Charles Schwab, Fidelity Add Hundreds Of Commission-Free ETFs Bankrate.com Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Our articles, interactive tools, and hypothetical examples contain information to help you conduct research but are not intended to serve as investment advice, and we cannot guarantee that this information is applicable or accurate to your personal circumstances. Any estimates based on past performance do not a guarantee future performance, and prior to making any investment you should discuss your specific investment needs or seek advice from a qualified professional. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. Editorial disclosure
All reviews are prepared by our staff. Opinions expressed are solely those of the reviewer and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including any rates, terms and fees associated with financial products, presented in the review is accurate as of the date of publication. SHARE: Andy Cross/Getty Images February 15, 2019 Bankrate senior reporter James F. Royal, Ph.D., covers investing and wealth management. His work has been cited by CNBC, the Washington Post, The New York Times and more. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our investing reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — how to get started, the best brokers, types of investment accounts, how to choose investments and more — so you can feel confident when investing your money. Investing disclosure: The investment information provided in this table is for informational and general educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment or financial advice. Bankrate does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it provide individualized recommendations or personalized investment advice. Investment decisions should be based on an evaluation of your own personal financial situation, needs, risk tolerance and investment objectives. Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. The next salvo in the brokerage price war has been launched, with and slashing completely the commissions they charge on hundreds of their exchange-traded funds. The ongoing war should thrill investors, since they’ve benefited from the declining costs. Schwab on Tuesday fired the first round, announcing it was nearly doubling the available number of commission-free ETFs, to 503. On all of its commission-free ETFs, investors will also be able to dodge early-redemption fees and activity fees. Newly commission-free ETFs will include offerings from some of the most popular sponsors, including Invesco, State Street and PIMCO. Also joining the lineup on March 1 is Blackrock, the world’s largest ETF issuer, with 90 iShares ETFs. Shortly after, Fidelity joined the fray, announcing it was taking its commission-free lineup from 265 ETFs to more than 500. The increased range consists of Blackrock funds, as Fidelity expands its relationship with the fund sponsor. Not only do investors benefit from lower cost, they also have an increased choice of funds. The deals reignite a price war that has been ongoing in the brokerage industry, with investors as the primary beneficiaries. Brokerages competing on low costs
Last year saw brokerages compete furiously over low-cost funds. In August, Fidelity introduced two ZERO mutual funds that slashed expense ratios to zero, charging nothing for their management. Then on the back of their success – – Fidelity introduced a pair of other ZERO funds the following month. The four new funds have more than $3.3 billion in assets as of January 31. In August, Vanguard made 1,800 of its ETFs – about 90 percent – commission-free. The move made Vanguard’s offering the largest array of commission-free ETFs. Meanwhile JPMorgan Chase launched the YouInvest program, offering investors 100 commission-free stock and ETF trades. These moves followed an aggressive 2017, where many brokerages slashed trading fees for stocks and ETFs. Among others, Fidelity cut fees, as did TD Ameritrade, and Schwab shredded prices not once but twice. Some full-service brokers have stuck by their prices, however. Interactive Brokers, long known for its aggressively low prices, has kept trading commissions the same amid the scrum. But it’s been sitting at the cheap end of commissions for years and remains there. Yet across most of the industry, fees – commissions, account fees and expense ratios – have been plummeting for years. But they’ve seemed to accelerate recently, as competition heats up and investors have opted for lower-cost passively managed funds, including many ETFs. A huge benefit for investors
“It is great news for investors,” says Robert R. Johnson, professor of finance at Creighton University. “The move from active investing strategies to passive strategies is forcing financial firms to lower fees. Fee compression is real, and firms understand that investors are becoming much more fee-conscious.” That consciousness has led inevitably to lower fees such as commissions. And as commissions decline, investors can focus on other factors that might differentiate funds, such as the fund’s expense ratios or tax efficiency. “Investment returns are uncertain,” Johnson says. “Investment fees are certain. Investors can’t control returns, but they can control fees. Fees compound over time just like investment returns.” One of the largest fees that investors can control is expense ratios, which act like an annual tax on an investment. And that’s one of the reasons that investors have increasingly turned to index funds with low expense ratios. Learn more
SHARE: Bankrate senior reporter James F. Royal, Ph.D., covers investing and wealth management. His work has been cited by CNBC, the Washington Post, The New York Times and more. Related Articles