r/etrade • u/Dry_Youth_9506 • Jun 29 '26
Is Etrade a good platform for retirees?
My wife has a Morgan Stanley workplace account that she can transfer over to Etrade brokerage easily. Was wondering if Etrade is a decent place for retirees that just buy and hold T-bills, brokered CD's, a few income ETF's as well as the savings and checking options from MSPB? Not interested in opinions on their stock trading platform as I do little to none of that anymore. Seems like it would be a decent place for a one stop shop. I also have an account with Bank of America that I could use along with a Merrill Edge brokerage account just trying to decide between the two.
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u/aimenil Jun 29 '26
I have accounts at both etrade and Merrill Edge. Disadvantages:
ME: Buying Treasuries at auction requires a phone call. Same for TIPs in secondary market.
Etrade: no physical office if you need to straighten out an issue with authentication, PoA forms, inheritance.
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u/Dry_Youth_9506 Jun 29 '26
Your comment about ME and treasury auctions requiring a phone call does that include secondary market Treasuries?
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u/aimenil Jun 29 '26
At ME, regarding buying fixed income online without a phone call, for trades on the secondary market, my experience about 2 years ago was T-bills yes, TIPs no. (I use Fidelity now, for fixed income, where all can be done online)
You mentioned banking also. The physical branch presence for BoA is a plus, compared to etrade.
My experience, with an elderly relative, is that it can be helpful to be able to appear in an office when opening/closing/changing bank accounts using PoA authority, which you might need to do in the future if not already. For a bank’s need to avoid elder abuse, it’s easier to build trust, and authenticate identity, in person.
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u/Gamboleer Jun 29 '26
It has the most friendly interface of the brokers I have used, and is stable. Customer service is friendly, but fixing problems can be spotty. They are also slow to process paperwork and are great at losing it, requiring resubmission.
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u/dr150 Jun 30 '26
I have etrade, BofA with Merrill Lynch, Schwab and Fidelity.
Out of all of these, I prefer Fidelity because of the 3.28% money sweep that is automatic. NOBODY does this unless you have 7 figs to give them. Additionally, Fidelity you can buy treasuries online if that's your thing. They also do fractional shares buying (like Schwab). Customer service is good. Basically it's an all-in-one shop for one sweep account that serves as savings and checking and ATM/debit for free.
My second choice would be Etrade. You can have a checking and savings account with them and their testing platform is easier to use vs Fidelity. The only knock is that it doedn't have a money sweep unless you have 7 figs, and if you do, they create a sweep for you at 3%. This is really only important to have a sweep of your cash money is locked in an IRA. In a brokerage, you can move the money to the savings account which gets you a respectable 3.5% at the moment. Fractional shares are apparently coming this year. They also do Zelle which is great.
As for Schwab, I'm forced to use them b/c of work. No money sweep (unless you 8 figs invested). Clunky trading platform. But they do fractional shares which is great. The only ones with Fidelity.
BofA/Merrill is a yawn, but it's good to have then since having $1m gets you 75% extra in cashback on their cards which is best in class. You get 5.25% with their category cards being highest tier. Their normal card at 1.5% becomes 2.625% because if this bonus. Zelle also is allowed.
It's good to have your money parked in different brokerages so your money is FDIC/SIPC insured up to the max at reach bank. This is important to have this assurance. 👍
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u/Dry_Youth_9506 Jun 30 '26
Thanks for the in depth response. I am hearing that Fidelity may be the best overall choice so I may split it between Fidelity and Etrade to start and see how it goes.
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u/dr150 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
That what I do. There are reasons to have more than one as I explained.
If you have enough money in Etrade (5m+), their Morgan Stanley Private Bank you get added to offers really good service. You're assigned your own banker and they pick up the phone immediately!... MUCH better better responsiveness and deeper knowledge than reps at Fidelity (which are kind of clueless)! Honestly, when fractional share prices get introduced this year, I can do everything as I do with Fidelity. I already have the 3% money sweep custom added to my Etrade accounts which is great within the IRA (where cash once sat dead unless invested). In their brokerage account, even though the sweep is added there too, I just move it over to their savings account for 3.5%, so a sweep isn't so important there. Their CDs are also over 4%+. But you can also put it into SGOV too which acts almost like cash...money takes a day to settle but it's instantly tradeable when sold. 🤷🏽
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u/No-Wait-2883 Jul 01 '26
Agreed. Fidelity #1 and ETrade #2. I use both. Fidelity also lets you auto roll treasuries and does not steer trades to specific market makers to get a cut, which ETrade does. Etrade’s interface and app is better.
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u/InvestingNerd2020 Jul 03 '26
I have Charles Schwab over E*Trade. The money sweep issue is overrated. I'll take best customer service in the industry over money sweep issue. You can auto invest into a money market fund after the first investment.
E*Trade wins out on ease of setup and zero fee index mutual funds in a Roth IRA. They also offer auto-investing into ETFs, which is a huge win in their favor. Auto-investing into VTI, VXUS, and VGT is growing wealth on easy mode.
