When investing, should you just pick one company and do all your investing through them? Is it unwise to mix investment accounts with some mix of companies like Vanguard, Wealthfront, Betterment, Fidelity, etc...
Also assuming all investments are passive investing with no actively managed funds
I have a Fidelity and Vanguard account, and will combine them shortly. Given that they both have zero custodial fees it does not hurt me to have them both open.
However, it does cost me time to manage both. I have to log into two accounts to get balances. It makes asset allocation a bit more difficult, but not impossible.
So unwise, probably not, but it is a bit inconvenient. You also need to know how to use two different websites and the tools from one will not necessarily take the balances from the other into its calculations.
If you are looking at Wealthfront or Betterment for their advisement, you may be wise to minimize their management fees for the plan you desire and replicate their advice in Vanguard or Fidelity.
According to Nerd Wallet:
No. For occasional investors with less than $500,000 who don’t care much about amenities – or are willing to eat a few $9.99 commissions every year in exchange for great resources – dealing with multiple brokerages will be more hassle than it’s worth. And if you’re a high-net-worth investor – but not an active trader – that might also be true. But if you enjoy trading enough to do it semi-seriously, you might want to consider signing up with more than one firm.
My take away from that is that it's completely up to personal preference. But since you have all passive investments then it might not make sense for you to have more than one brokerage accounts.
