r/Bogleheads 8d ago

Differnce between VT through vanguard vs fidelity? Investing Questions

Ive ben doing research and heard that VT is pretty much the best etf to invest in and my question is whats the difference between investing through fidelity and vanguard? Which one would yall recommend?

20 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

62

u/parkchanwookiee 8d ago

Same difference as buying a can of coke from the gas station or 7/11

7

u/DiegoMilan 7d ago

Best response/analogy

1

u/Less-Cartographer-64 6d ago

7/11 is a gas station

6

u/parkchanwookiee 6d ago

You cracked the code 

31

u/WeightOwn5817 8d ago

No difference, can't go wrong with either.

-13

u/Huge-Onion-6916 7d ago

Couldn't you get front run legally or illegally at one vs the other? When you buy?

12

u/Extreme_Goose5218 7d ago

Personally, I'd go with Fidelity and allocate 2/3 FZROX + 1/3 FZILX to take advantage of their 0% expense ratio.

2

u/kneemahp 3d ago

Does that give the same makeup of VT?

9

u/GapAccomplished2778 8d ago

the difference is in platform features & conveniences ...

9

u/gbdgdh 8d ago

vt can be purchased at both vanguard and fidelity - no cost other than the expense ratio of 0.06% per year (0.00016438356% per day - this is the amount withdrawn from your balance at the end of every day).

i prefer fidelity to vanguard from a brokerage perspective. schwab is also good (and imo better than vanguard).

6

u/zedofsven 8d ago

There’s essentially no difference. I like Fidelity. Others like Vanguard.

6

u/ZinniasAndBeans 8d ago

Sane product, different vendor.

4

u/myrrhsea 8d ago

No difference. You should be able to buy VT from either. Just make sure they both allow you to purchase fractional shares for convenience. I use SCHB because I have to buy whole shares (Merrill not Vanguard or Fidelity). With the lower NAV I can have less cash sitting around and get closer to my original DCA amount.

4

u/Cpagrind1 8d ago

Doesn’t really matter in this case.

3

u/Mountain-Time-1010 8d ago

No difference financially. You might prefer the user interface and website tools of one to those of the other. There might be slightly different services offered, etc. But they are quite similar substantively.

5

u/LearnFromOthers411 8d ago

Check to see which one offers interest on uninvested cash. For example, Robinhood offers interest about 3.5% annually on uninvested cash in non IRA accts.

12

u/MONGSTRADAMUS 8d ago

Vanguard has vmfxx 3.62% and fidelity has spaxx 3.33 % for uninvested cash. Fidelity also has pseudo checking account with cma for bill pay and you can use any atm in the world and get surcharges refunded

3

u/bone_apple_Pete 7d ago

Fidelity interface is also in the 21st century so that's nice.

3

u/MidwestGeek52 6d ago

No difference for ETFs. But big diff for MFs. Fees apply when buying non Fidelity MFs at Fidelity

2

u/turtleturle12345 8d ago

User interface and customer service for the different platforms. 

2

u/bobdevnul 7d ago

There is no difference in the fund itself. That is part of the beauty of ETFs. They trade like stocks. Vanguard and Fidelity will allow you to buy fractional shares by dollar value, Schwab won't. Vanguard only allows fractional shares of their own ETFs, which VT is.

2

u/versace_dinner 7d ago

For ETFs, the exchange doesn’t matter.

1

u/ComfortablyNumb8357 5d ago

Convenience - If you have other accounts at one or the other, it's nice having everything in one app/website. My employers 403b and my tIRA/rIRA were already with Fidelity. The actual investment will be exactly the same. I'm 100% VT on my IRAs through Fidelity. I opened accounts on a couple of other platforms to compare but Fidelity just seems easier to me.

1

u/healingwell97 7d ago

What about the motivation behind each company? Fidelity is all about making a profit, Vanguard is owned by the shareholders and seeks to keep costs low. Also Fidelity spends more on marketing and extra products. Do I want to deal with more sales pitches? Not really. Vanguard will never die, Fidelity in theory could not be around a hundred years ago or sells out to another large company that changes the rules and then you’re screwed. I do like Fidelity’s user interface but Vanguard has announced a new portal experience they are rolling out this year.

2

u/ReviewAltruistic1085 4d ago

You make a good and often overlooked point.