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Thanks for the reminder. There were two aspects of Vanguard's announcement that particularly irked me. One was the new closeout/transfer fee (FWIW, Schwab charges $50 vs. Vanguard's $100). The new charge for calling about non-trade-related issues was the other fee that caught my eye.
I'd forgotten that related to the latter was the "don't call too much - or else" clause. I even called Vanguard to confirm that this doesn't apply to people paying for advice (Vanguard Personal Advisor).
One of the people I know using the PAS service received the identical letter from Vanguard that I received. There was no mention about still being able to talk with an advisor w/o a telephone charge, let alone risking getting "fired".
As the article said, Vanguard's communication on changes has been very poor.
If they don't want people calling, shut down the call center completely -- to force customers to think "will this time be the time I get fired?" is not a good strategy, period. They are a BROKERAGE and exist to SUPPORT and SERVICE their customers regardless of age, account size, or investing experience.
All these changes reek very much of corporate panic about cutting costs / generating revenue quickly by any way they can by leadership likely stuck in the '80s.
This is gonna really throw into chaos a lot of old timers who joined Vanguard in the 70s thru 90s era when its low-cost approach was thought to be the greatest innovation since sliced bread. I know one such person (an otherwise intelligent hands-off investor) who was puzzled by their push to make people switch to ETFs a few years ago. “What the heck is an ETF?” he asked me recently.
Phone support? Don’t know about Vanguard. But TRP should pay you to call in, so poor is the “support.”
Does this new policy apply to clients enrolled in a 401k at work? My daughter has a Vanguard retirement plan from her employer and she is being kicked out of Wellington and being automatically migrated to a JP Morgan age appropriate TDF unless she opts out. Luckily she still has VPMAX.
Does this new policy apply to clients enrolled in a 401k at work? My daughter has a Vanguard retirement plan from her employer and she is being kicked out of Wellington and being automatically migrated to a JP Morgan age appropriate TDF unless she opts out. Luckily she still has VPMAX.
Comments
I'd forgotten that related to the latter was the "don't call too much - or else" clause. I even called Vanguard to confirm that this doesn't apply to people paying for advice (Vanguard Personal Advisor).
One of the people I know using the PAS service received the identical letter from Vanguard that I received. There was no mention about still being able to talk with an advisor w/o a telephone charge, let alone risking getting "fired".
As the article said, Vanguard's communication on changes has been very poor.
All these changes reek very much of corporate panic about cutting costs / generating revenue quickly by any way they can by leadership likely stuck in the '80s.
Phone support? Don’t know about Vanguard. But TRP should pay you to call in, so poor is the “support.”
At least some beg to differ. I especially liked this post: (Vanguard claims 50+ million customers.)