Financial Institutions - preferences for one or multiple?

[Yipper]

We have our monetary assets held in a few different financial institutions like Fidelity, Vanguard, BofA/Merrill, etc. and this has worked out well for us over the years.

Megacorp uses Fidelity for 401K and HSA. Wife has her IRA in Vanguard. BofA & Merrill for the checking, some credit cards and enough in ML investments to make all the banking fees go away (along with enabling our adult children to benefit as well by having me on their accounts).

However, I'm starting to consider moving DH's IRA over to Fidelity just for the ease of one less user interface and credential set to deal with and wonder if that's actual a bad idea. I really prefer the Fidelity site to the Vanguard site.

Obviously if my credentials are compromised there's more to gain by having things consolidated but I'm not too concerned about that. I guess I'm wondering if there are other risks I'm not accounting for and wanted to get more opinions.

 

[qwerty3656]

I have consolidated everything to fidelity and feel like it's more secure. Rather than juggling multiple logins on multiple sites, I just have 1 very secure login for everything. Also, 1 site for tax forms, beneficiaries, tracking Spending and NetWorth.

 

[aaronc879]

I have 1 brokerage for investments and 1 credit union for savings/checking/MM/CD type accounts. Unless you are VERY well off I don't see a reason to have more accounts than that.

 

[Koolau]

I have two credit unions with checking and 1 bank checking acct. I funnel certain income and outgo through each. Advantage of more than one includes always having a checking acct. even if one becomes compromised.

 

[audreyh1]

I plan to ultimately get back down to one brokerage (which includes cash management checking and bill pay), one bank high yield savings account and a bank checking account. That would be my minimum.

I have a lot of redundancy right now, credit cards too, and some of it was driven by overseas travel. But when we are not nearly as active the redundancy isn’t needed so much.

 

[Yipper]

Is anyone concerned about SIPC/FDIC insurance limits at all when consolidating finances to one or small number of firms?

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

One CU, one legacy Bank account (sat with $3 balance for years before I started using it to receive self-employment income as a quasi-business account to keep things clean), TSP, Vanguard for AT and IRAs, Fidelity for HSA just to try them out and have an account established if I decide to leave Vanguard (no plans to do so). Quite a few rewards cards to take advantage of offers and cash back of which I use 3 regularly.

 

[foxfirev5]

Two of each. Fido and VG for brokerage and retirement accounts. One B&M bank and one online bank. If something gets frozen we always have another source.

In addition we have three medical expense accounts. There is no way to combine these into one. RMSA, HSA and RHRA. They are prioritized since one allows us to be reimbursed for Medigap premiums tax free. Icing on the cake which should last until RMD's and tapping Roth int and div. Love those spreadsheets.

 

[John Galt III]

I wish there were a single website that allowed you to get all the best deals, like the best 5 year CD, best Treasury Bond, etc. But there isn't, so I have 5 different financial institutions, and their 5 respective websites, to hassle with. But 5 is enough. I have passed up great deals because I didn't want to have to have another website to figure out.

 

[pacergal]

One brokerage institution (IRAs, inherited IRA, taxable)
One bank (savings, checking, VISA)
One credit union (savings, Visa)

About as simple as I can make it right now.

 

[Koolau]

Heh, heh at least no one has yet mentioned one mattress.

 

[big-papa]

We have our monetary assets held in a few different financial institutions like Fidelity, Vanguard, BofA/Merrill, etc. and this has worked out well for us over the years.

Megacorp uses Fidelity for 401K and HSA. Wife has her IRA in Vanguard. BofA & Merrill for the checking, some credit cards and enough in ML investments to make all the banking fees go away (along with enabling our adult children to benefit as well by having me on their accounts).

However, I'm starting to consider moving DH's IRA over to Fidelity just for the ease of one less user interface and credential set to deal with and wonder if that's actual a bad idea. I really prefer the Fidelity site to the Vanguard site.

Obviously if my credentials are compromised there's more to gain by having things consolidated but I'm not too concerned about that. I guess I'm wondering if there are other risks I'm not accounting for and wanted to get more opinions.

I've been slowly consolidating to Fidelity over the years.
- I've always had a taxable account there
- A few years ago I closed a schwab taxable account and moved the proceeds to Fidelity
- Similar for a taxable account I had at Vanguard.
- After I've left each employer, I've rolled over my 401K to my IRA at Fidelity. My wife as well.
- I had a deferred compensation plan from a previous employer and they changed custodians to Fidelity a couple of years ago, but I received the last payout in Jan 2022, so that's gone.
- I didn't like HealthEquity which my employer uses for my HSA, so I opened an HSA at Fidelity and regularly transfer money from HealthEquity to Fidelity. The remainder will be transferred in April when I retire and the HealthEquity account will be closed.

Other than just enough in the HealthEquity account to keep it open till I retire, these days all I have left outside of Fidelity is my current Employer's 401K at Vanguard, though most of the money is in their brokerage option with TD Ameritrade. Once everything settles out by Summer of 2024 when the last true-up occurs for matching, whatever is in the 401K will be rolled over to my Fidelity IRA.

By then, everything we have will be at Fidelity except for I-bonds which are held at TreasuryDirect and our checking/savings accounts held at our Credit Union. Looking forward to fewer lines in my tracking spreadsheet!

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I'm a one-brokerage man. I like seeing my nest egg all in one consolidated user interface on my computer. I am in the process of moving that from Vanguard to Schwab, so I currently have two, but that will be done next month. I'll also have some money in a Schwab checking account for travel purposes.

I pay bills via a small local PNC Bank checking account. I also keep a small emergency fund in PNC Bank savings.

I did have a larger savings amount at Ally Bank, but moved it to money market at Vanguard (soon to be moving that to Schwab) to get higher rates.

 

[Midpack]

1 brokerage
1 online savings (only because cash yields at brokerage were much lower)
1 bank (brick-n-mortar)

Just easier to have statements consolidated and fewer tax docs. But I'd be happy with Vanguard, Fidelity or Schwab based on past experiences.

 

[aja8888]

Heh, heh at least no one has yet mentioned one mattress.

do you really mean mistress instead of mattress?

 

[Koolau]

do you really mean mistress instead of mattress?

At least the mistress is an "investment" while the mattress is only savings (with no interest.) Better stop there.