What To Do About Vangurd?

[sschullo 0]

I just read through your page, Ed. Thanks for passing that along.

 

Edietel,

I have also written about basic investing, but it is a bit longer than Ed's: http://latebloomerwealth.com/four-part-series-investing-basics/

Steve

[arich 0]

Erich

 

Can you share your state and school district? This is very interesting because in NYS some districts do NOT give you the option even if you want to pay the fees. This is the amunition I need to help some close friends and family out.

 

My District, Eastchester, NY, offers many great companies, two og them being Vanguard and Fidelity. We also have access to the NYSDCP or 457.

Anthony

[edietel 0]

Whoa, just saw this. Sorry arich!

 

I work for Bedford School District in Bedford, NH. If you go here you can see the offerings for my district. There is nothing written on there about the fees, they actually caught me by surprise. The way this ends up working out (and the way I found out) is one of my transactions each month is $3 less than the other one. Vanguard knew nothing, so the fees were clearly being taken out by OMNI. I've checked with other folks in my building who use Vanguard, and it is the same with them.

 

I'm curious if these $3/month fees will continue with the new record keeping over at Vanguard. I haven't heard definitively one way or the other, but I have my fingers crossed that these will be part of the $5/month new fees...

[arich 0]

OMNI charges me $3/month to use Vanguard, and Vanguard charges me $15/year to invest in a Target Date Fund. I decided $51/year in fees (on top of expense ratios) was worth it for the privilege of having access to Vanguard, since most of the offerings from my district are not as good. I imagine the OMNI fees won't be going away, so the partnership with Newport looks like it will raise my fees from $51/year to $96/year.

 

 

PLEASE tell me more about this. I just posted a question about it. how did you get Omni to do this??????

[arich 0]

Whoa, just saw this. Sorry arich!

 

I work for Bedford School District in Bedford, NH. If you go here you can see the offerings for my district. There is nothing written on there about the fees, they actually caught me by surprise. The way this ends up working out (and the way I found out) is one of my transactions each month is $3 less than the other one. Vanguard knew nothing, so the fees were clearly being taken out by OMNI. I've checked with other folks in my building who use Vanguard, and it is the same with them.

 

I'm curious if these $3/month fees will continue with the new record keeping over at Vanguard. I haven't heard definitively one way or the other, but I have my fingers crossed that these will be part of the $5/month new fees...

 

Were you grandfathered to Vanguard when the district made those other choices available?

 

Were you even told/warned about the fees??

[edietel 0]

Nope. It was a choice on the list (and still is). I had no idea OMNI would take $3 out of every other contribution until I noticed it happening and asked some questions. OMNI wouldn't answer my messages, but the HR benefits person for my district did. She is the one who told me where those $3 was going, because she uses Vanguard herself and got to the bottom of it before I asked.

 

I think if the district uses OMNI and asks them to add Vanguard, they will. There's enough of us out there using Vanguard (via OMNI) that it can't be that big of a deal for them. The issue is getting the right person in your district to ask for it...

[arich 0]

I looked at my Vanguard account and the amount being deposited is the exact same amount being deducted from my paycheck. I do not see the $3 being removed anywhere.

 

Anthony