Do you keep your investments in one place or spread them out?

[CABarb]

I've got some company stock with Computershare that I wanted to move to Fidelity where I have most of my investments at. I also have a few shares of the same company funds in UBS because at one time the employees were told we were moving to UBS. Should I move it all to Fidelity or is there a better place to park it. It will be my retirement money in a few years.

Also, FSENX is doing so poorly and I've already lost money in it. If it was your money, would you stay or sell? What is the reason for you to buy/sell or hold? I like to think I'm not an emotional investor. I have sold investments before but I read that energy ETFs may do better later in the year.

It would be nice to read what your experiences have been in regards to market volitality. I am not a reactionary investor. Most of the time I just ride the wave.

TIA.

Barb

 

[ownyourfuture]

I started consolidating my investments @ Fidelity in 1998.
I had one Price fund, one Wasatch fund, & another I can't remember.
Also had a small brokerage account @ a local bank.

Except for a checking account, company stock, & my 401-k, everything is now @ Fidelity. Also have my Visa & Amex there. Easy to pay them both.
No need to log-in to another site.

Considering moving company stock & 401-k in the future.

 

[TallTim]

Started w Fidelity right out of school b/c that's where my then-employer had its 401(k) plan .. over 20+ years and 5 or 6 employers, I remained with them b/c all of my subsequent employers used them for 401(k) as well. Started 529s and UGMAs there for college for DS and DD and also Roth and regular IRAs. A few years ago moved my brokerage business to TDA b/c of trade execution, pricing and platform tools. Will stay w FIDO until I've spent down the college funds ( moving them is a pain) and will then most likely go 100% to TDA for simplicity after DD and DS are done w school.

I know several here who say (rightly) that it's always a good idea to have multiple vendor sources, incl for brokerage and it's a fair point. I just am making the tradeoff for convenience ultimately.

 

[CABarb]

ownyourfuture,

Thanks for your reply. I have pretty much everything with Fidelity too. And I was thinking of moving the 401K from the previous employer there also. I like not having to manage too many accounts.

The TD account is for the HSA funds (~$780) and that's all that remains in there. I didn't read the paperwork that company handed out about investing the money for retirement until I got tired of them taking fees out every month. So, I thought if I put a little bit of the company stock in there also to get the balance to $5K, I should be able to avoid the monthly fees. Would've done that 4 years ago except the person I talked to at TD said the money had to be HSA funds only and so I did nothing.

 

[CABarb]

TallTim,

Thanks for your relpy. I'll be talking to the TD guy some time next week. He's sick this week and I need the time to get all of my info together before transferring some assets there. The HSA money is sitting in a money market fund for now. Intend to purchase a no fee ETF and let it grow for retirement.

 

[gauss]

IRAs at Vanguard
My 401k - at Fidelity
DW 401k - at her Megacorp's administrator

I like it spread out like this.

-gauss

 

[youbet]

Do you keep your investments in one place or spread them out?

When I was younger, I kept everything spread out all over the place. I'd dig a hole near the back door for the convenience of keeping frequently traded securities at hand. Large, long term holdings were in a deep hole way out under the oak tree by the back fence. Medium term holdings were in a trench that ran parallel to the hedge that divided our yard from the neighbor's.

But I've been FIRE'd 10 years now and all the shovel swinging wears me down. Instead of burying da stuff, I've got it with brokerage houses.

My 401k is still with the MegaCorp I retired from.
Our brokerage account, our Roth's and DW's rollover IRA are with Schwab.
My play money (Mama don't know!) is at Mega's credit union, but that's only a few kilobux.

 

[W2R]

I kept my TSP account when I left federal employment. Everything else is in Vanguard.

 

[Clone]

Company where I worked started their 401K at Fidelity. Also the HSA account. When my wife moved from one job to a different one, we moved her 401K and a small brokerage account to Fido. Then I inherited an IRA, and moved it to Fido also. So, technically, there are 5 different accounts at Fido, plus I have a 403b account at TIAA/CREF (actually, one that is the University retirement plan plus a second that is my discretionary 403b type IRA). It is nice to be able to work with one common interface on most of the accounts. They can't be combined because of how they were accumulated or funded. It is nice that they look the same on the statements, and we can view them online at the same time. I don't care for the TIAA/CREF website, but it works for what I need it for at the moment. If I leave the University, I will probably move those funds to Fidelity also.

My Mom & Dad had money spread all over the place. After Dad passed, I suggested that Mom consolidate the moneys into fewer brokerages. It made it a lot easier to keep track of what was going on.

Funniest things was when one of the brokers called up and left a message. He suggested that Mom sell her stock in XYZ, because he thought it had flattened out. She asked me what I thought. I told her I thought he was just trying to churn her account and pick up some commissions. I told her to call him back and tell him that she appreciated the advice, and to sell the stock and send her a check. Mom said the guy was back peddling and flopping around like a fish! But she saw that it was a lot easier to follow your portfolio when it was at just a few place rather than 10 different brokers.

 

[Ronstar]

I have mine spread around 7 places. I want to get that down to 3 or 4. I don't want all of my eggs in one basket, but 7 is too many.


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[pb4uski]

I prefer to consolidate everything... in our case at Vanguard. However, there are exceptions... our HSAs are invested in Vanguard Total Stock funds at HSA Administrators and I have a CD at PenFed and an online savings account at Discover Bank. Our taxable account investments, tIRAs and Roth IRAs are at Vanguard.

 

[scrinch]

We've got our assets spread around about a dozen institutions, including CD's at several credit unions. I'd like to cut that back to a half dozen or so after retirement. Right now Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, 4 CU's, TreasuryDirect, and a few of DW's old retirement and employee stock accounts.

