[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Janie123

there is a feature in most 401s that allow you to pull money out after age 55 if you meet certain criteria (leave company after turning 55, 401k supports a 55+ withdrawal).We do have friends in TV that left and are at age 56 and are using their 401k $$$ to live off of.

https://money.usnews.com/money/retir...1k-withdrawals

Also, if you have Roth 401k and have not opened up and contributed to a Roth IRA, the growth of the money in the Roth IRA will not be able to withdrawn for 5 years without penalty.

My 401K was the Federal Government's Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Congress has been borrowing money from that fund. I transferred my entire balance into an IRA within a few days after my retirement. I don't know what the rules are for a private employer to tap into a 401K fund, but I like having control of my own money.

[Caymus]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

You are correct that it could more difficult for a creditor to seize 401K assets than IRA assets, depending on which state you live in.
But that wouldn't be the determining factor for me. Being able to manage my own assets in an IRA is more important.

Depending on what life brings, I could end up in a "colder" state.

As of now. I have numerous low-cost options plus access to Fidelity BrokerageLink(which I have not explored yet).

Also, according to the NetBenefits website, I have the option to make partial rollovers to an IRA.

I find to fully understand the options, I need to call them a few times and take an "average" of their responses.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Caymus

Depending on what life brings, I could end up in a "colder" state.

As of now. I have numerous low-cost options plus access to Fidelity BrokerageLink(which I have not explored yet).

Also, according to the NetBenefits website, I have the option to make partial rollovers to an IRA.

I find to fully understand the options, I need to call them a few times and take an "average" of their responses.

I never use a tax-deferred account to invest in stocks, only bonds. That is because any stock market gains will eventually be taxed as ordinary income with no captial gains benefits.

[roadrnnr]

Just curious why no one Mentions Using TROWE PRICE?

[saninva]

Originally Posted by Mrfriendly

Prior to China virus I interviewed Vanguard, Trowe Price, Fidelity and American Century to discuss consolidating my accounts I had with each. Went to the Big V mostly due to their low expenses and plenty of solid funds both Bonds and Stocks. Now holding on for a new US administration and market upturn

Dow high of 36,799 on 1/4/22

[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by roadrnnr

Just curious why no one Mentions Using TROWE PRICE?

I used them long, long ago but they dropped off my radar. Thank you, I'll check them out!

[Ecuadog]

Originally Posted by rsmurano

People don’t realize and a lot of posters here are confused thinking you have sign up to vanguard to purchase vanguard funds, same for fidelity. This is not true. There might be unique funds at vanguard, fidelity, Schwab, and other brokerage houses that you might not be able to buy if you don’t have an account with that broker. I’m sure you can buy a like fund with the brokerage house you belong too.

...

I moved some money from Vanguard to Fidelity just because of the SIPC limits.

Fidelity considers one of my Vanguard funds a Transaction Fee (TF) fund. In this case, the usual online TF purchase fee of $49.95 has been raised to $75.00.

Fidelity considers another "not available for retail trading."

No confusion here. With the money that was moved to Fidelity, I chose to go with a something similar.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by spinner1001

Objectively, the probability of Schwab, a large NYSE listed firm, failing to make its investment account holders whole is very remote.

First, in the hierarchy of who suffers losses, stockholders loose first. Investment account holders like you loose only after stockholders.

Second, practically speaking, the U.S. government and Federal Reserve would not let the account holders loose for policy reasons because Schwab’s failure would cause a global financial crisis like we have never seen.

Third, Schwab has about $512 billion in assets as of June 30, 2023 (latest data available) and the market value of its common stock today is about $110 billion. Of the $512 billion in assets, $73 billion is cash and equivalents and $295 billion are in investments. Those investments would need to fall in value by roughly 1/3 (very unlikely) to take out the stockholders first and then get to account holders.

Psychologically, if you feel much better diversifying your assets across multiple financial institutions, then do it. If you can’t sleep at night and excessively worry over having your investments in one place, diversify.

