Side by side
Charles Schwab vs Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)
Charles Schwab
24 positive (80%) · 4 mixed (13%) · 2 negative (7%)
Trust + time weighted: +63%
AI summary — not a quote
Charles Schwab is highly recommended by the Reddit community, particularly within travel and personal finance circles, as a premier choice for international banking and low-cost investing. Its standout feature is the Investor Checking account, which provides unlimited worldwide ATM fee rebates and no foreign transaction fees, making it a staple for digital nomads and frequent travelers. Beyond banking, it is frequently cited alongside Fidelity and Vanguard as a top-tier institution for IRAs and index fund investing due to its low fee structure and reputable customer service.
Pros
- Unlimited worldwide ATM fee rebates
- No foreign transaction fees on debit card usage
- No account minimums or monthly maintenance fees
- Reliable 24/7 phone support and customer service
Cons
- Opening a checking account usually requires opening a parallel brokerage account
- Occasional reports of rigid or inconsistent security verification procedures during account lockouts
Top excerpts
It's basically a thinly veiled shit advertisement for Schwab, whatever that is. ... OP allegedly failed several security questions (after a lot of back and forth, no less), gets locked out of the account, calls them back an unknown number of days later and magically gets into the account with the same responses to the security questions.
Either Schwab is shit at security, OP is shit at story telling, or OP is simply lying. Probably all three.
Schwab doesn't charge you to purchase something internationally, but they may make you pay worse conversion rates to compensate.
Not American, but I heard Schwab avoids a conversion fee, but I'm not sure how much they markup the exchange rate. In any case pay with your card as much as possible.
For travelers, Schwab is the best. No foreign transaction fees and no ATM fees and it's a free account.
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)
13 positive (100%) · 0 mixed (0%) · 0 negative (0%)
Trust + time weighted: +100%
Top excerpts
I currently have only $4k invested in my brokerage account purchasing VOO and SCHG.
Your money will go farther if it is invested in index/mutual funds than it would in a whole life policy.
mostly have been putting extra cash into VOO/VTI/VXUS sorts of things.
I would either 1. (Low risk option) put it in a HYSA and leave it alone. 2. (Higher risk option) Or invest in some index funds. VOO, VTI, FXAIX are all very good and popular options.
I like the idea of a brokerage account invested in VOO with monthly deposits as she continues to work.