I’m a former Registered Investment Advisor with one of Schwab’s competitors. I also have accounts with all the big three recommended by Clark. There is something big missing from this recent Schwab review.
Simply put: Schwab has the best customer service of any investment firm out there. As a matter of fact, I’ll commit to saying that Schwab has the best customer service team of any company in the United States!!! When dealing with your money…that’s a deal maker. Kind, Compassionate, quick, efficient, well trained and a pleasure to talk to, every one of their reps is OUTSTANDING. I’d love to know what kind of training they all get because they get it right every time, as opposed to the other two companies that Clark recommends who tend to drop the ball more often than not. Schwab employees are just first rate people, and the customer service is second to none.
Thanks for pointing this out! Clark has mentioned Schwab’s outstanding customer service on his podcast before. I’ll check with the writer to see if it’s worth mentioning in articles.
To answer your question about which is his favorite “kid” (he calls the investment firms his kids 
), it depends on your needs and goals. Here’s our comparative analysis and which is best for what: Fidelity vs. Vanguard vs. Schwab: Which Brokerage Is Best?
Schwab is good, Fidelity has an HSA which Schwab badly lacks. Fidelity service is just as good. The trades are maybe cheaper because Schwab gets paid by 3rd parties for its order flow (pfof).
Ocho,
I respect your opinion. I’ll just give you two very recent examples of, in my opinion, flawed fidelity performance. 1) When my Mom passed away in 2020 it took 30 minutes to set up accounts for, and transfer stocks to beneficiary accounts. My Aunt passed away on April 6…the process to establish her beneficiaries and populate their accounts at fidelity took 6 WEEKS, and could not be done in a Fidelity office any more. 2) I recently attempted to set up a Credit Union with ACH privilege’s on the Fidelity platform, so I could transfer money between accounts. Two weeks after initial application it’s still not approved. Schwab sets this kind of arrangement up in two days.
My initial post however had nothing to do with Fidelity policies. It had everything to do with Schwab PEOPLE. After dealing with both companies I still believe that Schwab people, and their ability to resolve issues, is the absolute best in the business.
Thanks for the heads-up. I will surely keep my eyes open and vote with my feet if either of them disappoints.
I am a TD Ameritrade customer ( holdover from the Datek days). Any idea how Schwab will change TDA further?
It is always a pleasure to get good customer service, but it doesn’t always make up for disasters.
Dealing with both Schwab and Fidelity when handling my mom’s estate, Fidelity was far more efficient.
Schwab went through some sort of conversion with Quicken at the end of last year that changes (I believe lowered) the connectivity type (cheaper I guess). I never got the new connectivity to work correctly, and automated download is important to me, so I closed my accounts.
Schwab’s ability to deposit money orders was useful, and their investor center is closer than Fidelity’s. They were a bit easier to deal with as POA, but they were no help with this Medallion Signature idiocy going. on with financial institution paperwork.
I think Schwab is a very good platform for the beginning and intermediate investor, but I would recommend something like Interactive Brokers for more advanced investors.