my renewal offer here in Las Vegas. Rent going up from 1406.00 base rent to 1472.00 base rent for a crappy little 1BR PLUS a new 20.00/ month made up " amenity fee" for a bunch of crap I don't use like their "" cyber cafe" ( which consists of a computer and a coffee maker at the office ). I told them nope and their regional manager offered to reduce the rent increase by 16 dollars. I move in to my 1240/month apartment in 2 months. They are going to actually force me to move out to save money rather than be reasonable.
I've had good luck with Vanguard customer service recently, but their website is not nearly as good-looking or as easy too use as it used to be. I also miss the Vanguard blog.
Clark been listening and watching you over 30 year's. Been with Vanguard over 2 decades. Most recent contact with customer service few months ago. Everything went perfectly fine. Let me ask you Clark, have YOU or any of your team members had any issues? Because you didn't say so on this show.
Thanks for being a long-time listener! 💚 We haven't personally experienced any customer service issues from Vanguard, which is one reason why Clark hasn't moved the company's accounts. We're reporting what so many others are experiencing (as you can see from the many comments here) and encourage everyone to assess their personal experiences and switch if they feel like they need to for better customer service. Glad your experience has been pleasant like ours!
Clark I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been with them for most of my investing. Going into this 3 day weekend, I found my account access has been disabled. After several hours on hold at multiple times of the day, I was never able to get through to fraud department or anyone to see if my funds are safe. Needless to say it’s been a nervous few days. As soon as I can, will be getting my funds off their platform and into a brokerage that gives a **** about the little guy 😢
Clark, I'm a client of Vanguard's with several Mil with them. What exactly has Vanguard been doing to us? I've been with them for almost 20 years, and outside of a brusque agent's attitude on one occasion, they've been magnificent in all matters. What exactly are the fees of Vanguard to cause you to mention them? Thank you for your answers to my questions.
Hey Clark, ben with Vanguard for over 25 years have an education savings account. They said I needed transfer them over to 529 or close the account or liquidate it because they are retiring, the ESA accounts. ESA are still relevant because you can use the money for K through 12. 529’s are limited to 10,000 per year. Education savings accounts are unlimited for private education from K thru 12. Also you can invest ESAs in anything. 529 you have only certain funds you can use. Moved my ESA accounts to Schwab, and yes they don’t charge you for paper statements. Vanguard charges $25 per account? What’s going on at vanguard
I am a Vanguard customer for years, and have Flagship status. Customer service has gone downhill. And you are right, they do not want to hear it. I used to be with USAA. Same thing. Terrible customer service and they wouldn't listen.
I called Vanguard yesterday, for a problem, and the rep who was talking to me made no sense, somehow the call was disconnected, I believe I was hung up on, but I can't prove it. It makes me think of going to Fidelity.
Left Vanguard with a very healthy balance recently for Fidelity for multiple reasons... First being their political activism, and second being their features such as lack of fractional shares and ability to auto-roll treasuries. Happy so far.
@@jolkraeremeark6949 not me alone, there was a changing of the guard so to speak. A large number of people left, we also got a new CEO and he’s solely focused on numbers, not the people behind the numbers. It’s unfortunate.
(circa 1:50) if you knew someone who was a Stockbroker that was in your Saturday morning 5 mile run group who occasionally allowed you to do a small "Odd Lot" purchase of a dividend paying stock without charging the full broker's fee (and warned you about not keeping it in some street name where some other stockbroker could get their hands on it and trade or "churn" it still have some of those stocks and most of them did good -- but for the last 30 years or so new money or reinvested money if not needed for the bank accounts went to Vanguard think that stockbroker before he moved away to Calif. or somewhere said something that Vanguard which was kind of a novelty then had better mutual funds than some of the others - he had not been much of a fan of mutual funds
I have been with Vanguard since 1995 and they have terrible customer service for the last 3 yrs. When I call about downloading transactions to Quicken I haven't been able to do so since January 2023! Unhappy Customer 🙁
The issue on rent fees, IMHO, is related to two things. The ever increasing burden that government puts on the person who rents a property. Combine that with rent controls and the landlord, generally speaking, is incurring significant extra cost with limited ability to pass those direct costs onto the renter. Secondly over the past few years there has been a significant amount of renters who refused to pay their rent as the were “ protected” by COVID mandates that they could not be evicted. Many cases where people haven’t paid for up to 18 months while the landlord has to pay the mortgage, property taxes etc just to keep the property. Then, even when you get to the point of eviction states like CA and NY make you pay the renter essentially to move out… another cost. Why a person would want to be a landlord is beyond me. To much government regulation, moochers and little to no financial return on your investment.
I've been with Vanguard for over 35 years. I've noticed the no service down turn at Vanguard. The fees have gone up and the service has gone down. I no longer recommend Vanguard. Vogel would roll over in his grave.
