Poll: Where do folks keep their retirement Nest Egg's Investable cash assets?

[ShokWaveRider]

I am curious whether retired folks here keep all their nest egg's investable assets (Cash, stocks, Bonds etc) under one main umbrella.

What I mean is; do folks put all their assets with one broker, i.e.; Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity, Merrill etc., or do folks spread it around in different banks brokers and Credit unions.

I ask as I am currently consolidating all our nest egg's investable assets into Schwab, and buying investments from/under the Schwab umbrella.

So far I have moved some (unqualified finds) and will move the rest (Qualified IRAs) when the CDs mature in 2024. I am trying to decide if I should put those in another brokerage, say Fidelity.

I will then buy what I want through Schwab and/or Fidelity.

 

[jebmke]

Everything is at Vanguard. If I had a compelling reason to move, I'd probably look hard at Schwab and Fidelity [I've had accounts at both in the distant path] because both have physical offices within reasonable driving range.

 

[KrisQuit]

I have about two years' cash at the credit union and everything else at Vanguard (leaving it alone through these wonky stock market years). I don't suspect I will make any changes to this plan; it works for me.

 

[Car-Guy]

For years I had it scattered... Maybe as many as 11 to 12 financial institutions. It was just more work to track than I cared to do anymore so I consolidated to just three.

I do worry about a Lehman Bros collapse (or worse) but I guess I feel about as good as anyone can with the three financial institutions I'm using.

 

[disneysteve]

Your poll asks about cash but your post asks about all investable assets so I wasn’t quite sure how to vote.

Our cash at this point is mainly with Vanguard though we also have a money market account with Ally along with our regular checking account at BOA.

Our investments are about 2/3 with Vanguard with the rest scattered around a bit.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Your poll asks about cash but your post asks about all investable assets so I wasn’t quite sure how to vote.

Our cash at this point is mainly with Vanguard though we also have a money market account with Ally along with our regular checking account at BOA.

Our investments are about 2/3 with Vanguard with the rest scattered around a bit.

So your vote is/should be: "Brokerage(s), Banks, CUs - (We Spread it Around)"

 

[pb4uski]

My operating cash... the cash in our retirement portfolio that we use for spending... is in an online savings account at Discover Bank (currently 2.15%). Discover is rarely in the lead but usually in the hunt so we stick with them for convenience.

I do have a lot of cash in a Vanguard Roth account that I use to write cash covered puts for income. The most recent distribution yield of the settlement account is 2.33% and the SEC yield is 2.77% plus ~5% income from writing cash covered puts.

We also have taxable, tIRA and Roth accounts with some credit unions, Vanguard and Schwab that are mostly invested in brokered CDs, UST and GSE bonds.... all less than 3 year maturities with a weighted average yield of 3.52% and weighted average maturity of 1.5 years.

We each have HSAs with Fidelity.

 

[thod]

Your 3 choices are not well thought out. I do not think you are going to get the insight you were wishing for.

I have 3 accounts: TDAmeritrade, Fidelity, and a CU.
So I had to choose "Brokerage(s), Banks, CUs - (We Spread it Around)", but I would not personally describe that as "Spread it Around".

 

[VanWinkle]

I keep my cash at Bask Bank, Vanguard money market, and local bank high interest checking account.

 

[RE2Boys]

All IRAs at Vanguard. After tax investments at Fidelity. Ready cash is at local B&M credit union or online at Discover. Once had many more accounts but consolidated about 5 years ago. 401(k)s have not been moved to IRAs so mine is in the TSP, wife's is at Vanguard.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I should probably have stated in the OP. The Bulk of their investable assets, I personally do not consider a couple of years living expenses in that category, although they could be invested in short term vehicles.

 

[Willers]

We've carried a lot of cash the last few years (especially in-between houses) so we had it all over the place when HYSA rates exceeded CD's and treasuries. Now that MM accounts and treasuries yields are competitive, we have everything at Vanguard except for our i-bonds and an HSA. I'm going to appreciate this simplicity come 2023 tax time.

 

[Gumby]

Ours is spread around. I'm working on consolidating and simplifying.

 

[aja8888]

Schwab (IRA, Brokerage acct, small Roth) - 38 years with them now.

Ally - MM and savings accounts - Emergency money, big expenses - 10% of NW, also pay big expenses annually out of these accounts. I really could do without Ally and pay everything out of the Schwab brokerage account.

JP Morgan, Chase - Checking, ATM for day to day expenses. It's where our SS checks get deposited.


Sooner or later, the Ally accounts will be gone.

 

[jebmke]

Ours is spread around. I'm working on consolidating and simplifying.

Your heirs will thank you. I have worked with multiple widows/widowers on taxes and in some cases, personal finance. The scatter strategy seems to create a lot of anxiety for them.

 

[Koolau]

Bulk of investments at Vanguard. Cash primarily in checking. "Investing" (what little I do) is moving existing MFs to other MFs. YMMV

 

[11522914]

I have little bits of money spread around from years of bank account and brokerage incentives, etc. Old Roth at IB. Trading account at TD. HSA at TD. Old 401k at my last employer.

This year my goal is to consolidate everything into Schwab.

I've already moved 90% of my assets there. I love having everything in one brokerage account and have been very happy with the level of service at Schwab.

 

[Markola]

We are fully invested except the checking account.

 

[fvfire]

Fidelity for all.

 

[TheWizard]

Because the OP was somewhat ambiguously phrased, respondents are answering a variety of different questions...

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Because the OP was somewhat ambiguously phrased, respondents are answering a variety of different questions...

Not really. Do you keep your investable assets, cash, IRAs, etc. in one place or not? Not money you live on, unless you do withdrawals from the main source.

E.G: You have $2.0m in Vanguard for investing, bonds, treasuries etc., and you have $40k in a local or online bank for daily use, and you withdraw from the Vanguard account when you need it and transfer to the local or online bank. If you have say $100k in Ibonds, then that is a second source. You can manage Treasuries from a single source if you want or you can spread it around.

That is basically a single source for the purpose of this poll, while it may not be exact for some folks here, one can easily make a calculated decision.

 

[TheWizard]

In my tenth year of retirement, I continue to keep my tax-deferred 403(b) investments at TIAA, rather than move them to an IRA elsewhere (Vanguard).
A couple reasons for this, including the fact that my plan has a number of Vanguard institutional index funds available, with lower ERs than I could get on my own.

My Roth IRA and taxable account are with Vanguard, so that gives me two custodians total...

 

[PatrickA5]

99.85% is at Fidelity.

We did recently open a Chase checking account that I plan to use as an everyday checking account going forward. I doubt the avg balance will ever get over $5K, but I thought it might make sense to remove our everyday transactions away from the place that has our stash. Having said that, Fidelity as a one-stop-shop also worked fine.

Oops, forgot the $10 I have at Ally to leave the account active.

 

[PatrickA5]

Your heirs will thank you. I have worked with multiple widows/widowers on taxes and in some cases, personal finance. The scatter strategy seems to create a lot of anxiety for them.

I do my father-in-laws taxes. He has his money scattered in a bunch of accounts - Savings bonds, TRowe Price, Fidelity, Vanguard, municipal bonds at local bank, several local savings accounts and CDs. It's a pain come tax time. It will be an even bigger pain when settling the estate. At least I have an idea of where the money is.

 

[OldShooter]

My dear departed Uncle Pat was a rate shopper, buying CD's all over town to get the best rates. After Pat died, his executor had to literally contact every single bank and savings and loan in town to see if they held any assets belonging to Pat. Fortunately this was pre-Internet, so the executor didn't have to make a national search!