 

[DrRoy]

For the last few years I had about 35% at Fidelity, 32% at Merrill Edge, 30% at my old corp 401K (also Merrill), and 3% at the new corp 401K (Vanguard). I had some issues with Merrill Edge and I moved all those funds to Fidelity this year (and earned some bonus $, which was part of the decision). I think you do get more attention with a larger balance, and it is more convenient to deal with fewer institutions.

On the FSENX, I'm no market timer but I would say that it is probably too late to sell it. If oil prices have stabilized, it is likely to perform equal to better than the market at least for a while. Just an opinion.

 

[psweath]

3 yrs. cash at Sallie Mae and local CU.

The rest of my 50/50 allocation is split between previous employer's 401K and Fidelity. I like the Stable Value fund at the 401K, and it also has many fund choices, so the only plans of moving out of there are partial withdrawals to my Roth IRA at Fidelity. I plan to convert about half of tax-deferred funds to Roth and leave the rest, mostly because of uncertainty with future tax law. That will also keep retirement funds in at least two baskets.

HSAs and IRAs and the taxable account are at Fidelity.

Pretty passive with investments - mostly index funds.

In my fifth year of retirement and all is well. I rebalance to keep my 50/50 and check my withdrawal rate quarterly. I use the rough RMD calculation for my withdrawal rate (1 / Years of Life Left).

Pete

 

[braumeister]

I'm more comfortable keeping it spread around a bit.
Currently:
64% at Fidelity
22% at Vanguard
14% at Schwab

The majority is at FIDO because of their superior website and good customer service.

 

[bingybear]

I've got some company stock with Computershare that I wanted to move to Fidelity where I have most of my investments at. I also have a few shares of the same company funds in UBS because at one time the employees were told we were moving to UBS. Should I move it all to Fidelity or is there a better place to park it. It will be my retirement money in a few years.

Also, FSENX is doing so poorly and I've already lost money in it. If it was your money, would you stay or sell? What is the reason for you to buy/sell or hold? I like to think I'm not an emotional investor. I have sold investments before but I read that energy ETFs may do better later in the year.

First... company stock @ Computershare and moving assets in general, make sure you have all the basis information! When moving assets in kind, the basis information usually does not transfer to new custodian.

FSENX... energy has done poorly, but seems to be improving. The question is "do you think energy will do better than the rest of the market?" My recent venture into the energy sector is doing well. If you don't believe it will do better than the rest of the market, then just buy the rest of the market. Now if FSENX is in a taxable account and you want to stay in that sector, you may want to sell it and buy another (not significantly identical) investment so you can harvest the loss.

In 2008 I diversified my brokerage custodians as many were loosing their excess SPIC insurance. I made it so each account was under the SPIC limits assuming brokers would not consolidate during the down turn. But it does make more involved to manage.

I believe there were people who lost money by exceeding SPIC in a similar way to exceeding FDIC limits. Major brokers did not have these problems, but I recall one on the news. Remember that things like fraud are not covered by SPIC if I recall correctly. But I'm not sure how necessary this really is and will likely do some consolation in the future.

 

[frayne]

IRA at FIDO, after tax investments at Vanguard, cash accounts at local bank. Have had this set up for over twenty years and am very comfortable with it.

 

[Totoro]

Trading

• one place for my index trackers
• one place for my individual shareholding

Banking

• One bank for my small company accounts
• One bank for my regular payments where I live
• One bank based in my home country
• Three banks for my CDs and deposits (to stay below deposit insurance limits)

I'd like to reduce the number of banks in the long term.

 

[mrfeh]

I've got some company stock with Computershare that I wanted to move to Fidelity where I have most of my investments at. I also have a few shares of the same company funds in UBS because at one time the employees were told we were moving to UBS. Should I move it all to Fidelity or is there a better place to park it. It will be my retirement money in a few years.

We have more than 90% of our portfolio w/ Fidelity. I'm perfectly comfortable with that.

Also, FSENX is doing so poorly and I've already lost money in it. If it was your money, would you stay or sell? What is the reason for you to buy/sell or hold? I like to think I'm not an emotional investor. I have sold investments before but I read that energy ETFs may do better later in the year.

It would be nice to read what your experiences have been in regards to market volitality. I am not a reactionary investor. Most of the time I just ride the wave.

TIA.

Barb

Why did you buy FSENX in the first place? I doubt the reason you have it in your portfolio has changed.

Don't try to time the market. You'll likely end up selling low and buying high.

 

[MRG]

If it's company stock at Computershare consider if a NUA will benefit you.

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[CoolChange]

I have money with 11 different institutions at the moment. That is a bit out of hand; but, I do like having things spread around in case of failure (their systems) or compromise (my specific accounts) at one or more of those institutions.

This also includes some specialty locations such as TreasuryDirect and a boutique benefits manager with an old 401(k) that is my only avenue to a stable value fund. I have opened other accounts for specific benefits (MerrillEdge for free trades, Schwab for the foreign ATM benefits, etc.). At some point, I may consolidate a bit; but, I honestly do not see the need at the moment. The only real downside I have found is the 2-5 days it takes to transfer cash from one institution to another.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

I read where one man had a Vanguard account and a local credit union. I would like to copy that. So simple come tax time.

 

[MRG]

I have money with 11 different institutions at the moment. That is a bit out of hand; but, I do like having things spread around in case of failure (their systems) or compromise (my specific accounts) at one or more of those institutions.

You realize when it comes to funds the number of systems of record can be counted on the fingers on one hand?

 

[Danmar]

Everything at one institution. When I log on my total investment, cash, credit cards etc is totalled up. I like it this way.

 

[youbet]

Everything at one institution. When I log on my total investment net worth is totalled up. I like it this way.

You don't have to have everything at one brokerage to do this. Any brokerage worth it's salt will have a function where it totals your assets at other locations automatically, once you set it up.