Yep, my most recent experiences with Vanguard have been customer no-service ones. Actually, I can be more specific. Indifference is what I felt. If it required anything more than reading a script from a screen then the agent (several of them) couldn't be bothered. Maybe time to move along...
It's crazy to me that I have to manually buy 10 individual Vanguard ETFs weekly to keep my DCA investing active. Robinhood allows me to auto invest into the same ETFs every week totally hands off.
MicroCenter is awesome! We have one here in New Jersey. I bought my laptop and desktop there.Thanks for your tip about Costco and their computers and their return policy 89 days Nice!. I'll keep that in mind when I'm ready to buy a new laptop soon.
Team Clark rocks! Bonus term: "Brad Bellflower"- The "tech genius" on TV commercials for (no names) one real estate website. Portrayed by Jeff Goldblum. Funny! P.S., I wonder if the "bellflower" name is a pun on the actor's "real" name Goldblum... "gold flower."
I just signed a lease. My apt has a nonnegotiable added fee of $25 per month for a service that picks up trash every day for a 2 hour window. Just put your little trash can outside your door.
I was a great admirer of Mr. John Bogle and, therefore a client for close to half a century. After he passed, I feared there might be a change in the philosophy and practice of Vanguard. Service is still good, but not what it used to be. They still offer low fee investments like ETFs with ZERO transaction costs, so no rebalancing costs. When it comes to one's life savings one HAS to trust the integrity of the provider; if it is NOT a fiduciary, run away.
I've had a Vanguard account for 30 years, and the customer service has declined, also the website is not as efficient as previous. The worst however is T Rowe Price. I closed my T Rowe Price account last year due to terrible customer service. Anyone else have comments on T Rowe Price ?
Vanguard customer for decades. My customer service is EXCELLENT!. I have a designated contact person (in AZ, not PA), who is available, able, and affable. Vanguard is frequently asking my opinion about their services. I am surprised you did not give specific examples of how they are incapable of change or somehow mismanaging customer funds. Vanguard fees are extremely low. People with lower account balances should not expect Vanguard customer service will personalize an investment plan for them and hold their hands for free. They offer a paid service for that. IMHO you did not justify your harsh criticism of Vanguard.
@brichard9485 I'm a customer, not an employee. Higher net worth individuals are assigned a personal representative. Vanguard's VOO ETF expense ratio is 0.03%. as is Fidelity's IVV. That is not cheaper. Fidelity sounds like it suites you. I have no interest where others park their investments. I am happy with my own choice. 😊
@@quaternion-pi I have Vanguard Personal Advisor but she is in N Carolina and I am in AZ. How did you get AZ rep? I only get 45 min every 6 months with advisor and she was unwilling to review financial plan when there were significant changes in my life - like losing everything in a wildfire. Funny because I get ads for Vanguard all the time about how they are able to flex the plan with the needs in your life. Manager is unhelpful and CS in that unit is lackluster. Also website has become increasingly confusing and unhelpful. If it was straightforward with the info, I wouldn't need to contact CS to ask questions about the info on the website and then be referred to unavailable advisor for answers.
Clark…i find fee only advisors to be very costly and they don’t seem to be a sustainable way to have ongoing financial advice. I have Charles Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolio to get CFP advice on retirement and my budget. It’s low fees and more sustainable for me as i need ongoing help. The fee only advisor charges by the hour like $250/hr…. I can’t make decisions like that as it will be too expensive. I also need to build trust and i can’t do that in an hour.
As a long time investor, I've had brokerage accounts with Schwab, Vanguard, and Fidelity over the years...presently all schwab since 2009. As executor of my Mom's estate, I've benefited greatly by having a Schwab local office that's a 15 minute drive from my house. Having an account manager reviewing and notarizing my completed schwab forms face-to-face was a huge timesaver and not something available to most Vanguard clients.
I called yesterday to ask about the Cash Plus account. First I got the foreign call center. The person typed keywords to refer the question to someone else. Then a US person told me that I did not qualify and there was not a way for me to qualify other than to be randomly invited. How is that for keeping my confidence as a longtime Vanguard customer?
Vanguard is hitting me for a $50 fee for not converting my old accounts to their new platform.I didn't do so because I refused to contact the government to stop the direct deposit into my accounts until the transfer went into effect.They don't realize the hoops you must jump through when contacting the government.In 2007,someone used a wrong number,suspending my payments for 4 months.
It's usually spelled out in some form in the lease agreement. Either people aren't reading their lease. Or the lease may say "$1400 rent + fees," and people don't think to ask for the fee breakdown.
Vanguard sucks, their service sucks, and they (along with BlackRock and State Street Global) "The Big Three" Investment Managers are pushing ESG and DEI initiatives on to the S&P 500 companies and their Boards through their "proxy" voting, which they outsource to ISS and Glass Lewis. Prove me wrong, they may have changed their tune recently but that's not OK with me. My 401k is at Vanguard (Because my Company that I worked for used them) and I hate them and will deplete it and not look back, period. They are not superior as you say, Fidelity is a better choice. I invest through Fidelity and pick my own investment vehicles, which are not tied to BlackRock, Vanguard or State Street Global unless one of their investment vehicles is the "only" alternative, such as the BIL ETF.
