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VLAAX

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  • FWIW - Fidelity has a $2500 min on VLAAX and NTF. VLAIX is available for the same terms shown at Schwab.
  • $1000 at TIAA.
  • FYI. I bought VLAAX and VALIX each a $1000 investment in TIAA. Then I bought $100 in each. At the same time I also bought $100 in BEGIX and BOPIX. All show up NTF and I was never charged any commission.

    Now I see for EACH of my $100 x 4 investments I've been charged $50 commission. If anyone contemplating TIAA, stop. I'll try to figure it out. The funds STILL show NTF. And I was never charged for my initial investment. It's also clear additional investment is just $100. Either they fix the problem, or I'm filing complaint with (WHO? someone tell me please) and closing my account.
  • Vanguard: $1K min plus TF ($0 to $20) for VLAIX in an IRA.
    https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/overview/DA60?FundIntExt=EXT
  • Buying or selling using the Schwab platform there is no possibility of incurring a "surprise" charge. The information and confirmation steps are crystal clear.
  • FYI. I bought VLAAX and VALIX each a $1000 investment in TIAA. Then I bought $100 in each. At the same time I also bought $100 in BEGIX and BOPIX. All show up NTF and I was never charged any commission.

    Now I see for EACH of my $100 x 4 investments I've been charged $50 commission. If anyone contemplating TIAA, stop. I'll try to figure it out. The funds STILL show NTF. And I was never charged for my initial investment. It's also clear additional investment is just $100. Either they fix the problem, or I'm filing complaint with (WHO? someone tell me please) and closing my account.

    Mother pus-buckets, eh? I hate when I run into that.
  • edited March 2020
    @Crash This was the reason I exited E*Trade and Ameritrade. If you do not challenge any financial transaction within 60 days, your are sh*t out of luck unless you want to go to court. The ONE reason to go to NTF platforms is for simplifying your life and you pay more in fees to do that instead of owning fund directly with company. It is in times like we are experiencing right now is when I should not have to deal with such nonsense. That's what I'm paying my NTF platform for with my 12b-1 fees.

    Anyone who cannot add and subtract doesn't deserve my business. Will let yawl know how it goes. Right now I even see some transactions duplicated in my transaction history. It's a freakin' mess.

    @Old_Joe I have to say you are correct. Had same experience with Scottrade. I don't have to call then even one time. At most I had to send email about some question once a year max. I'm just glad my IRA will move from TDAmeritrade to Schwab. If I'm going to exit TIAA hope all the wrong TDAmeritrade people go to TIAA and leave me alone.

    For now I've taken screenshots of the Fund detail pages in case I hear "oh but you are mistaken about fund being NTF". FWIW.
  • Thanks for the response. Note to self, and everyone else: don't use TIAA. The old TIAA-CREF.
  • Now I see for EACH of my $100 x 4 investments I've been charged $50 commission. If anyone contemplating TIAA, stop. I'll try to figure it out. The funds STILL show NTF. And I was never charged for my initial investment. It's also clear additional investment is just $100. Either they fix the problem, or I'm filing complaint with (WHO? someone tell me please) and closing my account.

    I've had recent success filing a complaint with the SEC. (I filed because Merrill Edge had doctored up quantities and prices of fund purchases - Merrill couldn't handle fractional shares.)

    I don't recall if the SEC form below was the exact one I used, but it should suffice:
    https://www.sec.gov/oiea/Complaint.html

    See also Investor Complaints at Investor.gov
    https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-bulletins-48

    I've posted before about botched brokerage transactions in TIAA's managed accounts (details irrelevant here). TIAA provides a good product for 403(b)s, notably the TIAA Traditional and TREA options. And they have a good retail VA. Aside from those products, I'd be inclined to look elsewhere for investing services.
  • edited March 2020
    @msf I know about this problem with Merrill and complained to them several times. Yes, they cannot freakin do math because they treat mutual fund purchases like stock purchases which are seldom fractional (but their math is correct). However they are STILL doing it. So how do you mean you were successful? Was their match incorrect back then?
  • I had transferred my taxable account holdings (cost basis figures don't matter in IRAs) out of Merrill Edge because of their rounding/fudging and other problems. Merrill provided the receiving brokerage its incorrect figures.

    The receiving brokerage could not legally change those figures or lots even when I provided them all the trade confirmations. So I filed a complaint with the SEC.

    In response, Merrill provided the receiving brokerage the correct quantities and prices. When selling, I can now accurately identify specific shares acquired on specific dates with correct costs. I consider that a success.
  • .... And... it's only been two months. Yesterday, Value Line's communication, acknowledging our request, arrived in the mail. I'll just call on Monday and tell them to forget it. Two months. That kind of unresponsiveness is a lot less than we need. Funny, actually.
  • @Crash: Hell's bell's the pony express was faster than that !!
    Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Derf

  • A very intriguing fund and seemingly well-allocated fund that I would consider adding to my portfolio -- though I have a hard time paying 1.07 a year for it when the performance (and some holdings) seems quite comparable to PRWCX, which I'm still quite happy with.
  • Yes, performance is great. Shareholder services? Clearly it's an afterthought for them. That's a big no-go for me.
  • Seems to be a fine fund. I’m wondering why only one of the managers has any skin in the game? Kind of surprising on the face of it.
  • rforno said:


    A very intriguing fund and seemingly well-allocated fund that I would consider adding to my portfolio -- though I have a hard time paying 1.07 a year for it when the performance (and some holdings) seems quite comparable to PRWCX, which I'm still quite happy with.

    PRWCX is by far one of my favorite funds but VLAIX beats it from one month to 3 years and for 3 years is by 2% annually.

    ===========
    BenWP:Seems to be a fine fund. I’m wondering why only one of the managers has any skin in the game? Kind of surprising on the face of it.
    Nice to have but not necessary. Gundlach has a huge amount in DBLTX, I still don't own DBLTX for years, same with D&C shop...if I can find a better option.
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