T. Rowe Price 2024 Review: Ideal for Long-Term Investing
Alongside companies like Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard, T. Rowe Price is one of the best-known brokerages around.
Here, you can open accounts to invest for retirement, college savings and other financial goals. You can open a brokerage account online and trade stocks, exchange-traded funds and other securities with ease.
T. Rowe Price approaches fees a little differently than other online brokers.
But it could be a good fit if you're interested in investing in T. Rowe Price funds.
Before opening any brokerage account, it helps to learn more about the features and benefits. This T. Rowe Price review can help you decide whether it's the right brokerage for you.
T. Rowe Price Brokerage is good for…
- People who want to invest in T. Rowe Price ETFs
- Investors who want to trade online or by phone
- People who have $250,000 or more to invest
- Investors who already have retirement or college savings accounts with T. Rowe Price
T. Rowe Price Brokerage Pros & Cons
Types of Accounts Offered
T. Rowe Price offers a number of account options for investing, including:
- Individual brokerage accounts
- Joint brokerage accounts
- Traditional IRAs
- Roth IRAs
- Rollover 401(k) and transfer IRAs
- 529 college savings accounts
- Custodial accounts
- Trust accounts
That's great if you want to open multiple accounts in one place. But for this T. Rowe Price review, we'll focus on the brokerage accounts.
You can open an individual or joint brokerage account at T. Rowe Price. The minimum investment for either one is $2,500.
That may be a hurdle if you're a newer investor and don't have a lot of money to open a brokerage account. In that case, you may want to consider another brokerage that has a lower or no minimum deposit requirement.
If you want to open a brokerage account with T. Rowe Price, you can do that online. The process only takes a few minutes to complete.
Are There Different Account Tiers?
Some online brokerages tier their accounts. These tiers can determine what features and benefits you have or what fees you pay.
For example, if you're investing with a robo-advisor that charges an annual management fee, the fee might go down as your balance goes higher.
T. Rowe Price doesn't tier accounts, per se.
You have access to the same investment options, research tools and customer support with a $2,500 balance as you would with a $250,000 balance.
But the size of your account does matter when it comes to fees. Having $250,000 or more in your account could save on certain costs.
We'll dig into T. Rowe Price's brokerage fees a little later in this review.
T. Rowe Price Investment Options
When you open a brokerage account with T. Rowe Price, you've got plenty of options for investing.
For example, you can diversify using:
- Individual stocks
- T. Rowe Price mutual funds
- T. Rowe Price exchange-traded funds
- Fundvest no-transaction-fee ETFs
- Stock options
- Non-T. Rowe Price mutual funds
- Bonds
- Certificates of deposit
- Precious metals
More investment choices are a good thing, since you can easily build a well-rounded portfolio. But if you're looking for cryptocurrency, futures or fractional shares, you won't find them here.
In terms of T. Rowe Price's fund options, they're some of the best-rated investments. As of September 2020, more than 70 T. Rowe Price funds had earned a 4- or 5-star rating from Morningstar.
Like its top competitors, T. Rowe Price gives you plenty to choose from with its funds.
For example, you can invest in:
- Index funds
- Equity funds
- Bond funds
- Growth funds
- Income funds
- Real estate funds
- Target-date funds
That makes it easier to shape your portfolio to fit your risk tolerance, needs and goals.
Are Managed Portfolios an Option?
Managed portfolios take some of the guesswork out of investing.
Investment experts put together a portfolio for you. Then they manage it so you can take more of a hands-off approach.
T. Rowe Price offers this service with its ActivePlus Portfolios.
As an ActivePlus client, you get:
- A portfolio that's shaped using T. Rowe Price's investment approach
- Access to licensed Client Specialists if you have questions
- Annual portfolio reviews
You also pay no advisory fees or commission fees. But there's a catch.
You can only enroll in ActivePlus Portfolios with a traditional, Roth or rollover IRA. And you'll need at least $50,000 to invest using this service.
