Couldn’t find recent posts on it, so sorry for asking again. I am thinking to move VT/VOO/maybe some other hold forever positions out of my IBKR account for the sake of broker diversification. Schwab looks like a good alternative to IBKR, and according to the poor swiss its main drawback is that they want USD directly, for which a long-term hold strategy seems ok for me (plus I heard you can move cash position between IBKR and Schwab). However, anyone has experience with it? How is their international customer service? I’d love to go with a Swiss broker, but their prices khm… quite outrageous and unsure whether I can trust a Swiss provider more than IBKR or Schwab. I am looking for a bit more reviews than the comments under the linked post. Thanks! Cheers!
(For me the main downside is that they’re both US brokers, so in the case of inheritance expect things to be locked for a while, fwiw if you buy on IB and transfer swiss brokers are fairly cheap)
To answer your questions, customer support was fine when I’ve needed it (rarely). Moving cash works fine as well (wire are executed on the same day, usually in a few hours).
Thank you for your reply. We would like to diversify brokers, not all eggs in one basket. SIPC protection or similar is kind of a must. But hopefully competition in Switzerland get better over time and we can have access to lower fees here.
I use Schwab as my international broker after moving from TD Ameritrade when they were acquired by Schwab. Overall, I haven’t had any issues with them, and their international customer service has been responsive. That said, there were a few hiccups with their trading platform being down for several hours on multiple occasions in the last couple of months. However I like their Platform overall when it works.
For broker diversification, I now use both Swissquote and Schwab. Transferring securities (incl. VT etc.) and USD between them has been straightforward (having gone through a learning curve).
2 years ago I aborted the signup process for TD Ameritrade when I learned that they were being acquired by Schwab.
Last Sunday I opened a Schwab account because they now seem to offer accounts to international clients with no minimum investment (used to be 25k I think), and $0 trading and account service fees.
The signup process felt a lot less streamlined than IBKR. On Friday my first test transfer from UBS (in CHF) arrived. It showed up as USD, without any details about exchange rates or fees. My 2nd test transfer from Wise initiated on Thursday has not made it yet.
The W-8BEN form filing was possible but annoying (compared to IBKR) - during my 1st attempt I clicked on a info-button somewhere which froze and aborted the whole process. 2nd time worked.
I haven’t traded yet (waiting for the Wise transfer first).
I assume that behind the scenes they are still working on merging their systems, before they can then start to improve it.
The transfer from Wise was rejected. But then I figured out how to connect the Wise Account via ACH. Now pulling money from Wise is just a few clicks and pretty much immediate without any transfer fees, like IB/Alpaca/tastytrade.
I also use it as a 2nd broker as it was my first when it was still Ameritrade and before I opened an IBKR account.
What can I say, I kept it because it’s free and I have free access to real time quotes and the Thinkorswim trading platform which I like but don’t really use or need as I’m more of a buy and hold investor…
I successfully linked and transferred cash via ACH to my IBKR account for free, good to know Wise should work too.
The only thing is, during the switch from Ameritrade, I had “problems” submitting my W8Ben. I noticed I was being withheld 30% from dividends, then I contacted them about it, it took some time, like a couple of weeks, but then of course they fixed it retroactively.
Anyway I don’t fund it anymore, and just keep there what’s there.
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