In my previous post, I discussed my experience with using Edward Jones to handle my investment accounts. Check it out here (Learning From Financial Mistakes) if you missed it, because this is the follow up to that post.
I began to seek out a brokerage firm that I could transfer my IRA to that had a robust online platform allowing me to handle all the transactions myself. Finding an established firm, with SIPC protection, low buy and sell fees, and research resources were also priorities. Offering some sort of bonus for transferring my account to the new firm would be the clincher.
I was pretty impressed with what I saw when looking at the web site for TD Ameritrade and I wanted to take advantage of the special offer for opening an account that they are running until June 2019. Anyone opening an account with $3000 or more gets free trades for 60 days (normal online trade cost is a flat fee of $6.95). On top of that, there are monetary bonuses depending on how much you are depositing into your new TD Ameritrade account. So January I set up my new TD Ameritrade account for my IRA. I was able to get the $300 bonus for transferring in my IRA funds. Sweet!
On top of that, TD Ameritrade went a step further in their customer service. Within a week of opening my account, I had received a phone call from a representative at the local TD Ameritrade office to introduce himself and make himself available if I had any questions. He mentioned that if I was charged any transfer fees, TD Ameritrade would cover them, that I would just have to ask. Edward Jones, of course, had to get me with another fee as I was leaving, charging a transfer out fee of $95. I used the TD Ameritrade online message center to send the documented proof of the transfer charge to TD Ameritrade, and just a few days later they credited my account for $95. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my IRA at its new home.
Next, I had to figure out what to do with my Edward Jones Guided Solutions Flex Account and my Brokerage Account. Since I had used E*Trade for a long time before I moved to Edward Jones, I thought I would just go back to using them again as my main brokerage account. I still had my E*Trade account, but realized that I needed to set up a Trust account with E*Trade, as part of my estate planning. I ended up using the old E*Trade account for one of my Grow Your Dough Challenge options (see $1000 Growing in an E*Trade Account).
Since I was setting up a new account with E*Trade, I was able to take advantage of their new account promotional offer, which is running until the end of 2019 and requires a minimum deposit of $10,000. They are offering 500 commission free trades for 60 days (normally a flat fee of $6.95), though you pay for the trade first and then they reimburse your account afterward. The bonus money structure is larger at E*Trade. I was sending two accounts into the one E*Trade account — my Edward Jones Flex (active) account that had most of my stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs, along with my brokerage (holding) account that held a large chunk of one company’s stock, a $25,000 CD that will come due in March that I had set aside to cover taxes, and the remaining money I was holding in a money market from my house sale. I discovered that by combining the two, I managed to have just enough to be in the deposit bracket into E*Trade that would earn me $1200! Emphasis on the exclamation point! (Payment of bonus is made 60 days after opening account. UPDATE: I received the bonus in mid-April 2019.)
I made one dumb mistake in this process in that I should have combined all of my assets in Edward Jones into one account, and then transferred it out, because I ended up getting charged with two transfer out fees from Edward Jones (one from Flex, one from Brokerage). E*Trade did not cover the transfer out fees though (I asked) and given how much they will give me as part of their promo, I guess I won’t hold it against them.
A few days after opening my E*Trade Trust account, I got the courtesy call from the local E*Trade office. The financial consultant helped answer some of the questions I had about the transfer process for E*Trade and offered to meet with me if there was anything I wanted to discuss on my portfolio and financial goals.
After a few weeks of having these accounts open, here are my initial reactions on these accounts. I prefer just about everything about the E*Trade account usability and visual display over that of TD Ameritrade. It is so much cleaner looking and easier to navigate. The customer service at TD Ameritrade has been stellar. I’ve called in to ask advice on a good fixed income investment for this year’s IRA contribution and talked to my contact as well as their fixed income specialist. Pretty impressed. I have only just downloaded the mobile apps for these two companies and have yet to determine which of those I prefer. In either case, I am so happy that I have moved my accounts to these two companies and have left the high fees of Edward Jones behind.
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