[silisili]

High APY ( ~5% ). Keep in mind this is a MM account that works exactly like checking. I don't have to worry about the money in it - don't have to reinvest money earned myself or sell to spend money - it's all transparent. When you spend money, it works, and you'll just see it removed from your MM balance. I mention this because Schwab has a similar account, but makes you manually buy and sell holdings instead as needed.

In above account, you can also make selections here to not need to pay state tax on earnings, but that doesn't apply to me anyways. Nice for people in high tax states, though.

Paper checks in a checkbook. This is something you'd assume is standard but actually hard to find at online banks today.

Debit card with ATM fee rebates worldwide. I don't travel worldwide much anymore, but there's only 3 or 4 banks total that do this and it's a nicety.

Instant P2P between accounts. I often send my wife money for various reasons. This is another one that's surprisingly not standard at a lot of banks.

Free same day wires. Very straightforward, no hassles here, though I've only used it three times.

Customer Service. When you call them, someone in the US answers within a few seconds. They'll talk investing with you, goals, or general troubleshooting things. They also call to check in about twice a year which I find annoying, but some people might like it.

Money guarantee. Luckily I haven't had to use this yet, but any money stolen from hackers/fraud is supposedly 100% covered by Fidelity.

[Dalewyn]

Currently trying to figure out where to start with an IRA (probably Roth) after learning about it recently and seeing it's something I probably should have started like over 15 years ago...

Which would you suggest between Schwab and Fidelity? Is it something I can/should easily do by myself as a financial layman? I have no experience with either of them, though I am slightly leaning towards Schwab since they have some tie-ins with American Express whom I like.

Trying to read up on this is almost worthless because past a certain point it's all just snake oil peddlers wanting me to part with my money (eg: all the Vanguard fanbois).

[silisili]

There's a lot to consider here that may be worth talking to an advisor at both. Traditional, Roth, or Backdoor Roth? Look at investible options, fees associated, etc.

As for Schwab vs Fidelity, your money is in safe hands with either. Might want to call and talk shop with both, and choose whoever you feel gave you better answers, all other things equal.

Vanguard has low fees, but it shows in every facet of their existence. I don't hate it, but I'll make marginally less money perhaps for better experience. YMMV.

[Dalewyn]

I RTFM'd courtesy of the IRS and banks I trust since personal finances is a pretty important subject and worth spending some time and effort to learn it myself, even if I ultimately toss all the paperwork at my CPA to deal with come April.

I'm more than likely going for a Roth IRA given my income (well below threshold) and a strong desire to just keep things simple. Traditional IRA with tax deductions sounds nice, but it's also overhead and effort I just don't want to deal with regardless of potential tax savings (and I need to pay the taxes eventually anyway); the old saying that time is money.

It's great and much appreciated to hear from someone who's not marketing at me that Schwab and Fidelity are more or less objectively the same. That means the deciding factor is simply which one I'm more biased to, which means Schwab (aforementioned AMEX tie-ins).

Many thanks!

[justin66]

Fidelity has the better website (but Schwab's site is not nearly as bad as Vanguard) and has had fewer weird financial problems in recent years than Schwab. That said, either one will work. I've got everything moved over to Fidelity right now because I like having my free cash in a decent money market fund, and I somehow found that more difficult with Schwab.

If you hit the limit of what you can put in a Roth IRA (good choice) and still have money to save, I Bonds through treasury direct are something to consider.

[Dalewyn]

Doing more research, everyone seems to agree Fidelity is the most handy when it comes to using a brokerage like I would a bank. Their 2% all-around cashback Visa credit card is also admittedly nice. They outsource the banking aspects, though.

On the other hand, Schwab has an actual bank as a subsidary if I do want to use them also for banking, which is great for feeling reassured as a client/depositor if I want to diversify my current banking with US Bank.

Schwab also has those AMEX tie-ins, which is again reassuring because I really like and respect AMEX. Yeah it's just marketing, but damnit if it isn't effective. :V

Though either way I'm not concerned with the finer points of brokerage-banking or investing right now because I'm not sure if I will get into the whole investment money games beyond a Roth IRA. Maybe I will, but I can worry about that when I get to that point.

[justin66]

I understand the concern regarding banking. I keep "cash" in my Fidelity account in one or the other of two Fidelity money market funds that invest in US Treasuries. That's as safe as a bank, after a fashion (if the treasury starts defaulting on t-bills, everything including banks' FDIC insurance is going to go down the tubes). There was an extra step with Schwab that I found a little irksome - your free cash in one of their accounts goes into a sweep account that may or may not be FDIC insured (I don't remember), but it doesn't earn much interest. Moving that money into a money market fund that invests in treasuries was an extra step.

But they're both good choices. I remember when paying $15 for a stock trade was considered innovative. But the most recent Schwab website changes I experienced, maybe a year ago before I switched everything over, were a step backward.

I have the Fidelity 2% card and it's great.

I would have stayed with Vanguard forever if their website didn't suck and their brokerage services didn't also suck. They really were a leader for a while.