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Schwab is a little bit better for this: 1) Like Fidelity, it requires you to open a brokerage account, but the minimum deposit is $0, unlike Fidelity which las

Schwab is a little bit better for this: 1) Like Fidelity, it requires you to open a brokerage account, but the minimum deposit is $0, unlike Fidelity which last I checked was $2,500 2) $1k/day ATM max instead of $500 3) ATM fee reimbursement is worldwide and no forex fees, can't remember anymore if Fidelity had both of these

astura 4y ago
You're wrong about the first point - the cash management account IS the brokerage account, and there's no minimum. No no forex fees either.
lannisterstark 4y ago
1. Fidelity has $0 minimum deposit. 2. Sure, Fidelity has $500 ATM withdrawal limit. 3. Fidelity reimburses ATM worldwide. As for transactions, If you're using your DEBIT CARD in a foreign country (or even within USA) for transactions and not a credit card, you're doing something wrong. Enjoy having to deal with a bank investigation in case of a scam when you're out of your own money than the bank's money. IIRC some accounts have a 1% transaction fee in foreign nations but not for ATM. 999. No wire transfer fee. This will always trump anything else for me as a major primary account.
pxx 4y ago
I think the value is actually towards the Fidelity CMA right now and I'm saying this as a long-time Schwab enthusiast. To your points: 1. No minimum opening or ongoing balance required on the CMA. Note. You don't have to open a separate brokerage account. The CMA is a brokerage account. 2. If push comes to shove you can always do a manual cash disbursement (aka "cash advance", but there's no line of credit involved here) from any bank displaying the Visa logo. The range ($500, $1000] is a little too specific to be useful, and you'd probably have to hit up multiple ATMs anyway. It is also much easier to have multiple Fidelity CMA accounts than multiple Schwab Bank accounts if for some reason you really need specifically ATM network transactions. 3. This is partially correct but not as big as the deficit you're stating. Fidelity charges 1% if the card is used for a foreign Visa debit purchase. ATM fees are reimbursed globally (supposedly a little less reliable than Schwab) and forex is zero on ATM. The only time I've seen a need for this is back when Chip-and-PIN was first being introduced and my credit cards weren't working with offline PIN in Europe. Since then, I don't think I've ever needed to use the Visa debit network. In comparison: A. Schwab free wires are limited to three per quarter and only if you have $100k of assets. Fidelity wires are always free. The web interface is worse on Fidelity though: you have to call them if over $100k, if you have a memo, or if you have further credit instructions, so take this with a slight grain of salt. If you have consistent memo/further credit instructions you can send a form in to be able to do these online. The "not having to worry about quota" is super nice. B. The ability to auto-liquidate money market funds, as the Fidelity CMA is actually just a brokerage account, for incoming ACH/ATM/Visa/check debits at any time of day or week makes the Fidelity product far more useful than Schwab's ridiculous 0.2x% interest product. It means I no longer have to worry about my account balance, which can safely be at $0 (as long as there are sufficient appropriate money market fund investments).

astura 4y ago

You're wrong about the first point - the cash management account IS the brokerage account, and there's no minimum. No no forex fees either.

lannisterstark 4y ago

1. Fidelity has $0 minimum deposit. 2. Sure, Fidelity has $500 ATM withdrawal limit. 3. Fidelity reimburses ATM worldwide. As for transactions, If you're using your DEBIT CARD in a foreign country (or even within USA) for transactions and not a credit card, you're doing something wrong. Enjoy having to deal with a bank investigation in case of a scam when you're out of your own money than the bank's money. IIRC some accounts have a 1% transaction fee in foreign nations but not for ATM. 999. No wire transfer fee. This will always trump anything else for me as a major primary account.

pxx 4y ago

I think the value is actually towards the Fidelity CMA right now and I'm saying this as a long-time Schwab enthusiast. To your points: 1. No minimum opening or ongoing balance required on the CMA. Note. You don't have to open a separate brokerage account. The CMA is a brokerage account. 2. If push comes to shove you can always do a manual cash disbursement (aka "cash advance", but there's no line of credit involved here) from any bank displaying the Visa logo. The range ($500, $1000] is a little too specific to be useful, and you'd probably have to hit up multiple ATMs anyway. It is also much easier to have multiple Fidelity CMA accounts than multiple Schwab Bank accounts if for some reason you really need specifically ATM network transactions. 3. This is partially correct but not as big as the deficit you're stating. Fidelity charges 1% if the card is used for a foreign Visa debit purchase. ATM fees are reimbursed globally (supposedly a little less reliable than Schwab) and forex is zero on ATM. The only time I've seen a need for this is back when Chip-and-PIN was first being introduced and my credit cards weren't working with offline PIN in Europe. Since then, I don't think I've ever needed to use the Visa debit network. In comparison: A. Schwab free wires are limited to three per quarter and only if you have $100k of assets. Fidelity wires are always free. The web interface is worse on Fidelity though: you have to call them if over $100k, if you have a memo, or if you have further credit instructions, so take this with a slight grain of salt. If you have consistent memo/further credit instructions you can send a form in to be able to do these online. The "not having to worry about quota" is super nice. B. The ability to auto-liquidate money market funds, as the Fidelity CMA is actually just a brokerage account, for incoming ACH/ATM/Visa/check debits at any time of day or week makes the Fidelity product far more useful than Schwab's ridiculous 0.2x% interest product. It means I no longer have to worry about my account balance, which can safely be at $0 (as long as there are sufficient appropriate money market fund investments).