Move my IRA to Vanguard?

[Cat-tirement]

I have an IRA that was a rollover from a previous employer 401k. It has been in an Amerivest Moderate Growth Managed Portfolio at Ameritrade for about 3 years now. Looking back, I'm not that happy with the performance for the fees and expenses charged. I see a lot of folks here talk about Vanguard funds, so I am considering moving it there. My current 401k is mostly in a limited subset of Vanguard funds already. I am interested in your opinions on this move, and what funds to consider if I move.

The current value of the IRA is about $225k, about 20% of our total retirement accounts (IRAs, Roths, 401ks). My current plan is to ER in 3-5 years, though I haven't started to figure out yet where withdrawals will come from first.

[jerome len]

you'll save money if you move it. Vanguard has many low cost index funds to choose from. I"m not one to recommend any funds but you can ask Vanguard for some help and in the meantime I'd start with total stock, total bond and go from there. I, for one, don't know enough about you to recommend anything.....you need to develop a plan, I'd look to a fee based financial planner, spend a few hundred bucks, to work through your financial plan. good luck. And, I did move my IRA to Vanguard a few years back and have been very happy with my decision.

[comicbookgujy]

Depends on what you're going to invest in.

I have a Traditional IRA that I day trade in and I use TDAmeritrade.

I have a Roth IRA with Vanguard and I buy Mutual Funds and don't do much trading.

If you're only going to invest in Vanguard funds, it will be better moving it to Vanguard.

[heeyy_joe]

Sure, go ahead and move it. Liquidate it to cash first, do not do any transfer-in-kind as your investment dollars will be frozen during the transfer.

[seraphim]

My VG accounts have an ER average about .10%. What are your current costs?

[SumDay]

Just moved DH's from a Scout Fund to Vanguard. Very simple, very easy. Filled out the form, mailed it to VG, and they did the rest. Took ~3 weeks from start to finish.

Return is higher and expenses are MUCH lower. What's not to like? lol

[scrinch]

I rolled my IRAs over into Vanguard in 2006. The process was easy and I have been happy with the investment options and service I've received from them (minimal needed, really). I'm a set-it-and-forget-it investor using Vanguard index funds primarily.

[mickeyd]

hey Cat,

Quote:

I see a lot of folks here talk about Vanguard funds, so I am considering moving it there. My current 401k is mostly in a limited subset of Vanguard funds already. I am interested in your opinions on this move, and what funds to consider if I move.

I moved all of my tax-deferred funds (401(k), IRA, Roth to Vanguard many years ago because of the very low ERs, understanding of how VG is governed (investors own it) and the great variety of available funds. I'm still there, as is DW.

Moving to VG may not be your best move, but it will not be your worst move.

[Cat-tirement]

Quote:

Originally Posted by comicbookgujy Depends on what you're going to invest in. I have a Traditional IRA that I day trade in and I use TDAmeritrade. I have a Roth IRA with Vanguard and I buy Mutual Funds and don't do much trading. If you're only going to invest in Vanguard funds, it will be better moving it to Vanguard.

I plan to invest in some low cost funds, which is why I was thinking Vanguard. I have a taxable account at Ameritrade that I will leave there for my occasional stock trading. For me, it's more like year-trading rather than day-trading, as I only do about 2 to 4 a year. It started off as a little bit of play money years ago, but has grown more than I would have expected (thanks AAPL ).

[Cat-tirement]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seraphim My VG accounts have an ER average about .10%. What are your current costs?

It's hard to say what my current costs are in that account, which is the second reason after performance that I am looking to move. The portfolio is an actively traded bunch of funds numbering from 20 to 30 at any given time. So, there are the various expenses of each of the individual funds, plus an overall management fee of about 0.90%.

I'm a bit surprised that your average cost is only 0.10%, which implies that some funds are even lower. I thought 0.10% was about the lowest available from Vanguard.

[mickeyd]

Quote:

I'm a bit surprised that your average cost is only 0.10%, which implies that some funds are even lower. I thought 0.10% was about the lowest available from Vanguard.

If I recall correctly, the Total Stock Market Index fund has an ER of 0.05%. It was recently reduced from 0.06%.

[seraphim]

Mickey is correct.

VTSAX .05
VTIAX. .16
VBTLX. .07


My ER is slightly higher because I have some Oppenheimer funds I am required to maintain for a few more years: a separation payout we had no choice in where the money went. That drives our average higher. The above three are our core funds, however.

Just with the above three, in a moderately aggressive allocation, the ER would probably be closer to .07 or .08

Use Morningstars portfolio manager to set up a test portfolio, and run the XRay tool to evaluate it. Registration is free.

Cost deteriorate returns. That 'overall management fee' is costing you a hefty portion of your returns.

[Cat-tirement]

Thanks mickeyd and seraphim. I hadn't really looked at the Vanguard Total index funds in detail before. This inspired me to look more closely at the Vanguard funds in my current 401k. VIIIX has only .02%, but of course it's an institutional version that says it has a minimum investment of $200,000,000. Guess I won't be quite qualified to buy that one in my rollover IRA.

[Cat-tirement]

Today I opened my new Vanguard account, and sent in the paperwork to transfer the current rollover IRA into it. Now I have a few days to decide on the specific funds. I'll definitely be looking into the ones mentioned here. Thanks for the feedback everyone.