Morgan Stanley vs. Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab: Highlights
• Investing and financial planning are just the beginning at Morgan Stanley, Vanguard, Schwab, and Fidelity.
• Vanguard is the only brokerage firm of the four without branch locations.
• Morgan Stanley specializes in full-service investing, which means it is the most expensive of the four, at least in the realm of investing.
If you’re thinking about opening a brokerage or bank account, you should have a look at what
Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, and Morgan Stanley have to offer. You’ll probably end up with more
than you expected.
Morgan Stanley and Competitors: Fees
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Margin
Rate |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
|
Charles Schwab
|
$0
|
$49.95 ($0 to sell)
|
11.825%
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Fidelity
|
$0
|
$49.95
|
11.825%
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Vanguard
|
$0
|
$20
|
12%
|
$25*
|
$25*
|
|
Morgan Stanley
|
varies
|
varies
|
10.95%
|
$175
|
$175
|
Morgan Stanley and Competitors: Services
Financial Planning and Investing
Every company in this contest offers financial-planning services through licensed investment advisor
representatives. Vanguard is the lone firm without any local offices, so everything it offers is
online. The other three have financial planners at brick-and-mortar locations. The range of possible
services is almost unlimited and depends more on the specific advisor selected than the firm.
All four investment firms also offer wealth management programs. Vanguard’s is the cheapest with a cost
ranging from 0.30% to 0.05%, depending on account balance. A $5 million minimum, however, is required for Vanguard Personal Advisor Wealth Management. Schwab and Fidelity require $500k, while Morgan Stanley’s minimum is undisclosed but could be as high as $30 million.
Beyond wealth management and financial planning, there are brokerage and investment-advisory accounts.
All four companies offer both setups. Because Morgan Stanley specializes in full-service investing, it has the longest list of tradable products. These include not only securities but also alternative investments, such as real estate, managed futures, and hedge funds. But Morgan Stanley’s accounts, being full-service accounts, are also the most expensive.
Schwab offers self-directed trading in futures and forex, while Fidelity has crypto trading. Insurance and annuity products are available through Fidelity, Schwab, and Morgan Stanley.
Winner: Three-way tie among Fidelity, Schwab, and Morgan Stanley
Lower-Cost Investing
Wealth management fees charged by financial advisors significantly reduce an investor’s returns over time.
As a lower-cost alternative, investors can
invest in index funds at Charles Schwab with no commissions,
achieving higher long-term returns without paying ongoing advisory fees.
Visit Schwab Website
Banking
Now we move to cash management. The four investing powerhouses in this contest offer some type of banking or cash-management service for their clients. Vanguard has a simple cash-management account called the Cash Plus Account. It offers 5 money market funds, and its FDIC sweep has a 3.35% APY.
Schwab and Morgan Stanley actually operate their own banks. These deliver checking and savings products with lower interest rates than Vanguard’s cash account, although they have more perks (like checkwriting and debit cards). Morgan Stanley, but not Schwab, also offers hybrid bank-brokerage accounts that deliver investing capability and a large number of perks, such as no foreign transaction fees and unlimited ATM fee rebates worldwide. There are monthly account fees if the waiver criteria aren’t met, however.
Fidelity’s Cash Management Account is a brokerage account designed for spending and cash management, and its regular brokerage account also includes several cash-management features. Available benefits include an FDIC sweep, debit-card access, unlimited global ATM fee reimbursements with the Cash Management Account, Bill Pay, and checkwriting.
Winner: Another three-way draw
Margin Services
Trading on margin is possible at any of the four brokerage firms presented here. Some uses of margin,
such as spread trading or short positions, are restricted in some accounts at Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley’s
displayed margin rate is 10.95%.
The other firms’ displayed rates are 12% at Vanguard, 11.825% at Schwab, and 11.825% at Fidelity. Vanguard’s lowest publicly disclosed margin rate is 5.75%, compared with 6.325% at Morgan Stanley, 7.50% at Fidelity, and 10.075% at Schwab before negotiated Schwab pricing.
