Buying Vanguard funds in Fidelity

https://assetbuilder.com/knowledge-center/articles/three-ways-to-have-vanguard-at-fidelity

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Fidelity

Q. Does Fidelity have a fund that compares to the Vanguard Balanced Index (ticker: VBINX)? I like the performance and the low expense fees the Vanguard fund has. I also like the ratio of 60 percent stocks, 40 percent bonds. I currently have things set up with Fidelity and would like to stay with them, if possible. —E. S., by email from Austin, TX

A. There are three ways to get that fund— or a reasonable facsimile— and stay at Fidelity. One is to open a Fidelity brokerage account and buy Vanguard Balanced Index fund through the brokerage account. It will involve paying a commission, but you’ll still have an account at Fidelity.

The second option is to create a virtually identical balanced index fund using two of the few index funds that Fidelity offers. You can do this by investing 60 percent of your money in Fidelity Spartan Total Market Index fund (ticker: FSTMX) and 40 percent of your money in Fidelity U.S. Bond Market Index fund (ticker: FBIDX). The expense ratios on these funds are 0.10 percent and 0.33 percent, respectively. And each requires a minimum investment of $10,000.

That means your minimum portfolio size would be $25,000— $15,000 in Total Market and $10,000 in U.S. Bond Market. If you did this, the average expense ratio for the portfolio would be 0.19 percent, exactly the same as the expense ratio for Vanguard Balanced Index fund.

If $25,000 is more than you can invest, you have a third option.

You can build the fund using Vanguard exchange traded funds and buy them through a Fidelity brokerage account. You would invest 60 percent of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (ticker, VTI) and 40 percent in the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (ticker, BND). These ETFs have expense ratios of 0.07 and 0.11 percent, respectively, so the average cost for your portfolio would be lower than the Vanguard fund, about 0.086 percent. Assuming a commission cost of $12, your expenses will be lower using this path if your portfolio is $23,000 or more.

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