I have had 5 houses that I owned in my lifetime. I love renting my townhouse and ALWAYS negotiate my rent if they want to increase. Everyone I tell this to is shocked. I negotiate everything and win most of the time. I have leverage because my rent is NEVER late and I don't complain. I also am willing to fix anything that breaks for the most part. I realize that I am a great renter and will not be taken advantage. For me, I am able to invest in investments rather than an expensive house that does not generate income.
I have had problems for the past 10 years and I am an ultra high net worth individuals. The products are mostly good, but their is no customer service. If you have a problem don’t expect a resolution from them. To be fair Charles Schwab is also getting pretty bad.
If you have 10K, you don‘t need a mutual fund. Buy one or two stocks in five to ten different sectors. Heck, if you have 1K, you can buy an ETF through a brokerage. And if you have money in a bank, look into a non-profit credit union.
the problem in corporation is new leadership try to reinvent the wheels, they want something new for various reasons, sometimes working sometimes not working, especially new hires ( new generation) who try to make a point without thinking that they are dealing with someone else's money. Their ego usually overcome everything else. I hope Vanguard stay true to their business model without sacrificing investor's confidence in them.
Lots of pooooorrr. Customer Non service from vanguard lately.Failure to respond to complaints even from the S.E.C Clearly regulation & prison terms are mandates that need to be applied...& MUCH sooner rather than later
We had a portion of our money (7% as a test)with the actively managed side of Vanguard and Man....They don't listen at all to their customer's Yes it's only .3% but they wouldn't put us into CD's or Treasuries in 2022. We are retired and suffered losses along with most of the population but at least they could have protected us from the downturn of the Fixed Income. I'll never do it again.
Used to love watching Fain…until his RUclips titles barely resembled his content. The “clickbait” made me lose faith in his transparency and advice. Too bad…I really liked him, but can no longer trust what he says 😞
The Vanguard customer service is a 2 fold problem: 1. They have gotten so big and have so many customers- they do not have enough customer service agents to handle the call volume. 2. In order to hire more qualified customer service agents, they would have to raise fees and then you would be griping about that.
I have been with Vanguard for 12 years. Not one problem with service yet.
Well, from my perspective, Vanguard DOES provides Superior service. If you says they don’t, provide details! I have been with Vanguard over 38 years.
I called Vanguard earlier this week about a problem I has having with ETF purchases. I was on hold for less than 2-3 minutes and they figured out the issue with no problem in about the same amount of time.
I left Fidelity for Vanguard 13 years ago and have mostly been very pleased with their customer service. It seems to me that as soon as Mr. Bogle died things started falling apart. It may also be their massive growth, but I think it's the big guy's absence.
Glad you're pleased with your level of service now 💚
@@Clark My needs are almost nil, just one target retirement account, but I have less confidence now than before.
Well, they pushed Bogle out decades ago. He was the moral compass and when he left, things started going off the rails. They still have low fee's depending on which fund you choose.
I agree 100%. After Bogles death, I seriously wonder why they haven't been investigated....the valuations on small investors is too volatile to ignore by the authorities
@@anonymous135 After they pushed Bogle out, they started opening a lot of funds with higher fees, because that made them more money. Because index fund investing is "boring." It's very sad, because Bogle's intentions were so positive for average investors to understand and get into the market.
I must be the exception. I've had good customer service from Vanguard. Never any problems.
Vanguard is not a good option for someone who doesn't have a lot of time and patience. When people ask me for a recommendation, I usually send them to Fidelity.
I left Fidelity and transferred to Schwab’s intelligent portfolio. I get access to CFP for very reasonable fees. However, i don’t see a growth in investments. Unfortunately, i didn’t know bout Roth’s when i was younger and can defer money for growth in money.
Ha, Fidelity??? Poor choice.
I’m with Fidelity… too long waiting on the phone trying to get someone to talk to at Vanguard.
Vanguard failed to make my required (internal) minimal distribution (RMD)from my IRA to my taxable acount. This had been scheduled. Last year, when I noted at tax time that no RMD had been made, I called the Vanguard rep and he acknowledged that Vanguard had failed in its fiduciary duty to make this transfer. The excise tax penalty for failure to make this transfer is 50% of the amount.
Vanguard's response: get an accountant (at my expense). After researching, I petitioned the IRS with the form and showed the contract and Vanguard's failure. Then Vanguard admitted they had screwed up. After a year messing with a tax extension, I finally got my $5,000 tax penalty.
Also a Clark Howard baby here! My mother listened and watched Clark Howard ALL THE TIME when I was in highschool and college. Now in my 30, we listen to it together 😂.