Winner: Vanguard
Mobile Apps
Now that we understand the investing systems, we can start actual trading. Our four contestants have mobile apps that deliver not only trading tools but also account-management features such as document downloads and securities research. Vanguard’s app is the simplest and does not offer the ability to trade non-Vanguard mutual funds. Charts on its app are very plain with only one plot style.
Schwab is the exact opposite of Vanguard. It has very sophisticated charting, and mutual funds from multiple families can be traded on it. Options have integrated spreads. And by the way, there are two apps in total, just in case one app isn’t enough.
Fidelity’s primary retail app is the Fidelity Investments app, while Fidelity Trader+ Mobile adds an active-trading experience. The app has a lot of advanced tools, including Fidelity Assistant and mobile check deposit. Charting and order entry are on high levels, too, and there’s a ton of market news on the main app.
Winner: Schwab
Websites
Fidelity and Schwab both have full brokerage websites plus browser-based advanced trading platforms: Fidelity Trader+ Web and thinkorswim web. Both the Fidelity and Schwab websites by themselves are quite advanced with some really good trading features, while their browser platforms add streaming data, advanced charting, and integrated trading tools. The Vanguard and Morgan Stanley websites, by comparison, are simpler with fewer trading tools.
Winner: Schwab
Desktop Software
Vanguard and Morgan Stanley have skipped desktop trading altogether; neither firm really has an emphasis on short-term trading. Fidelity and Schwab, however, have desktop platforms with some nice features that experienced traders will enjoy using.
Fidelity Trader+ Desktop, for example, offers directed routing for equity and option trades. Other advanced features include Level II quotes, time & sales data, and conditional orders. Schwab’s thinkorswim platform has an economic calendar, a lot of graphing tools, and a simulated-trading mode.
Winner: Schwab
Extra Services
Recurring Mutual Fund Purchases: It’s possible to establish a recurring schedule of mutual-fund purchases at Schwab, Vanguard, and Fidelity. Morgan Stanley also offers systematic investment plans for mutual funds.
IPO Service: Stock releases on the primary market are available at Schwab, Morgan Stanley, and Fidelity.
Extended Hours: Vanguard, Schwab, and Fidelity offer post-market trading. Vanguard doesn’t have a pre-market period, while Schwab and Fidelity do. Morgan Stanley does not ordinarily accept orders outside normal market hours, although it may accept prearranged extended-hours orders. Schwab offers 24/5 trading in more than 1,300 stocks and ETFs, and Fidelity offers round-the-clock cryptocurrency trading.
Dividend Reinvestment Plan: All four of them have one.
Fully-Paid Stock Lending: Ditto.
Fractional Shares: All four firms offer fractional-share investing in stocks and ETFs in some capacity. Fidelity has the most liberal service.
Individual Retirement Accounts: IRAs are on tap at all four investment firms. Vanguard and Morgan Stanley can have fees in some situations.
Winner: Pretty close between Fidelity and Schwab
Recommendations
Retirement Planning & Long-Term Investing: We would go with Schwab, Fidelity, or Morgan Stanley with an investment advisor at a local branch.
Mutual-Fund Trading: We suggest either Fidelity or Schwab. The latter brokerage firm has the better screener, but the former has more funds.
Small Accounts: Because Morgan Stanley is a full-service firm, it is not a good choice for folks with small amounts to invest. Fidelity’s robo service has no minimum to open an account, although $10 is needed before it begins investing, and its brokerage accounts have no minimums with fractional-share trading in more than 7,000 securities. The minimum per fractional trade is just $1.
Beginning Investors: We propose a managed account at any of the four.
Active Stock Trading: A desktop program at either Schwab or Fidelity will deliver a pro-level experience.
Judgment
Morgan Stanley has a lot of great services, but steep fees and minimums will put it out of reach for
many investors. Charles Schwab, on the other hand, delivers many of the same features (and sometimes
more) with lower fees and minimums, which brings us to the inevitable conclusion of this comparison.
Visit Charles Schwab Website
Visit Schwab Website
Updated on 8/28/2026.
Chad Morris has been analyzing investment firms for Brokerage-Review.com since 2015. Backed by FINRA Series 65, 66, and SIE credentials, his work reflects a deep knowledge of the retail brokerage industry and digital trading tools.
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