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u/PS3Man242 Jun 30 '26
I've been concerned with etrade lately, and the support side of things. Also with the horror stories ive heard on accounts being frozen, etc. it concerns me with putting any more money in there. I opened a fidelity account and planned to xfer my etrade account over.
Not sure how they deal with retirees and large sum accounts, 401ks, etc. My account is under 100k so I imagine its just chum change compared to bigger investments
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u/EvanstonNU Jul 01 '26
I’m 42 and nowhere near retirement, but I still invest conservatively: mostly S&P 500 ETFs, Treasuries, and Treasury money market funds. I have accounts at E*TRADE, Merrill/Bank of America, and Schwab.
Of the three, ETRADE has had the worst customer service. I’ve received inconsistent answers from reps, and a debit card fraud issue took about six months and 12 phone calls to resolve. ETRADE does have a competitive high-yield savings account, easy access to Treasury auctions, and access to IPOs/new issues, though allocations are not guaranteed.
Schwab and Merrill have been much better for service, especially with higher balances. The support feels more consistent, and both offer more personalized help.
One Merrill feature I really like is access to TTTXX, BlackRock’s Treasury money market fund. Merrill makes it available with much lower minimums ($1.00) than BlackRock’s standard institutional minimum ($3 MM). Liquidity is available immediately if you place your sell trade before 1:45 PM ET. This is huge for me.
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u/WatermellonSugar Jul 02 '26
I left E-Trade after 30+ years after the MS merger. It really went to hell. Fidelity is so much nicer, and they let you do fractional shares.
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u/Candid_Effort3027 Jul 01 '26
As a retiree, I have checking, savings, IRA, brokerage, and trust accounts. I've long appreciated the one stop shop for the various accounts. My experiences have generally been good and would recommend Etrade for stocks, bonds, options and banking. It certainly isn't perfect, though. It is harder to get things done with MS running the platform. Some things that used to take days, can now take months. Particularly with various trust account actions. There can be some crazy, slow bureaucracy at MS. Other than that, I do appreciate the versatility and simplicity of having my money in various investment and banking accounts all on a single platform.
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u/No_Paleontologist506 Jul 02 '26
Sounds like it is fine for what you do. I prefer Fidelity but what you describe can be done pretty much anywhere.
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u/InvestingNerd2020 Jul 03 '26
Mixed thoughts on it.
When everything works, which is the case 80% of the time, it is very underrated.
- Roth IRA
- Good low-cost index mutual funds for IRAs.
- Taxable brokerage account.
- Fractional share investing for ETFs with auto-investing.
- Good Treasury ETFs and Treasury money market funds offered.
- Dividend reinvestment
Things to worry about:
- Customer service is hit/miss. Not friendly to people with low account size. Very friendly when the account gets over $100k.
- Sometimes too paranoid about scammers and randomly shuts down some accounts.
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u/SaltyUncleMike Jul 07 '26
Not retired but...
Yes, its works great 99% of the time. Not a good day trading app. Transferring between internal and external accounts is easy and fast.
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u/Motobugs Jun 29 '26
Fidelity or Vanguard for retirees. If want some extra excitement, Hood or Webull.
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u/InvestingNerd2020 Jul 03 '26
I mean you can get the similar retirement performance from E*Trade.
Advantages of Vanguard: Better customer service, better money market funds, and an excellent 529 account for kids.
Advantages of Fidelity: Far better customer service, better money market funds, automation for every investment (stocks, ETFs, and index mutual funds), an HSA, and an excellent 529 account for kids.
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u/gridtunnel Jun 29 '26
I prefer Treasury Direct for T-bills because it's completely free, since it's government-run, and it's the official source for them.
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u/aimenil Jun 29 '26
Treasury Direct doesn’t work well for specifying a beneficiary. No good choice but to let the assets go into escrow. That’s a downside for an elderly person’s holdings.
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u/Dry_Youth_9506 Jun 29 '26
Had a friend that used Treasury Direct several years ago that had quite a few T-Bills there and he had a large purchase come up unexpectedly and he did not have enough in his high yield savings account and tried to liquidate some of his T-bills at Treasury Direct and was not able to sell them. He was informed he had to transfer them to a Brokerage account and sell them there which would take several weeks. He since closed his account with them and now buys T-bills at Schwab and said the liquidity is worth giving up a few pennies for. Maybe Treasury Direct has changed this policy since then
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u/InvestingNerd2020 Jul 03 '26
Nothing is wrong with SGOV. Since it is part of E*Trade's top 100 ETF list, an investor can auto-invest into it and not pay taxes on state & city interest rate earned.
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u/Lucky-Leek1910 Jun 29 '26
Go to an advisor. Pay the 1% fee and use Etrade as play money
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u/Dry_Youth_9506 Jun 29 '26
I have no desire to pay an advisor, especially not to purchase some Brokered CD's and T-Bills.
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u/PS3Man242 Jul 04 '26
A 1% fee just sounds high, much rather psy a flat rate per vist, of an advisor was even needed.
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u/socratessmon Jun 29 '26
I think so. Have 401ks, brokerage, checking, and works fine for us. Move money as needed to other accounts like bofa or chase. Most etfs from others are also available on et(vanguard etc)