To all of those touting Fidelity, please know that Fidelity has a VERY large operations office in a couple of cities in India. (Bangalore being the primary one.) When I retired from my job at Fidelity in 2019 (after 13 years there) they had over 5,000 employees in India and an additional 400 tech employees in Dalian, China. They were nearly complete in the process of out-sourcing my job description to India when I retired.
As an employee, I was required to keep all of my investments at Fidelity. When I left, I moved all of them, including my Fidelity 401k, to Vanguard. My position is, if you're primarily an American company and most, if not all, of your business is done with Americans, then you should support America jobs as much as possible. Fidelity's out-sourcing of American jobs to India and China is the main reason I moved all of my assets away from them.
It’s funny then how I can easily understand the customer service reps on the phone ..they all have perfect English and are very nice .. the India/China people must be giving certain others jobs than being on the phone
@@WuzUpCB All customer service centers for Fidelity are here in the US -- Texas, Kentucky, Utah and some other states. It's the operations departments that are in India. A lot of transaction processing, computer work, etc. that customers don't see is done in India. There are, however, some Fidelity retirement department personnel that are customer facing (mainly to HR/benefits departments at client companies) that are based in India. This is the job that I did and which was slowly over about 5 years phased out of the US to India.
@@tomm7505 Vanguard outsources in a similar way.
Vanguard. It was a bear setting up our accounts and we ultimately signed up for the Vanguard Investment Advisor service (1/3 the cost of a 1% fiduciary advisor) and he has been excellent. We now have "one throat to choke" and he prepares our plan, actively manages our allocations, and does tax loss harvesting.
My 401(k) is at Fidelity. Every stinkin' time I call there, before I get my simple question answered, I can count on 20 minutes of rep trying to review my entire portfolio, get me to meet with a local Fidelity rep at a brick and mortar office. I keep telling them no, already did that not interested as I'm DIY. I now have the majority of my retirement funds at VG. VG doesn't try to sell me anything.
Fidelity hopes you're going to buy the many funds with high expense ratios. VG doesn't have any high expense ratio funds. Fidelity is in biz to make a profit. I'm sticking with VG.
Also, if you're a buy and hold investor, how often do you need to call? If you wait 'til Dec 30th to call and conduct a year-end transaction, do you really expect to get through right away?
MR. CLARK regular Joe & Josephine like myself who were never taught about finances need people like you.
You are protecting us.
I don't know anything about Vanguard but for those who do I say
Thank you for calling Vanguard on the carpet.
I hope I can learn from you and help someone. You the man.
Take care.
Clark, you are right about customer service with Vanguard. I had to leave them and go to Fidelity because I could never talk to anybody at Vanguard. I appreciate that Fidelity actually has a live agent near my town which I can visit whenever I need to.
That was a huge selling point for me using Fidelity. A physical office in my city I can visit.
If a service no longer serves you, it's right to switch. 🙌
Never used vanguard, but I’ve had Fidelity for two decades, and now have a significant amount of money there. When I needed help with two different rollovers and moving my HSA account there, I never had to wait more than 15 or 20 seconds for somebody to talk to me on the phone.
When I would send a secure message, someone would respond within an hour or two and usually I would receive at least one if not three or four phone call follow ups to make sure everything was OK.
I also have a Charles Schwab account that was recently converted from a TD Ameritrade account, as of now I have had no issues, but if I did, I would move my taxable broker account to Fidelity in a minute
Fidelity is my choice at this point
Been with Vanguard over 40 years. Customer service has been declining over the years and is really bad now. Sometimes it is very difficult to get any help from them.
It's just as difficult to stop unwanted help from them. Their constant, repeated pushing of their advisor services has us fed up.
Same here! Sad!
which is why you need a broker
Yes, they used to have excellent customer service. Bogle was a straight talking leader and was forced out.
If they're so bad, why are you ALL still with them?
Schwab has the best customer service. It is also open twenty four seven. Never closes.
Clark, where we live our senior apartment went up 28.5 %. We signed a new 2 year lease. The bad thing about living in Walla Walla Washington is that every senior apartments is 20-30% more. But we checked other cities in Washington and it’s just as bad. Thanks for your show. John
Great strategy to lock in your rent with a 2-year lease and avoid the 28.5% increase next year! 🙌🙌🙌
I missed the part where the Vanguard FEES were discussed. Poor customer service sounds like the issue... I recently started using Vanguard because other brokerages wanted crazy fees for me to buy/sell Vanguard funds. So far - seems like I'm not getting bitten by fees at Vanguard.
I rented for a good number of years. I remember seeing those fees start. They wouldn't let you bring your own washer and drier but then they'd try to rent one out to you. Another one was the mandatory trash collection. I can haul my own bag to the dumpster. The monthly pet fee is dumb. I understand a pet deposit and maybe an extra clean-up fee when you move out. A monthly fee? That's just taking advantage of the renter.
