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Yeah. I already had an account with Charles Schwab (based in San Francisco), and I set up a roth IRA for this year in about 5 minutes by myself, online. So it'
by lsiebert 9y ago
Yeah. I already had an account with Charles Schwab (based in San Francisco), and I set up a roth IRA for this year in about 5 minutes by myself, online.
So it's not that financial institutions can't be good at this, it's that the big banks fundamentally don't care about customers who aren't wealthy or institutional in nature.
But there are definitely alternatives like credit unions, online banks, and brokerage firms with banking services. Not that everyone of these is good, but you have options, especially if you live in a city, like most people on HN probably do.
Quit big banks. Join a credit union, tell your friends about it. Encourage your employer to switch banks too, if you are in a position to do so.
- exolymph 9y agoSchwab is huge, so I'm skeptical that your good experience with them supports the thesis that you stated.
- lsiebert 9y agoIt's a brokerage firm with some banking features. Brokerage firms understand that investors have options on where to take their money, whereas banks like Wells Fargo often seem to forget that.