@Mark, it's all about platform fees.
Schwab NTF has the highest platform fees.
Then, Schwab TF has 2 tiers - those who pay some platform fee and Schwab charges $49.99 for their funds, and those that pay zilch and Schwab charges $74.95 for their funds.
https://www.schwab.com/mutual-funds/costs-fees

@Sven - You stated that Schwab waives the $49.95 fee for trading mutual funds with transaction fees. It's always been my understanding that Schwab charges a $74.95 fee going both in and out of transaction fee mutual funds. Has that changed?
The reason I ask is that the advantage Fidelity has had is that they only charge $49.95 to buy TF-funds but also they charge nothing to sell them. One can also buy certain institutional fund shares w/o paying the usually required 6&7 figure minimums.
I'm not a Schwab customer so please explain. TY.
Edited to correct inaccurate fee numbers.

@Observent1
The other interesting thing about your story is how far those now great companies fell before they turned around.
We all remember the winners like that, but nobody talks about WorldCom, Global Crossing etc. They were hot story stocks that just burned up.
[snip]

Assuming a sizable individual stock position, a 70% - 85% max drawdown would cause great anxiety!
High-flying stocks also go bust at times as sma3 has mentioned.
That's why I invest in mutual funds / ETFs instead of selecting individual stocks.
I won't hit any "home-runs" but will hopefully avoid unsettling "strike-outs."

I use SPAXX for my core account at Fidelity because the income from it is 41.18% state tax free (in 2023). FZFXX is only 24.19%. FDRXX is also good at 40.57%. Of course, if you live in CA, Ct or NY you are out of luck since none of these meets the requirement for minimum investment in government securities.

To clarify, I fully agree that CP CD rates are compelling in relation to other FI options. I've Just Said No to bonds for the foreeseable future thanks to CP CD rates being well over my threshold to ditch bonds.
Carving into the respective CP CD rates though:
I find nothing compelling about a 1-yr CP CD rate of 5.45% when VMRXX is paying 5.29%. On a $100K investment, the difference over the 12-months is ($5,450-$5,290 or) $160 IF the MMkt rate holds steady for the full period. That piddly difference is not a compelling difference that would cause me (at least, and I trust manty others) to lock up $100K for a year, regardless of our age.
To wit, with MMkt cash this year, instead of locking it up in a ST CP CD, I made three ST stock trades (documented on this forum in real time) on GOOGL (2) and NVDA and made some whopping ST gains. Proceeds went back into MMkt.
Conversely, locking in a 5-yr CP CD rate of 4.70% IS compelling to me given my (at least, and I trust many others) notion that we won't be seeing anything near 4.70% rates in 2029 when the 5-yr CD matures. The same notion applies to a 3-yr CP CD rate of 4.90%.

4. Here come the biggest advantage for Schwab. I trade only mutual funds and preferably Inst shares. Schwab waves the $49.95 fee while at Fidelity I hardly ever got that. 4 switches annually for 5 accounts is a $1000.

Is this a standard policy on buying Transaction Fee funds at Schwab written somewhere ? Please share. Thank you.

This will be in TOMORROW's Barron's. Article is available online already.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/tactical-allocation-funds-beat-market-95a77628?refsec=funds&mod=topics_funds

It was not an easy decision for us on Vanguard after being investors for over 30 years. The company has changed…
As I mentioned on this board, we initiated to move all tax-deferred accounts out to Fidelity. The transfer was completed with 5 days through ACAT, and the cost base information arrived several days later. As of yesterday, we transfer half of our joint account to Fidelity. We decide to keep the other half at Vanguard for the same reasons @msf mentioned above.
I can confirm that Fidelity offers $1,000 per $1M asset transfer to Fidelity after 60 days. They assigned an agent directly to oversee the transfer. The process is straightforward but it is nice touch to have a history with a specific person. And that is something Vanguard lacks. Additionally, we were contact from Fidelity’s financial consultant immediately to offer their service. I hesitated until we are ready to engage with them.
By the way, we have Vanguard managed part of our asset through their Advisory Select service (minimum $500k) as part of an experiment in case I pass away before my wife. We ended that relationships immediately when we decided to move on from Vanguard.

For me.
1. MM is a small problem. I sell a fund and buy a MM and Schwab pays more.
2. Schwab pays the monthly distribution on the same day while Fidelity is late by 1-2 days.
3. Schwab online is more intuitive.
4. Here come the biggest advantage for Schwab. I trade only mutual funds and preferably Inst shares. Schwab waves the $49.95 fee while at Fidelity I hardly ever got that. 4 switches annually for 5 accounts is a $1000.
5. This is the most annoying at Fidelity. My trade goes like this. I sell all the shares and buy the new position on the same day and most of the money is in IRA. I trade bond fund.
Suppose I sold PIMIX worth 1 million. Fidelity would not allow you to buy another fund online, you must call a rep. They would only allow you to buy 90%=$900K, even if you sold a bond fund. Sometimes I have to argue with rookie reps who say you can't do it.
The above means that in 20 trades if I miss just 0.1% or more equals to another $1-3K annually.
At Schwab I sell one fund at 1 Mill and buy another at $995 online, no rep or wasting time is needed because these funds hardly move.
5. Schwab is a real bank, Fidelity isn't.
6. Schwab will match any cash rewards on bringing in money, even on smaller amounts Fidelity doesn't, all you do ask your branch rep.
7. I get constant calls from Fidelity reps to "help" me which I don
need, I never got a call from Schwab.
8. Schwab has more new funds I like. I also brought 2 funds I like into Schwab by calling in, could never do it at Fidelity.
9. I have a Fidelity account over 25 years and Schwab over 20 years.
10. In the last several years Schwab rep knowledge went down a bit, Fidelity much more.