You can tell them, "no," on this. I told them, "no," on the washer drier fee/rental. I said, "I had a washer and drier and you said I couldn't have it here so I gave it away. I'm not paying a fee on top of that." I won that one. Weirdly the $25/trash pick up fee they wouldn't budge on so I moved out. They lost a consistent tenant causing no problems over $25. That was their choice.
Great example of negotiating out of fees. Even if you can't win them all, every dollar saved counts. 🙌
My niece pays a $50.00 monthly pet fee at her north Atlanta apartment. Ridiculous.
@@pamcornelius9122 I tought you were a capitalist from your previous comments...
@@Unknown-hu4gf I’m a capitalist not a corporatist.
Been with Vanguard for many years. I’ve heard the horror stories and believe them but so far it hasn’t happened to me. I don’t want to move all my accounts so hopefully they’ll get it together.
Fidelity is a MUCH more accommodating company and helps you easily invest on your terms with their help and support. I have 4 monthly auto-investment transfers from my checking to my Fidelity accounts that I can turn on or off easily - week one, week two, week three, week 4. I can do $50 each week/fund, or $100 or whatever. They actual HELP guide you through the decision making process when selecting investments. Transferring between funds is super easy, too. They're just a MUCH BETTER company.
I guess i haven't been in the know with Vanguard, although I've been investing with them for over 30 years and never had a problem getting customer service help when needed!
Vanguard's website has gotten worse lately, much harder to navigate. If they improved their website they would have fewer phone calls and their service could improve
Absolutely agree with you about the website. Recently after a somewhat frustrating encounter with it, trying to make a purchase, I was prompted for a review! It just took me 15 minutes to do what used to take me 30 seconds. I'm not sure I would have been able to keep it constructive!!🙄
I've been with Vanguard for 30 years. As of late their website has gone downhill especially compared to Fidelity. Recently they sent an email to me stating they would no longer handle inherited IRA Required Minimum Distributions. I know the table is different than the standard IRA RMD, but it's just another example of customer no service. Fidelity has sent no such email. I thing the no service may be due to Vanguard trying to get everyone to pay for investing advisors. Jack Bogle would fire them all!
I tried to open a second non retirement account with them. I wasn't allowed to without a different email address. I took my extra money to Fidelity.
Customer service costs money. Perhaps Vanguard needs to raise fees a bit because it sounds like they have too many customers for the size of the customer base. When you have the size of Vanguard, the hike wouldn't need to me much per investor. Poor customer service is inexcusable.
Good idea 🙌
I left Vanguard because they imposed a penalty on me that was extreme for my mistake and was the first I ever made. I tried to tell them this penalty would result in me leaving them even though they lost nothing for my mistake. They didn't even care told me I could leave and would not let me talk to someone with ability to work out a better solution. I had a considerable amount of money with them and I pulled it all after 8 years because I felt many years of being loyal and dollar cost average into my account for a long time they treated me like I did not matter to them and there attitude put me off. Thats fine I will go where I am treated better.
I would imagine that notable businesses like Clark Howard's would receive the best possible service from Vanguard, but we everyday folks will not get that level of attention...
The #1 reason why I don't use Vanguard as a platform. Customer service terrible. Low cost but bad service.
I have been with Vanguard for 10 years. I noticed only a couple times the calls and hold times were difficult. Lately I have noticed no delays and have been able to get help within 5 minutes with anything I needed.
Been at Vanguard for over 35 years. I’ve notice when I look at the performance page the balances aren’t correct. The balance is correct on the summary page. I haven’t gotten an answer why the balance is correct on the performance page. Very concerning!
I've called Vanguard 6 months ago and I had a good experience.
Years ago I invested $10,000 in a Vanguard fund. I had all the dividends and capital gain distributions reinvested, for years. Then came an economic downturn. As a result the NAV for the fund dropped causing the value of my account to drop below $10,000. So Vanguard was going to charge me a service because my account was valued under $10K even though my original purchase was $10K. They refused to reverse the fee. So I liquidated my account even though it was at a loss. I know it was not a smart move on my part but I have no regrets.
Charles Schwab did that with my 401k. It got too low and they kicked me out, mailed me a check.
Can’t wait to see what he says about Vanguard. 👀
My landlord just sent me my renewal offer here in Las Vegas. Rent going up from 1406.00 base rent to 1472.00 base rent for a crappy little 1BR PLUS a new 20.00/ month made up " amenity fee" for a bunch of crap I don't use like their "" cyber cafe" ( which consists of a computer and a coffee maker at the office ). I told them nope and their regional manager offered to reduce the rent increase by 16 dollars. I move in to my 1240/month apartment in 2 months. They are going to actually force me to move out to save money rather than be reasonable.
My roommate and I had a 2br/2ba in upstate NY last year. We moved out when the rent went from $1000 to $1900😳. It's all relative.
I've had good luck with Vanguard customer service recently, but their website is not nearly as good-looking or as easy too use as it used to be. I also miss the Vanguard blog.
