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  • Thanks for the info. I'm definitely interested. Tried about 7 funds-only MAPOX unavailable. VWELX also available, may have to consider moving Vanguard account to E-Trade.
  • @carew388 : I would be interested in why you would change brokerage firm.
    Thanks , Derf
  • I opened an acct with them 5 months ago and am pleasantly surprised that now, all funds including institutional ones are NTF. I was with ALLY invest and the experience was Horrible. E-trade assigned us an adviser that handled all the issues in the transfer and there was no waiting on a phone call. ALLY did not have this available for the same sized account. We also got bonuses for transferring the account so we are quite happy with the service and experience. We discounted JP Morgan for many reasons at the time. What was also a great advantage was that we could also get an associated Morgan Stanley savings account now paying 3.25% in addition to various Vanguard Mmkt funds. We have other brokerage accounts with Fido, Vanguard etc and this so far has been the easiest to manage. The advisor is easily accesible and will continue to provide services as needed but does not give investment advice in this self managed account. And no, we are not trying to sell you on Etrade. Just relating our experience.
  • Had to keep the Vanguard acct as Etrade like many other firms ,does not carry most Admiral funds. We put up with the negatives as others have noted but save a lot on the ER.
  • derf I have a Vanguard account just for ntf purchases of Vanguard funds. It appears that E-Trade offers this plus DODIX OSTIX SVARX and others ntf-so for me Vanguard account is unnecessary and clunky as well.
  • edited December 2022
    fundly said:

    Had to keep the Vanguard acct as Etrade like many other firms ,does not carry most Admiral funds. We put up with the negatives as others have noted but save a lot on the ER.


    If E*Trade doesn't carry most Vanguard Admiral shares, then it wouldn't be very beneficial
    for me to switch to E*Trade. But there is a high probability that E*Trade's customer website
    is better than Vanguard's website!
  • Just tried to open an account but required additional verification. When I called, wait time was estimated at over 30 minutes. Haven’t had this issue with Schwab or Fido.
  • @ MrRuffles. If the acct is large, I think greater than 50K ask to be assigned to personal rep and ask for their phone #. Call that person and leave a message. They will facilitate resolution of any problems that might occur I always got a callback within 15 min. and they were fantastic in solving the issues. Hope this is helpful!
  • There seem to be several "mostly closed" funds that are listed as open at E*Trade. Closed funds often have a loophole - that you can open a new account if you are investing through an advisor who already has money with the fund. (Another common exception is investing directly with the fund.)

    So I'm wondering whether these funds are really open to DIY investors, or whether you need to be working with a Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor, or whether a personal rep as @fundly mentioned suffices, or ...

    Here are some (semi) closed funds that E*Trade shows as open:

    ARTJX - investor class (1.31% ER), $1K min
    APDJX - advisor class (1.15% ER), $0 min
    (Other closed Artisan funds, e.g. ARTFX, ARTKX are closed at E*Trade.)

    RPHYX - retail class (1.14% ER), $100 min
    RPHIX - inst class (0.89% ER), $100K min

    CIPNX - inst class (1.01% ER), $0 min
    (The more expensive advisor class CIPSX is closed to new investors.)

    DHMAX - inv class (1.21% ER), $2.5K min
    (Another closed DH fund, DHLAX, is closed at E*Trade.)

    Franklin Templeton - cheaper Advisor shares of some funds are open (e.g. FGADX, FRDAX); most brokerages sell more expensive A shares NTF. Also open are institutional shares of some Salomon Bros/Smith Barney legacy funds (now branded Clearbridge), such as SAIFX and SBLYX.

    Invesco - older, cheaper Investor shares of some funds are open (e.g. LCEIX, FSTEX); most brokerages sell more expensive A shares NTF

    PEMGX - A shares, NTF (0.93% ER), $1K min
    PCBIX - inst class (0.67% ER), $0 min
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