I'm mostly happy with Schwab although I dreaded it when USAA sold their accounts to Schwab. It ended out being seamless, just less convention for international issues than is USAA, with which moving around the world is standard stuff.
What a difference two years later. Someone called Schwab a "hot radioactive mess" which is apt.
Even with their proclaimed 'Private Banking' they are truly horrible if you ahem anything remotely complex:
First, their call center is useless when you reach someone, which takes, on average 2-5 minutes;
Second, It is impossible to assess the tax consequences of a proposed trade priority to execution, much less evaluating differing recognition choices. Most decent brokers have a handy tool to assess such choices before execution;
Third, Almost nobody seems to understand the concept of the second one so one needs to explain basic accounting;
Fourth, heaven forbid an international transaction. That is almost laughably primitive and even the transfer desk itself is quite ignorant;
Fifth, If you have any, repeat any, mostly complex transaction needs 'fuggedaboudit'.
Sixth, OTOH, ignorance is bliss. They do execute, for good or poor, they execute on basic trades.
I am now in the process of moving all my Schwab business to JP Morgan. They're not perfect but they'r not virgins in coping with basic domestic US and international business.
Note: Their ineptness has just cost me some significant coinage, but most of all due to their inability to actual execute a transaction with correct identification of payee and recipient, not to mention not knowing what IBAN, SWIFT codes and ABA mean, when each is applicable and how to identify payee and payor. Should those be difficult to understand?
Note 2: I am angry now, but time is unlikely to change my perspective to being less irritated.
Note 3: Back during my international banking, trading room days I would have dismissed the lot of these clowns for incompetence. Today, with real time tools readily available, I would never have let any of these loose in contact with a client.
Lastly, selling some TSLA to fund a vanity project does occasion some core recognition of what happens with a 15:1 split and passage of fruitful years. I may live to minimize the idiocy of my decisions, but I am doing my share to defray the US national deficit for this year.
reneweconomy.com.au