Stock picking is not easy over time and I certainly don’t have the time and skills to do that consistently, Thus we use mutual funds (both index and active) and they provide good enough return for us. In recent years, we include active ETFs that open up more possibilities in our asset allocation. Not trying to overly greedy, we stride to keep up with S&P500 index while reducing the downside risk as our goal. So far so good.
We got lucky (not skills) with few stock picks:
Bought lot of Apple when Steve Job introduced iPhone back in the 90’s and the stock has done well.
Started buying BRKB after reading Warren Buffet’s books. When Charlie Munger joined Buffet, we continue to add on every dips. Through Buffet we learn to be humble in order to be a good investor.
With the lately AI craze, we stay within our competency and pick a semiconductor ETF, SMH, instead NVIDA. Even though SMH has 25% NVDA, the rest are “picks and shovels” companies similar to those of the gold mining days. So far the thesis holds up.
Over the years, we have too many loser stocks to list here. Thus, we hire good active managers to run the funds for us. There is something to be said about diversification with just a S&P500 index fund or ETF.

Based on 2023 portfolios, in high tax states (~10% marginal rates) SUTXX is competitive with VUSXX on an after-tax basis.
Rougly 20% (19.94%) of VUSXX was subject to state income tax.
That shaves ~20% x 5.28% x ~10% ≈ 0.1% off the after tax return.
In contrast, SUTXX was virtually 100% (99.61%) state tax exempt.

@BaluBalu Schwab is competitive with minimum balances of $1MM on a few products. VMSXX 3.18% vs SWOXX 3.19% and VMFXX 5.28% (VMRXX 5.29%) vs SNAXX 5.30%. Schwab does not monitor if the balance falls below $1MM. Schwab is not competitive on the Treasury Money Market even with a $1MM balance. VUSXX 5.28% vs SUTXX 5.17%.

Our own Lewis Braham just highlighted them in An article in Barron’s. Some excerpts:
“ Despite the confusion, some of these funds are worthy diversifiers for a traditional fixed-allocation portfolio. The hard part is figuring out which ones, as their strategies can vary significantly. “The issue to me is ‘tactical’ means the portfolio changes,” says Michael Lowenberg, manager of Modern Capital Tactical Income  (ticker: MCTDX), which Morningstar categorizes as Moderate Allocation. That category generally includes funds with 50% to 70% in stocks and the remainder in bonds, but Lowenberg says, “Our portfolio is dramatically different” from a year ago when “fixed income wasn’t investible” as interest rates were rising and bonds falling.”
“In early 2023, Lowenberg avoided most bonds, but today, now that he thinks the rate increases are over, his fund’s portfolio, as of March 31, was 53% in bonds and cash. Lowenberg’s aggressive shifts have paid off. In 2022, his fund was up 13.9%, with significant weightings in energy stocks and cash in an inflationary environment. Last year, the fund was up almost 18% as he gradually shifted more toward high-yield bonds and floating-rate debt.”
“How do you analyze a fund like this when you don’t know what’s in its shifting portfolio? Morningstar categorizes only 80 mutual funds and 23 exchange-traded funds as Tactical Allocation, but if you include the word “tactical” in a fund screen, those numbers go up to 126 mutual funds and 50 ETFs. Some but not all of those correctly belong in non-tactical-allocation categories as they are shifting more between individual stock or bond sectors than entire asset classes.”
“Compounding the confusion, some of the best tactical funds invest in closed-end funds, both to allocate their assets and to exploit deep price discounts to the closed-ends’ underlying portfolio values. When closed-end fund price discounts narrow, their share prices get bid up. That augments the tactical funds’ returns but also adds an extra layer of closed-end fund fees. Modern Tactical’s seemingly high 1.92% expense ratio actually masks that it charges a much more reasonable 0.60% management fee. There are additional fees charged by funds it holds, like Templeton Emerging Markets (EMF), which has a 1.47% expense ratio, but also trades at an attractive 15% discount.”
“Modern Capital has an 0.86 three-year Sharpe ratio, higher than any fund in Morningstar’s Tactical Allocation category, followed by Saba Closed-End’s 0.44 and Matisse’s 0.39. Most funds in the category have negative Sharpes, indicating they aren’t rewarding investors enough for their risks.”

