I think Vanguard Just Called Me Difficult and Expensive

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash Haven’t noticed anyone saying they wish they’d never switched. Seems like self imposed drama by VG.

No, it seems like self-imposed drama by the customers who have yet to switch.

[Aerides]

I use to work in IT. I "owned" applications that were used globally across the MC, and was responsible to upgrade, add features, etc., with some frequency.

Despite communicating well in advance, and engaging users on changes needed, there was always some little group in the business who announced on launch day that they had issues. They were staying on outdated operating systems or browsers, or had built their own little plug ins to use in conjunction with my apps, that were totally non-standard and probably security risks, and now they wanted to make their lack of functionality my problem.

Many times we'd bend over backwards to try to accommodate, eventually I took a path not unlike Vanguard: I'm moving/changing to the future with my tools, you can come along with what we offer, or too bad so sad, not going to spend time and energy to fix a problem of 1% of my customers that are taking up 20% of my development and support costs.

"Difficult and expensive" - that sounds like me!

[CaptainO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fritz ….. You have to answer the "(What's your Liquid Assets)", and "(What's your Net Worth)", for all accounts or it won't proceed. You are also asked what is your goal with your investments. These are Brokerage boilerplate type requirements according to Vanguard. I chose the first (lowest amounts) answer for assets and net worth (we are Flagship), and chose "preservation" for goals. I considered it to be the correct selection for ("prefer not to answer"). ...

Thanks for the detailed response. Regarding your paragraph above, am I understanding correctly, that you’re not required to provide income information, and you may choose from a range of assets and net worth that may not necessarily be accurate, or am I reading in too much?

[fritz]

You have to answer the "(What's your Liquid Assets)", and "(What's your Net Worth)", for all accounts or it won't proceed. You are also asked what is your goal with your investments. These are Brokerage boilerplate type requirements according to Vanguard. I chose the first (lowest amounts) answer for assets and net worth (we are Flagship), and chose "preservation" for goals. I considered it to be the correct selection for ("prefer not to answer").

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainO Thanks for the detailed response. Regarding your paragraph above, am I understanding correctly, that you’re not required to provide income information, and you may choose from a range of assets and net worth that may not necessarily be accurate, or am I reading in too much?

I put the original Vanguard questions in parenthesis as I don't recall the exact wording. You must select from a multiple choice for Annual Income (I chose less than $20K), and Liquid Net Worth (again I chose less than $20K). These were the (lowest) 1st choices. You must select for each account type - Individual, Joint, IRA, and Roth, or it won't let you move forward. They also ask about your goals.

This is a copy of the information as shown on my Brokerage Acct set-up confirmation.

Financial profile

Annual income Less than $20,000
Liquid net worth Less than $20,000

Investment objective

Primary investment objective Capital preservation
Secondary investment objective–

Source of funds Retirement/General savings

[Palmtree]

We've been with Vanguard for at least 25 to 30 years and refused to do the transition. Me and my wife held several legacy mutual fund accounts plus I had a SEP/IRA brokerage account. This year we are actively trying to simplify and consolidate our finances. We wanted to rollover a 403b from my wifes former employer into Vanguard. To do so Vanguard required us to open a brokerage account in her name. We decided to go ahead and transfer all of our accounts into the new brokerage based platform. They were very helpful and it was a lot easier than I expected.

[easysurfer]

Remember that Twilight Zone episode with Robert Redford where he is "Mr. Death" and tricks the old lady to cross over. Guess I'm like that old lady .

[Gumby]

For what it's worth, I have been with Vanguard since 1984. I have never been disappointed with that choice.

[jblack]

I've also been holding off on the account transition to brokerage. Mostly because I haven't been forced or taken the time to read about it more thoroughly.

One key question/concern I had is if it would change my account numbers or do anything that might require more work for automatic investments already setup from other sources? i.e. We are still in accumulation mode and I have bi-weekly paycheck investments into 529s and a taxable account. I don't want to move if it means I have to adjust that on my employer's side.

Anyone know by chance?

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jblack I've also been holding off on the account transition to brokerage. Mostly because I haven't been forced or taken the time to read about it more thoroughly. One key question/concern I had is if it would change my account numbers or do anything that might require more work for automatic investments already setup from other sources? i.e. We are still in accumulation mode and I have bi-weekly paycheck investments into 529s and a taxable account. I don't want to move if it means I have to adjust that on my employer's side. Anyone know by chance?

I'd call Vanguard to be sure.

