Schwab, B of A (actually Merrill within B of A), Chase (actually JP Morgan within Chase), Vanguard, Fidelity.

For self-directed brokerage account (no management by their advisors), which of above have you been happy with??

Very few stock trades would be done. Mostly for short-term money market funds of government obligations, short-term treasuries. Not for any long term investments. Yes Treasury Direct is good but would be more convenient for me in one of above brokerages.

Fidelity has been good for me.

Have Schwab and Vanguard, had Fidelity. No difference.

Fidelity.

Vanguard.

Okay, so it seems that Schwab, Fidelity, & Vanguard are preferred over the brokerages available at major banks like Chase & Bank of America.

That was one of the things I was interested in finding out because I thought it might be very convenient to have a brokerage account within Chase or Bank of America because of an easier, faster, transfer of funds from brokerage to bank and vice-versa.

That doesn't seem to be an issue with the posts above.

I'm guessing that the access to my particular short-term investment preferences such as short-term treasuries & short-term money market funds of government obligations will be available at all three of Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard.

One difference though I recently realized is that I believe I would have no problem going into a Schwab or Fidelity office in my area. However, Vanguard does not have numerous offices throughout the country, so I assume everything must be done online or through the mail.

So it looks as though I'll end up the same as most above, Fidelity or Schwab.

Vanguard for us - terrific customer service. When hubby's dad died, his widow was clueless, and all of their investments were there. The reps walked us through all the details of how to change over the accounts to just her name and how to get my hubby authorized to transact on her behalf.

The rep also realized that the non-retirement trust account was named improperly from the beginning (intended to be a revokable living trust, was simply called a trust - I forget the implications, but we were advised to get that taken care of using the original legal documents, so that things would be simpler when his mom passed).

Schwab, Fidelity, & Vanguard are all good options. Most people tend to think that, out of those three, Schwab has the best website for doing your own stuff.