Having to Jump Thru Hoops to Close Edward Jones Account

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRG It's costs Ed exactly 0 dollars in account fees. The fund company pays a fee to their transfer agent. So they are paying for eddie.

OK, did not know that.

[euro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocean view Could your wife liquidate the investments and transfer the proceeds out of EJ? Then once the account is empty, ask to close the account. Two separate transactions. I would think that as an account owner, she would be allowed to make a withdrawal. Or does the death of MIL tangle the entire account?

I agree, if it is an option to just withdraw all the assets, I would do just that. Run the balance to zero, if at all possible. THEN talk to them about closing the account and if they give you grief, tell them to pound sand.

[kimcdougc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocean view Could your wife liquidate the investments and transfer the proceeds out of EJ? Then once the account is empty, ask to close the account. Two separate transactions. I would think that as an account owner, she would be allowed to make a withdrawal. Or does the death of MIL tangle the entire account?

This is what I did when my mom died. I transferred all but about $100 out of the accounts to my personal accounts then closed the accounts. Worked great since my name was already on the accounts.

No questions asked.

[Independent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 I ended up filing a complaint with FINRA and PA AG to get fast eddie to transfer funds from late DW's account which was TOD to me at Vanguard. The smart Alecs created an account in my name first.

Did they create the account without your signature?

I don't want to sign their agreement which has a mandatory arbitration clause. So, I'd consider it progress if they set up the account without a signature.

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 I ended up filing a complaint with FINRA and PA AG to get fast eddie to transfer funds from late DW's account which was TOD to me at Vanguard. The smart Alecs created an account in my name first.

For an account at Vanguard, the TOD beneficiaries must open an account at Vanguard to transfer their assets in. It's my understanding that the beneficiary must contact VG to set all this up. After that you can keep, liquidate, or transfer the account elsewhere.

I'm not clear on the order of events you had at EJ but it might have been the same thing.

[Brat]

One more reason to do business with Fidelity!

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brat One more reason to do business with Fidelity!

A quick look at Fidelity says that TOD works the same as Vanguard. If you're the TOD beneficiary of a taxable account, you can transfer the assets due to you to a new or existing Fidelity account. You can't go direct to an outside account.

[teejayevans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brat One more reason to do business with Fidelity!

I had to go through hoops to get my money out of Fido.
Entire process took 2 weeks, my money was in limbo for a week or so...fortunately the market went down during that time.

[Bamaman]

My cousin's son is an Edward Jones financial consultant in a southern college town.

He and his wife live in a much larger home than they should have. They're seen at all the college athletic events. He makes all the local lunch meetings. Edward Jones wants their people to be extremely visible.

And the company often takes them to meetings in exclusive locations like high line ski resorts in Colorado and Utah.

Thank goodness he's never approached me for my business as I'm the one in the family with the financial resources. I know him too well to trust my finances to him.

[gayl]

Wow just wow. Makes me appreciate Fido & Schwab. When mom died 3 of us took her death cert to Fido and the assets were divided 5 equal ways (per TOD) into 5 accounts at Fido. Split each asset almost to the penny ..... 1 sibling got 1c more. Then my sis & I took our account numbers to Schwab who transferred it over to them. I later sold what it was in and picked my own assets. I remember it taking only a few minutes. The bank account was just as simple. Made me really appreciate TOD / POD tags

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Independent Did they create the account without your signature? I don't want to sign their agreement which has a mandatory arbitration clause. So, I'd consider it progress if they set up the account without a signature.

Yes

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum For an account at Vanguard, the TOD beneficiaries must open an account at Vanguard to transfer their assets in. It's my understanding that the beneficiary must contact VG to set all this up. After that you can keep, liquidate, or transfer the account elsewhere. I'm not clear on the order of events you had at EJ but it might have been the same thing.

The transfer was to an account I set with Vanguard. The fast eddie accunt in my name was done by fast eddie.

[Independent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gayl Wow just wow. Makes me appreciate Fido & Schwab. When mom died 3 of us took her death cert to Fido and the assets were divided 5 equal ways (per TOD) into 5 accounts at Fido. Split each asset almost to the penny ..... 1 sibling got 1c more. Then my sis & I took our account numbers to Schwab who transferred it over to them. I later sold what it was in and picked my own assets. I remember it taking only a few minutes. The bank account was just as simple. Made me really appreciate TOD / POD tags

I think Edward Jones would like it to be that simple. "Just sign here, we'll set up an account for you. Then you can do what you like."

One problem I've got is the statement over my signature that says I " have read, understand, and agree to" all the terms in a 7 page document, with 21 additional pages of disclosures. Noting that one of the terms is mandatory arbitration and that the disclosure includes a $95 account closing fee.

Another is the frustration with the TOD itself. I expect the five of you shared the other assets equally. In this case, the will has one distribution of assets, the TOD a dramatically different distribution. The TOD also has a $300 fee.

I think the EJ rep said "this TOD is super simple and fast" and didn't say "but check with your attorney to make sure it doesn't mess up your estate plan" or
"note the $300 fee just for administering a TOD".

[Independent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 Yes

Good to know, thanks.

[gayl]

Yes, Independent. In our case her singular account at Fido was split equally. My accounts at Schwab aren't (brokerage 16% to 6 GK beneficiaries upon becoming adults [2 there already with accounts @ Schwab] / 2% to DS for managing everything. IRA equally between DS & DD. Roth 100% to DD as I spent 135k bailing DS out of a short-lived marriage) but all have TOD / POD. USAA equally among all 8. House just DD & DS. That's why DS deserves 2% of brokerage. Sounded simple when 1st Floor newbie at Schwab set it up

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman My cousin's son is an Edward Jones financial consultant in a southern college town. He and his wife live in a much larger home than they should have. They're seen at all the college athletic events. He makes all the local lunch meetings. Edward Jones wants their people to be extremely visible. And the company often takes them to meetings in exclusive locations like high line ski resorts in Colorado and Utah. Thank goodness he's never approached me for my business as I'm the one in the family with the financial resources. I know him too well to trust my finances to him.

A fella I served with in the AF is an EJ advisor now. He often posts pictures of his Porsche 911 which makes me cringe a wee bit. He posts often about all his civic involvements in his town and well...he is a very busy (networking) man.

I when he was in training, he made the comment about finding clients and that meant "riding around in neighborhoods with large trees, fat squirrels and long cars" That told me everything I needed to know about being an EJ advisor.

But hey, our local EJ left a card and a can of black eyed peas on the porch for New Year's...so there's that.

[RobbieB]

It was easy to end my EJ account. I just filled out the transfer docs at the new broker and poof it was closed.

Fired for lack of performance.

[albireo13]

We just had the same exact experience with our parents estate account, except it was with TD Ameritrade. They required beneficiaries to open TDA accounts before distributing inheritances.

[teejayevans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB It was easy to end my EJ account. I just filled out the transfer docs at the new broker and poof it was closed. Fired for lack of performance.

I wonder if there is a difference depending on net worth. I gotta believe the experience will be different between someone who has 10 million vs 10 thousand.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB It was easy to end my EJ account. I just filled out the transfer docs at the new broker and poof it was closed. Fired for lack of performance.

They were doing quite well for themselves with your money. Your expectations of making money for yourself are out of line with their reality.