What I can tell you from other providers is that account numbers are assigned sequentially with a check digit at the end. Vanguard has two different systems of record, each with its own database. I would assume they won't carry forward as the population of new account numbers are duplicates to some of the legacy numbers. It is possible that they decided to decorate one set of account numbers to avoid this.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by punkinhead I logged back on this morning to see if I could figure out how to convert. Between traditional IRAs, Roths, taxables, and joint accounts with my kids I have 10 accounts. There was no indication on the initial "balances" screen which account(s) needed converted. As I mentioned earlier, I would routinely click the "convert" button when they started prompting me after login a few years ago. Never any indication what account was being converted, no indication of which accounts had already converted, and no message once a conversion had completed. Eventually the site quit asking me to convert every time I logged in so I figured I'd gotten them all. 9 of my 10 accounts had the word "brokerage" in their name so I clicked down through the one that didn't and found a "convert" button. I had to read carefully to spot the button because it was lost in their Fisher Price UI design where everything is in a huge font and nothing is highlighted or made distinct. When I clicked it and started the conversion process it wanted to convert 5 of my 10 accounts. So it wants to convert accounts that are already listed a brokerage. 4 of those 5 are IRAs from 401k rollovers I've done within the last year so I have no idea why they would be in the old system. The system said the conversions will take a couple days. Based on past experience I don't expect any notification of when, or if, any of these are converted. I also have zero confidence they actually will all be converted or that I'll have any way to know which ones are still on the old platform.

I called them and did it on the phone. Sounds time consuming but it wasn't. YMMV

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainO I thought I saw somewhere that they ask for personal information like net worth and income when you switch. Is that true? Can you decline giving that kind of information and still make the switch?

I don't recall such a request - maybe they did.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff Everybody does. Undoubtedly required. I doubt you are required to give honest answers although you might have a hard time challenging their advice if you lied about your assets.

But I don't want any advice.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby As much as we might like to think otherwise, the vast majority of mankind is entirely uninterested in anything about us, including how much money we make or have amassed. We and our affairs are, in fact, supremely unimportant.

Heh, heh, it's not mankind I'm concerned about. It's individual criminals (and other gummint agencies.)

[Graybeard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jblack One key question/concern I had is if it would change my account numbers or do anything that might require more work for automatic investments already setup from other sources?

When I converted my 3 accounts, each was assigned a new account number. That was probably a decade or longer but I suspect that is still the case.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jblack One key question/concern I had is if it would change my account numbers or do anything that might require more work for automatic investments already setup from other sources? Anyone know by chance?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graybeard When I converted my 3 accounts, each was assigned a new account number. That was probably a decade or longer but I suspect that is still the case.

I'm ashamed to say, I never even looked to see if the acct. numbers had changed. Didn't occur to me. Everything else look pretty much the same. I pay attention to results when I get paper in the mail. I rarely visit the site unless I want to DO something. SO, for me, nothing really changed, though maybe the acct. numbers?? YMMV

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau <SNIP> I actually thought I'd switched everything, but maybe not. I need to go in and see what account they're talking about.

Oh, regarding the note I received saying I needed to switch: I called today and the nice lady told me "Nope. You're all switched - including your DW. BUT your minor daughter is not."

Heh, heh, my minor daughter is in her mid 30s! I've begged and cajoled the little one to call them and get everything straightened out but she has not. SO, I texted her and told her it was gonna cost her money if she didn't call them. She promised to do it and get everything in her name and transitioned.

By the way, from first ring to final goodbye was less than 10 minutes (including the robot routine at the beginning.) YMMV

[jblack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graybeard When I converted my 3 accounts, each was assigned a new account number. That was probably a decade or longer but I suspect that is still the case.

Thanks. This is what I suspected and as I’m too lazy to make updates on my automatic paycheck deposits I’m going to stick with the older platform for a bit longer. Hopefully that won’t be a factor too much longer

[marinauser]

If a broker/investment company like Vanguard is going to make any recommendations as to investments that may be made, they are legally required to determine the "Suitability" of that investment for the customer. FINRA—the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority rules on Suitability are discussed at https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance...cs/suitability

Because Vanguard hopes/tries to sell you investment advice they ask these questions regarding assets, income and goals to fulfill their obligation on suitability in advance.

[Sconie]

Well, sadly, it's no longer "your Father's" Vanguard----or, for that matter, Jack Bogle's Vanguard.

Then too, I laugh every time I see one of their advertisements, which usually end with the caption of, "Vanguard-----where you are the owner." Yeah, sure----but don't dare ask how much the Vanguard Executives are being paid.....because you're not entitled to know that.

[hpnutty]

I wonder if this is the time to move everything to FIDO. There might be a pony in there.