Been with Vanguard for a long time. I usually have no problems getting the right specialist to ask questions.
Good to hear! We hope you get continued great service. 💚
Clark been listening and watching you over 30 year's. Been with Vanguard over 2 decades. Most recent contact with customer service few months ago. Everything went perfectly fine. Let me ask you Clark, have YOU or any of your team members had any issues? Because you didn't say so on this show.
Thanks for being a long-time listener! 💚
We haven't personally experienced any customer service issues from Vanguard, which is one reason why Clark hasn't moved the company's accounts. We're reporting what so many others are experiencing (as you can see from the many comments here) and encourage everyone to assess their personal experiences and switch if they feel like they need to for better customer service.
Glad your experience has been pleasant like ours!
Clark I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been with them for most of my investing. Going into this 3 day weekend, I found my account access has been disabled. After several hours on hold at multiple times of the day, I was never able to get through to fraud department or anyone to see if my funds are safe. Needless to say it’s been a nervous few days. As soon as I can, will be getting my funds off their platform and into a brokerage that gives a **** about the little guy 😢
Clark,
I'm a client of Vanguard's with several Mil with them.
What exactly has Vanguard been doing to us? I've been with them for almost 20 years, and outside of a brusque agent's attitude on one occasion, they've been magnificent in all matters.
What exactly are the fees of Vanguard to cause you to mention them?
Thank you for your answers to my questions.
Thanks, there are no hidden fees at Vanguard so I have no idea what this guy is talking about.
Upon closer observation the title clobbers Vanguard and the fee biz seems to refer to other advice. It could have been worded differently.
Thank you Team Clark.
team charlesjaxon
Hey Clark, ben with Vanguard for over 25 years have an education savings account. They said I needed transfer them over to 529 or close the account or liquidate it because they are retiring, the ESA accounts. ESA are still relevant because you can use the money for K through 12. 529’s are limited to 10,000 per year. Education savings accounts are unlimited for private education from K thru 12. Also you can invest ESAs in anything. 529 you have only certain funds you can use. Moved my ESA accounts to Schwab, and yes they don’t charge you for paper statements. Vanguard charges $25 per account? What’s going on at vanguard
I am a Vanguard customer for years, and have Flagship status. Customer service has gone downhill. And you are right, they do not want to hear it.
I used to be with USAA. Same thing. Terrible customer service and they wouldn't listen.
Flagship really doesn’t exist any longer. The designated rep is no more, lower fees no more.
100% agree about USAA
I called Vanguard yesterday, for a problem, and the rep who was talking to me made no sense, somehow the call was disconnected, I believe I was hung up on, but I can't prove it. It makes me think of going to Fidelity.
Left Vanguard with a very healthy balance recently for Fidelity for multiple reasons... First being their political activism, and second being their features such as lack of fractional shares and ability to auto-roll treasuries. Happy so far.
Florida rents are out of control…. Actually
Florida everything out of control 😫
Worked there for 23 years and since I left, things have really gone downhill. I’ve moved everything to Fido, it’s really sad.
Wow, thanks for sharing! 💚
You were the glue holding the joint together!
@@jolkraeremeark6949 not me alone, there was a changing of the guard so to speak. A large number of people left, we also got a new CEO and he’s solely focused on numbers, not the people behind the numbers. It’s unfortunate.
(circa 1:50) if you knew someone who was a Stockbroker that was in your Saturday morning 5 mile run group who occasionally allowed you to do a small "Odd Lot" purchase of a dividend paying stock without charging the full broker's fee (and warned you about not keeping it in some street name where some other stockbroker could get their hands on it and trade or "churn" it
still have some of those stocks and most of them did good -- but for the last 30 years or so new money or reinvested money if not needed for the bank accounts went to Vanguard
think that stockbroker before he moved away to Calif. or somewhere said something that Vanguard which was kind of a novelty then had better mutual funds than some of the others - he had not been much of a fan of mutual funds
I have been with Vanguard since 1995 and they have terrible customer service for the last 3 yrs. When I call about downloading transactions to Quicken
I haven't been able to do so since January 2023!
Unhappy Customer 🙁
Wow, is it that bad with Vanguard? I was about to open an account with Vanguard. It's a good thing I came across this video.
The issue on rent fees, IMHO, is related to two things. The ever increasing burden that government puts on the person who rents a property. Combine that with rent controls and the landlord, generally speaking, is incurring significant extra cost with limited ability to pass those direct costs onto the renter.
Secondly over the past few years there has been a significant amount of renters who refused to pay their rent as the were “ protected” by COVID mandates that they could not be evicted. Many cases where people haven’t paid for up to 18 months while the landlord has to pay the mortgage, property taxes etc just to keep the property. Then, even when you get to the point of eviction states like CA and NY make you pay the renter essentially to move out… another cost.
Why a person would want to be a landlord is beyond me. To much government regulation, moochers and little to no financial return on your investment.
