IPX Fidelity vs Vanguard Proper

[JC. 0]

Hi Everyone,

 

My district just added two new vendors to our list.

IPX and Vanguard.

 

Which would you choose:

 

Vanguard $60 a year or IPX with Fidelity Funds for $50 a year?

 

I'm a Fidelity investor, the fund I am interested in are on average less expensive than Vanguard, but my money would be house with IPX not Fidelity directly.

 

Thoughts?

 

JC

[krow36 0]

I checked out IPX after you first posted about it. Thanks for bringing to our attention. No, I wouldn’t call the IPX offerings “immoral”. I think some of the IPX options are actually lower cost than Aspire’s 0.15% + $40/yr fees. That’s certainly the case a higher balance, with IPX Vanguard (P3) and IPX Fidelity (P3). For what it’s worth, here’s my summary, based on 403bcompare:  https://www.403bcompare.com/vendors/1966#/productlist

Encompass is an advisor option with a fee of 0.31%/Q or 1.24%/yr, which is not competitive with Aspire which adds only 0.6% for an advisor. It does offer Vanguard Admiral class index funds. Of course I do not believe an advisor is justified or needed to contribute reasonably to a 403b plan.

IPX Fund Portal (Investor Class) has a $6.25/Q or $25/yr fee and a 0.05%/Q or 0.20%/yr fee. It also offers Vanguard Admiral class index funds as well as many higher cost actively-managed funds. There are no low-cost index Target Retirement funds. So the lowest overall cost adds up to about 0.25%/yr + $25/yr.

IPX Vanguard (P3) charges $21.50/Q or $86/yr. There is no asset-based fee. Only Vanguard’s Admiral class index funds are offered although there are no Target Retirement or LifeStrategy funds. This IPX option compares favorably with Vanguard’s 403b $60/yr.

IPX Fidelity (P3) charges $12.50/Q or $50/yr. There are Fidelity’s low-cost total market index funds but their index target retirement funds are actively managed and are higher cost. This actually beats Vanguard’s $60/yr fee but not Fidelity’s $24/yr.

[JC. 0]

Thank you so much for your response. That website 403bcompare.com is a wonderful resource.

I would say the IPX plans that do not charge BP seem to be a wonderful option. You have to remember though Fidelity charges $24, but I have to content with the $36 fee Omni charges. So if Omni brought Fidelity into the P3 I would have to pay $60. with IPX I pay $50 and that includes Omni's $36 fee. It's actually cheaper. Since I will just be using this account for the Fidelity SP 500 index fund FXAIX at .02% it's an incredibly inexpensive plan.

 

Thanks again for the reply.

 

JC

[Teacher88 0]

Not sure if this post is still active.  My district also added IPX this year.  I have been working with the union to offer better options, the district obviously still resists.  According to 403b compare it says the fees for Fidelity is $126.  JC, where did you find the fees as $50 a year?  It also says that is based on $10,000.   What wold the yearly fees be for $300000?  I also see where IPX does not offer any index funds through Fidelty.  

 

JC can you explain to me the $36 OMNI fee?  Does your district give you the option to pay that fee and invest where you like?  Does your district make each individual pay the $36 per year?  My district does not charge us a penny to invest in the 403b.  Instead they have adopted the awful P3 list of expensive options.  

 

[krow36 0]

I can't answer questions about the fees that JC pays. After looking at IPX on 403bcompare (sited above), I would stick with Vanguard and skip Fidelity. The difference in expense ratios of their index funds is minor. I'm assuming you are going to use index funds? A difference of 0.02% on 300k is only $60.  

Third party administrators like OMNI charge for each district employee that has an 403b account. Somebody has to pay the fee. The expensive vendors agree to pick up the tab because they make a lot of profit on their products. Most districts don't want to pay the fee and are happy to have it taken care of by the vendors. The district's are oblivious as to the high fees that their employees are charged.The low-cost vendors like Vanguard and Fidelity won't usually pay the fee. Vanguard and OMNI have recently worked out an agreement to have Vanguard collect the TPA fee from the employee and send it to OMNI. I don't know how IPX is handling the TPA fee.

[JC. 0]

On 5/26/2021 at 8:23 AM, Teacher88 said:

Not sure if this post is still active.  My district also added IPX this year.  I have been working with the union to offer better options, the district obviously still resists.  According to 403b compare it says the fees for Fidelity is $126.  JC, where did you find the fees as $50 a year?  It also says that is based on $10,000.   What wold the yearly fees be for $300000?  I also see where IPX does not offer any index funds through Fidelty.  

 

JC can you explain to me the $36 OMNI fee?  Does your district give you the option to pay that fee and invest where you like?  Does your district make each individual pay the $36 per year?  My district does not charge us a penny to invest in the 403b.  Instead they have adopted the awful P3 list of expensive options.  

 

Hi. The $36 OMNI fee is what my district pays OMNI per participant. My memory is foggy on this whole situation, but I do remember talking to and emailing with a representative from IPX. I also uses 403Bcompare.com. That is where I would have gotten my information from. The representative I spoke with and emailed with was Rick Moser <rmoser@fps-services.com. I would email him. He was very responsive and answered all of my questions. I ended up going with Vanguard direct and have been happy minus some issues with how quickly they processed my transfer of funds from Aspire. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

 

JC

[JC. 0]

Hi. The $36 OMNI fee is what my district pays OMNI per participant. My memory is foggy on this whole situation, but I do remember talking to and emailing with a representative from IPX. I also uses 403Bcompare.com. That is where I would have gotten my information from. The representative I spoke with and emailed with was Rick Moser <rmoser@fps-services.com. I would email him. He was very responsive and answered all of my questions. I ended up going with Vanguard direct and have been happy minus some issues with how quickly they processed my transfer of funds from Aspire. Please let me know if you have any other questions.