Just as a Personal courtesy and not to be a smart a__, I would humbly suggest the spelling of lose (as in to lose) as l-o-s-e and NOT any other way.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Blackbird45

My view has always been that even though it is good to get advice from others, when it come to your finances, no one is going to track your money as well as you will. The only advice I would give is to sit down and decide what type of return you want from your investments.

As a general statement, I would say that return depends on risk. The more the risk, the more one should be compensated with reward. So, an investor should determine how much risk their personality can take. With the long-ago advent of ETFs, an investor can easily get an average return with an average (or even less) risk. Just buy the ETF for the S and P, which is (SPY). Pretty simple........you get an average (good) return with average to low risk due to high amounts of diversification. Thank me very much (and please send me 1/4 of 1% of all your gains each year....for good advice)!

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Nell57

Thanks Spinner1001 for this explanation of Schwabs situation.
My financial advisor invests my funds through Schwab. I am really happy with him, but have been uncomfortable with some of the things I’ve been reading about Schwab.
They’ve tied up billions in some long term investments that are now suffering.
Your explanation put those $$ in perspective.

I would NOT blame Schwab for "long-term investments that are now suffering". I assume it is like many banks that lent out money at say 3 or 4 % (when inflation was like 1%) and then the FED (which was late to react) pushed up interest (to prevent out-of-control inflation) to about 9%. I guess that you could say that things are stabilizing now.
........note: Russia and Saudi Arabia have done the US no favors by driving oil (therefore gas) upwards.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by ridge

I use two brokerage firms. I would never feel comfortable having all funds in just one. Little inconvenient but you never know what could happen with a given firm. Even if it doesn't have financial issues, it could get hacked. Glad you asked this question. Looking forward to the replies.

They COULD get hacked. But, do they carry insurance against that?

[Pugchief]

Originally Posted by Ecuadog

I moved some money from Vanguard to Fidelity just because of the SIPC limits.

From Fidelity's website:
What is SIPC?
The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) is a nonprofit organization that protects stocks, bonds, and other securities in case a brokerage firm goes bankrupt and assets are missing.

The SIPC will cover up to $500,000 in securities, including a $250,000 limit for cash held in a brokerage account.

What Fidelity accounts are covered?
All Fidelity brokerage accounts are covered by SIPC. This includes money market funds held in a brokerage account since they are considered securities. Learn more about SIPC coverage at www.sipc.orgOpens in a new window.

Excess of SIPC
In addition to SIPC protection, Fidelity provides its brokerage customers with additional "excess of SIPC" coverage through Lloyd's of London. The excess coverage would only be used when SIPC coverage is exhausted. Like SIPC, excess protection does not cover investment losses in customer accounts, including losses due to market fluctuation. For example, fraud claims would not be covered if the brokerage firm was still in operation. Total aggregate excess of SIPC coverage available through Fidelity's excess of SIPC policy is $1 billion. Within Fidelity's excess of SIPC coverage, there is no per customer dollar limit on coverage of securities, but there is a per customer limit of $1.9 million on coverage of cash awaiting investment. This is the maximum excess of SIPC protection currently available in the brokerage industry.

Both SIPC and excess of SIPC coverage is limited to securities held in brokerage positions, including mutual funds if held in your brokerage account and securities held in book entry form.

Investment assets not covered by SIPC
Certain assets are not eligible for SIPC protection. Among the assets typically not eligible for SIPC protection are commodity futures contracts, precious metals, as well as investment contracts (such as limited partnerships), and fixed annuity contracts that are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933.

[Ecuadog]

Originally Posted by Pugchief

From Fidelity's website:
What is SIPC?
The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) is a nonprofit organization that protects stocks, bonds, and other securities in case a brokerage firm goes bankrupt and assets are missing.

The SIPC will cover up to $500,000 in securities, including a $250,000 limit for cash held in a brokerage account.