I've been with Vanguard for over 35 years. I've noticed the no service down turn at Vanguard. The fees have gone up and the service has gone down.
I no longer recommend Vanguard. Vogel would roll over in his grave.
Yep, my most recent experiences with Vanguard have been customer no-service ones. Actually, I can be more specific. Indifference is what I felt. If it required anything more than reading a script from a screen then the agent (several of them) couldn't be bothered. Maybe time to move along...
I called Vanguard twice last week about a new account, the wait time was 40 min to speak with a specialist. Definitely not a happy camper.
Thank you
It's crazy to me that I have to manually buy 10 individual Vanguard ETFs weekly to keep my DCA investing active. Robinhood allows me to auto invest into the same ETFs every week totally hands off.
Clark, lots of beautiful national parks near Seattle too.
MicroCenter is awesome! We have one here in New Jersey. I bought my laptop and desktop there.Thanks for your tip about Costco and their computers and their return policy 89 days Nice!. I'll keep that in mind when I'm ready to buy a new laptop soon.
Vanguard has great index funds, but it's a terrible brokerage.
Some apartment complexes have mandatory cable/internet fee - $69 - $125, ridiculous
Team Clark rocks! Bonus term: "Brad Bellflower"- The "tech genius" on TV commercials for (no names) one real estate website. Portrayed by Jeff Goldblum. Funny! P.S., I wonder if the "bellflower" name is a pun on the actor's "real" name Goldblum... "gold flower."
💚 #bonusterm
I just signed a lease. My apt has a nonnegotiable added fee of $25 per month for a service that picks up trash every day for a 2 hour window. Just put your little trash can outside your door.
IF they actually pick up your trash
I was a great admirer of Mr. John Bogle and, therefore a client for close to half a century. After he passed, I feared there might be a change in the philosophy and practice of Vanguard. Service is still good, but not what it used to be. They still offer low fee investments like ETFs with ZERO transaction costs, so no rebalancing costs. When it comes to one's life savings one HAS to trust the integrity of the provider; if it is NOT a fiduciary, run away.
I've had a Vanguard account for 30 years, and the customer service has declined, also the website is not as efficient as previous. The worst however is T Rowe Price. I closed my T Rowe Price account last year due to terrible customer service. Anyone else have comments on T Rowe Price ?
Vanguard customer for decades. My customer service is EXCELLENT!. I have a designated contact person (in AZ, not PA), who is available, able, and affable. Vanguard is frequently asking my opinion about their services. I am surprised you did not give specific examples of how they are incapable of change or somehow mismanaging customer funds. Vanguard fees are extremely low. People with lower account balances should not expect Vanguard customer service will personalize an investment plan for them and hold their hands for free. They offer a paid service for that. IMHO you did not justify your harsh criticism of Vanguard.
Lower fees at fidelity, and I can give you a host of reasons an example. In which Vanguard Department do you work?😂
@brichard9485 I'm a customer, not an employee. Higher net worth individuals are assigned a personal representative. Vanguard's VOO ETF expense ratio is 0.03%. as is Fidelity's IVV. That is not cheaper. Fidelity sounds like it suites you. I have no interest where others park their investments. I am happy with my own choice. 😊
@@quaternion-pi I have Vanguard Personal Advisor but she is in N Carolina and I am in AZ. How did you get AZ rep? I only get 45 min every 6 months with advisor and she was unwilling to review financial plan when there were significant changes in my life - like losing everything in a wildfire. Funny because I get ads for Vanguard all the time about how they are able to flex the plan with the needs in your life. Manager is unhelpful and CS in that unit is lackluster. Also website has become increasingly confusing and unhelpful. If it was straightforward with the info, I wouldn't need to contact CS to ask questions about the info on the website and then be referred to unavailable advisor for answers.
Haha...the state bird, building crane.😂
Clark…i find fee only advisors to be very costly and they don’t seem to be a sustainable way to have ongoing financial advice. I have Charles Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolio to get CFP advice on retirement and my budget. It’s low fees and more sustainable for me as i need ongoing help. The fee only advisor charges by the hour like $250/hr…. I can’t make decisions like that as it will be too expensive. I also need to build trust and i can’t do that in an hour.
As a long time investor, I've had brokerage accounts with Schwab, Vanguard, and Fidelity over the years...presently all schwab since 2009.
As executor of my Mom's estate, I've benefited greatly by having a Schwab local office that's a 15 minute drive from my house. Having an account manager reviewing and notarizing my completed schwab forms face-to-face was a huge timesaver and not something available to most Vanguard clients.
I called yesterday to ask about the Cash Plus account. First I got the foreign call center. The person typed keywords to refer the question to someone else. Then a US person told me that I did not qualify and there was not a way for me to qualify other than to be randomly invited. How is that for keeping my confidence as a longtime Vanguard customer?