Twice I’ve asked absolute strangers met while traveling for investment tips. More of a conversation piece than serious talk. The first was while relaxing at a beach in the Florida Keys sometime in the early 2,000s. The fella recommended gold. Had been in a bear market. But had a great run later that year. Miners were up 30+% for the year. The second came from a young fella riding a hotel shuttle bus to the airport in Charlotte NC 3 years ago. He recommended 1 stock - NVIDA. Being of the “brilliant” variety, I completely ignored both suggestions. :) Have to wonder how much NVIDA is up since May ‘21?

Don't feel too bad.
A coworker asked me for a stock tip in 1995 or 1996.
I disclosed that I only invested in mutual funds and was not a stock expert.
I suggested he consider Microsoft which recently released Windows 95.
IIRC, he invested ~$10k initially in MSFT and another ~$10k a few weeks later.
My coworker left the company a short time later and he didn't even buy me lunch for the stock tip! :-(
MSFT got hammered in the Dot Com bubble and it also performed poorly under Steve Balmer.
Still, if someone invested $10k in MSFT on 01/02/1996 and held through yesterday
(experiencing a max drawdown of ~70% along the way), Microsoft stock would be worth over $1.2mm.
Did I purchase MSFT - of course not!
MSFT Statistics
I recall when Steve Jobs returned to Apple as interim CEO in late 1997.
Apple's stock price was very low at the time and Jobs brought a lot of energy to the struggling company.
Around this time, I thought Apple might be a good investment opportunity.
If someone invested $10k in AAPL on 01/02/1998 and held through yesterday
(experiencing a max drawdown of ~82% along the way), Apple stock would be worth ~$16mm!
Did I purchase AAPL - of course not!
AAPL Statistics
Oh, and I've lived within 15 miles of Amazon's main corporate headquarters over the past 30+ years.
There were many articles about Amazon published in local newspapers during the 90s.
The company's sales took off like a rocket but profits were elusive during those times.
I believed the stock was consistently overvalued.
Did I purchase AMZN - of course not!
I now regret conducting this exercise as it has triggered a major bout of depression!

@Carefree It would be interesting to hear how you happened on this one and what you like about it. Suspect there’s a story there or maybe a personal situation that lends itself to this fund.
MCTOX
1.92% ER
About 40/40 equity / fixed income
10-20% “other” and a little cash
Pretty much a “go anywhere” mandate
They can short securities, but don’t currently seem to be shorting to a significant degree.
Heavy investment in real estate and energy (MLPs?)
Low asset base - only around $50 mil AUM
Turnover 1,229% These guys are “wheeling and dealing.”
I don’t worship at the alter of M*, but do look at what they say. In this case M* gives the fund a Negative rating. They don’t hand a lot of those out. They could be proven wrong as the fund is so new it’s hard to tell. That said, I don’t think I’d buy a fund with their negative rating. They’re generally correct on that score.
There’s not much they like, but in particular M* faults the “excessive” fees and lack of investment experience by the managers, Following is a brief excerpt from Morningstar::
”Peter Montalbano brings three years of listed portfolio management experience. The team is small and inadequately equipped, with only one other listed manager supporting it. Together, the two average three years of listed portfolio management experience “

jesus christ
Like teaching
Can one buy 5% Fidelity money market funds within a CMA?
y/n

@rforno …. Thanks very much for posting this. I didn’t realize that Schwab was charging so much for their MMs. I will have to explore some of these alternatives that folks here are recommending. So did you put all your excess cash into SGOV?

Aren't these Schwab money market yields net of the expense ratios? If so, while the expense ratios are high, the money market yields are competitive with Vanguard and Fidelity.
https://www.schwabassetmanagement.com/products/money-fund-yields

All three of us have Schwab accounts and so you do not need my comparison with
Vanguard sweep account, which has a 7 day yield of 5.28% as of 6/5/2024.
Yes, yields are net of expense ratios. But the Schwab yields are not competitive with Vanguard's for MM balances below $1M. I have not checked for the higher balances.

I have 40+ stocks in a stock/bond portfolio. Cash/ bonds are at 25%. NVDA started at 1% of portfolio and is now at 4%. Gain for the year as a whole is +12%. Tech and Utilities lead the way. I am pleased with stocks only so far and was lucky on a few picks(NVDA, AVGO,VST and NRG).

IMO, the most compelling CP CD rates are at 5 years. This is a moment in time that will pass far quicker than many here think. Not sure what is compelling about 1-12 mo rates when Prime MMkt funds are paying just about the same and provide full flexibility for that bucket.

Everyone has their own personal criteria for how they use brokerage CDs. I personally do not want to tie up my money for 5 years at my age, but others may be interested in doing that. Regarding MM funds, I do maintain a fair amount for liquidity reasons, but I have already started to see some decline in MM rates over the past couple of months, and I do not expect those rates to stay the same, or increase in the future.
But to be fair, what is compelling for me, would not necessarily be compelling for others, such as you.

If you can manually buy (from your sweep) one of their 5% money funds, looks like a complete winner
In your Fidelity brokerage account, "When [you] sell something in [your] Fido account the proceeds go automatically into FDRXX."