Fees
Investment fees can dip into your returns, so keeping costs low might be a priority.
Unlike some brokerages, which offer fee-free stock and ETF trades, T. Rowe Price takes a different approach. Here's more on what you can expect to pay for a brokerage account.
T. Rowe Price Brokerage trading fees
| Investment options | Trading fee |
|---|---|
| Stock trades | $19.95 per trade OR $9.95 if you have more than 30 executed trades in the previous 12 months or qualify for the T. Rowe Price Select Client Services program |
| ETF trades | $0 for T. Rowe Price ETFs and Fundvest no-transaction fee ETFs; otherwise, $19.95 per trade OR $9.95 if you have more than 30 executed trades in the previous 12 months or qualify for the T. Rowe Price Select Client Services program |
| Non-T. Rowe Price mutual funds | $0 for non-transaction-fee funds and $35 for transaction fee funds |
| Options | $19.95 plus $1 per contract OR $9.95 plus $1 per contract if you have more than 30 executed trades in the previous 12 months or qualify for the T. Rowe Price Select Client Services program |
As you can see, there are no $0 commission fee trades here unless you're trading T. Rowe Price ETFs or Fundvest ETFs.
That means each stock trade could cost you almost $20 if you aren't a T. Rowe Price Select Client Services member. That requires an account balance of at least $250,000.
Aside from those fees, T. Rowe Price charges a $30 annual account fee. This fee is only waived for:
- T. Rowe Price customers who qualify for Select Client Services
- Brokerage accounts in which five or more commission-generating trades are executed over the previous 12-month period (generally, September 1 through August 31 of each year)
- Brokerage customers who hold $50,000 or more in T. Rowe Price mutual funds
- Brokerage Advantage customers subject to the $40 cash management service fee
Overall, T. Rowe Price is on the pricier end for online trading compared to other brokerages.
Are Tax Loss Harvesting and Automatic Rebalancing Included?
Tax loss harvesting and rebalancing can keep your portfolio on track and potentially save you money.
When you harvest losses, you sell losing investments to offset the gains from your winners. That can help lower your tax bill.
Rebalancing helps you keep your portfolio on track with your risk tolerance and goals.
At some online brokerages, one or both of these services is included. For example, many robo-advisors harvest losses or rebalance for you automatically.
T. Rowe Price, however, doesn't do that. So it's up to you to rebalance and manage your tax liability.
Online and Mobile Experience
It's easy to open an account and invest with T. Rowe Price online.
You can:
- Create watchlists
- Buy or sell investments
- Check account balances
- Review investment performance
- Read your latest investment statements
- Conduct investment research and analysis
And if there's something you need to do that you can't manage online or through the T. Rowe Price mobile app, you can always reach out to customer support.
Help is available by phone weekdays from 8 am to 8 pm ET by calling 1-800-225-7720. You can also use the automated Tele-Trader system any time by calling 1-800-638-8879.
Research and Investing Tools
Research and investing tools can help with making investment decisions.
T. Rowe Price offers a full suite of tools for brokerage investors, including:
- Delayed and real-time quotes
- Dynamic screeners to help you search for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds
- Customizable watchlists to track and monitor investments
- Daily market updates and news
- Cash flow tools to project dividend and interest earnings
- Investment comparison tools
- Filtering tools to hone in on specific investment indicators
That's well beyond what you get at some online brokerages and robo-advisors. So if you're iffy about the fees, you could weigh the value of these research tools against the cost.
Should You Invest With T. Rowe Price ?
T. Rowe Price could be a good choice for investing if you're drawn to T. Rowe Price funds or you want an online brokerage that offers comprehensive research tools.
The biggest drawbacks, however, are the $2,500 minimum deposit and the fees. There are plenty of other brokerages that let you invest with less and for less by charging fewer fees.
One of them might be worth looking into if you're open to other funds, beyond those offered by T. Rowe Price. Any time you're comparing brokerages, keep the investment selection and costs firmly in mind.