What Fidelity accounts are covered?
All Fidelity brokerage accounts are covered by SIPC. This includes money market funds held in a brokerage account since they are considered securities. Learn more about SIPC coverage at www.sipc.orgOpens in a new window.

Excess of SIPC
In addition to SIPC protection, Fidelity provides its brokerage customers with additional "excess of SIPC" coverage through Lloyd's of London. The excess coverage would only be used when SIPC coverage is exhausted. Like SIPC, excess protection does not cover investment losses in customer accounts, including losses due to market fluctuation. For example, fraud claims would not be covered if the brokerage firm was still in operation. Total aggregate excess of SIPC coverage available through Fidelity's excess of SIPC policy is $1 billion. Within Fidelity's excess of SIPC coverage, there is no per customer dollar limit on coverage of securities, but there is a per customer limit of $1.9 million on coverage of cash awaiting investment. This is the maximum excess of SIPC protection currently available in the brokerage industry.

Both SIPC and excess of SIPC coverage is limited to securities held in brokerage positions, including mutual funds if held in your brokerage account and securities held in book entry form.

Investment assets not covered by SIPC
Certain assets are not eligible for SIPC protection. Among the assets typically not eligible for SIPC protection are commodity futures contracts, precious metals, as well as investment contracts (such as limited partnerships), and fixed annuity contracts that are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933.

Yeah. I don't think that Vanguard provides any excess of SIPC coverage.

[manaboutown]

"Yes, in addition to SIPC, Schwab clients receive an extra level of coverage through "excess SIPC" insurance protection for securities and cash. This helps ensure claims will be covered in the event of a brokerage firm failure and funds covered by SIPC protections are exhausted. Schwab's Excess SIPC program has a $600 million aggregate (meaning the most the program will pay for the Excess SIPC portion of the losses). Commodity interests, futures contracts and cash in futures accounts are not protected by SIPC."

"Protected up to US$600 million
The combined total of our SIPC coverage and our "excess SIPC" coverage means Schwab provides protection up to an aggregate of US$600 million, limited to a combined return of US$150 million per customer, up to US$1.15 million of which may be in cash."

Access Denied.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

Recently I picked up a book by Charles Schwab, 'Invested'.

To say it was an eye opener is an understatement. It starts with why and how he got into discount brokerage as one of its pioneers. It then goes on to report the ups, downs and very scary times his company went through. I had no idea!

I know many people, particularly those who trade a lot, use Schwab. Although I have kept a small account at Schwab for years I rarely used it. Then last year and earlier this year I sold a couple commercial real estate properties and deposited the proceeds into Schwab, primarily because I wanted to put it into T-bills. Schwab allows a retail investor to buy and sell them whereas the other two brokerages where I have historically kept most of my securities do not.

Then, surprise, surprise, I started getting phone calls from a Schwab 'Advisor' which I ignored for a time. Eventually I returned a call just to let him know I existed. When he discovered I was not a newbie and had other accounts he urged, just short of insisted, I transfer them to Schwab. I declined and told him I had a pretty good memory and remember Lehman Bros. and others which he seemed to grasp. I thereafter discovered Schwab at that time held some long term treasuries which were destined to go down as interest were rising so I still feel a little skittish about it all.

Anyway after reading this book to sleep at night I feel I need to continue to keep my securities distributed among several wirehouses and wonder if others feel the same.

I've not bought T bills in years. As much as all the brokerages love us they are a business and so are in business to make money. It is simple to set up an account with the treasury and save those fees.

As far as accounts with several brokerages. Competition is good for the consumer. Vanguard has Admiralty shares and for years Fidelity said they do not exist. T Rowe has similar offerings. For us, I like Fidelity. You can call 24 hours a day seven days a week and find a HUMAN to talk too. There people are good. They will, if they don't know tell you so and tell you who you need to speak with and time they are reachable. Also a big plus with forms etc we can drive to their office and find a HUMAN to talk to.