Vanguard is hitting me for a $50 fee for not converting my old accounts to their new platform.I didn't do so because I refused to contact the government to stop the direct deposit into my accounts until the transfer went into effect.They don't realize the hoops you must jump through when contacting the government.In 2007,someone used a wrong number,suspending my payments for 4 months.
Vanguard is one of the three major movers behind the Target debacle , promoting ESG.
Promoting communism!!
@@pamcornelius9122 LOL, no. Promoting a version of capitalism you don't agree with.
@@DillyPutty ESG policies mimic the CCP model.
This reminds me of Amica Insurance, they won't answer complaints.
Texas Roadhouse! They have decent Salmon too.
Vanguard buying real estate to convert to RENTALS!
I would like to put some money in a S&P index fund that I can ignore for years. Any suggestions?
Rents might be declining but they are still way overpriced!!! and you can't negotiate with a corporate complex and moving is a huge pain
So frustrated by vanguards $19.99 new fee to receive paper statements
Always max both 401k and IRA every year.
Lease junk fee question: If the junk fee(s) aren't spelled out in the lease agreement, how can they legally enforce you to pay them?
It's usually spelled out in some form in the lease agreement. Either people aren't reading their lease. Or the lease may say "$1400 rent + fees," and people don't think to ask for the fee breakdown.
Move in pet Fee to have a pet(2-300) plus 20 dollars monthly for each pet,trash,pest control,wifi $79 a month(no choice)......
Vanguard has gone woke and it’s all about transforming society instead of service to customers. Now they’re packing on fees left and right.
Vanguard sucks, their service sucks, and they (along with BlackRock and State Street Global) "The Big Three" Investment Managers are pushing ESG and DEI initiatives on to the S&P 500 companies and their Boards through their "proxy" voting, which they outsource to ISS and Glass Lewis. Prove me wrong, they may have changed their tune recently but that's not OK with me. My 401k is at Vanguard (Because my Company that I worked for used them) and I hate them and will deplete it and not look back, period. They are not superior as you say, Fidelity is a better choice.
I invest through Fidelity and pick my own investment vehicles, which are not tied to BlackRock, Vanguard or State Street Global unless one of their investment vehicles is the "only" alternative, such as the BIL ETF.
I have had 5 houses that I owned in my lifetime. I love renting my townhouse and ALWAYS negotiate my rent if they want to increase. Everyone I tell this to is shocked. I negotiate everything and win most of the time. I have leverage because my rent is NEVER late and I don't complain. I also am willing to fix anything that breaks for the most part. I realize that I am a great renter and will not be taken advantage. For me, I am able to invest in investments rather than an expensive house that does not generate income.
I have had problems for the past 10 years and I am an ultra high net worth individuals. The products are mostly good, but their is no customer service. If you have a problem don’t expect a resolution from them. To be fair Charles Schwab is also getting pretty bad.
Perhaps stop using customer service.
If you have 10K, you don‘t need a mutual fund. Buy one or two stocks in five to ten different sectors. Heck, if you have 1K, you can buy an ETF through a brokerage. And if you have money in a bank, look into a non-profit credit union.
I'd start out with a broad market index fund, not the other way around. Less homework picking funds and less risky.
1:51 sus
I had 260 in a vanguard account. when I moved it, vanguard charged me 60 dollars. Left with 200
the problem in corporation is new leadership try to reinvent the wheels, they want something new for various reasons, sometimes working sometimes not working, especially new hires ( new generation) who try to make a point without thinking that they are dealing with someone else's money. Their ego usually overcome everything else. I hope Vanguard stay true to their business model without sacrificing investor's confidence in them.
Vanguard get rid of new bogus paper statement fee!!
Is it just me, or has Clark developed more of a New York accent since moving?
😮 Say whaaaat? Less of the southern drawl and more of a New York accent? #impossible
Lots of pooooorrr. Customer Non service from vanguard lately.Failure to respond to complaints even from the S.E.C
Clearly regulation & prison terms are mandates that need to be applied...& MUCH sooner rather than later
Red Pocket sounds like a TracFone clone.
We had a portion of our money (7% as a test)with the actively managed side of Vanguard and Man....They don't listen at all to their customer's Yes it's only .3% but they wouldn't put us into CD's or Treasuries in 2022. We are retired and suffered losses along with most of the population but at least they could have protected us from the downturn of the Fixed Income. I'll never do it again.
No, that insurance salesman is not legit.
>>>>STOCKS>>>RICHARD FAIN RUclips
Used to love watching Fain…until his RUclips titles barely resembled his content.
The “clickbait” made me lose faith in his transparency and advice.
Too bad…I really liked him, but can no longer trust what he says 😞
Hidden fees now? Vanguard used to be completely honest. Dirtbags!
The Vanguard customer service is a 2 fold problem:
1. They have gotten so big and have so many customers- they do not have enough customer service agents to handle the call volume.
2. In order to hire more qualified customer service agents, they would have to raise fees and then you would be griping about that.