TD Ameritrade to Acquire Scottrade Financial

[dirt_dobber]

TD Ameritrade to Acquire Scottrade Financial http://www.wsj.com/articles/td-ameri...03931?mod=BNM/

Not sure where to post this but I found it of interest
- which financial houses will merge next??

The combined company will have 600,000 average client trades a day and $944 billion in client assets.

[convergent]

Anyone know if they'll continue to operate as two entities? I have accounts at both.

[hlfo718]

I doubt they will operate independently. I thought about transferring out of ST but just saw that TD has over 100 no commission ETFs including ishares and Vanguard so I will stay put for now.

[exnavynuke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by convergent Anyone know if they'll continue to operate as two entities? I have accounts at both.

I doubt they will keep them separate for long after the buyout. When TD Ameritrade acquired Thinkorswim, my account with Thinkorswim became a TD Ameritrade account. On the plus side, however, they did retain my costs/fees from Thinkorswim instead of switching me to the TD Ameritrade prices, but I also get the advantages of TD Ameritrade (such as the commission free ETFs) that Thinkorswim didn't have.

[Danmar]

This is a very interesting deal. The cost synergies of combining these type of businesses are huge. They will certainly not maintain ST accounts any longer than they have to. TD Ameritrade said it will be " highly accretive to earnings" immediately on closing (second half of 2017). I think this will make TDA the largest discount broker by volumes. The real interesting part is the role TD Bank ( Canadian Bank) plays. TD Bank owns about 42% of TDA. TD Bank gets the ST Bank to merge it with their wholly owned TD Bank USA. As a shareholder of the parent Canadian Bank, I love this deal.

[Sojourner]

Not particularly happy about this, being a satisfied Scottrade customer for many years. I had a TD account way back and ended up closing it due to annoying fees for "account inactivity". As a very infrequent trader, I refuse to keep my assets anywhere that imposes inactivity fees. I suppose now that Vanguard offers more robust brokerage services, I may just move my ST assets there if TD turns out to be too "fee happy" for my liking.

[exnavynuke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sojourner Not particularly happy about this, being a satisfied Scottrade customer for many years. I had a TD account way back and ended up closing it due to annoying fees for "account inactivity". As a very infrequent trader, I refuse to keep my assets anywhere that imposes inactivity fees. I suppose now that Vanguard offers more robust brokerage services, I may just move my ST assets there if TD turns out to be too "fee happy" for my liking.

I don't believe TD has any account inactivity fees at this time. I've never been charged any I know (and I'm no longer a frequent trader, just buy more of the same commission free ETFs about once a month (or less). I've been charged $0 in fees this year.

[kcowan]

This has got to be good for the shareholders. Any special ST services will either be folded in if unique or migrated if duplicate.

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sojourner Not particularly happy about this, being a satisfied Scottrade customer for many years. I had a TD account way back and ended up closing it due to annoying fees for "account inactivity". As a very infrequent trader, I refuse to keep my assets anywhere that imposes inactivity fees. I suppose now that Vanguard offers more robust brokerage services, I may just move my ST assets there if TD turns out to be too "fee happy" for my liking.

I've had accounts with TD since whenever they bought Price Waterhouse (my original brokers). I've had one account that's never been traded since it was set up, and I've never had an inactivity fee. I doubt it will be a problem.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danmar This is a very interesting deal. The cost synergies of combining these type of businesses are huge. They will certainly not maintain ST accounts any longer than they have to. TD Ameritrade said it will be " highly accretive to earnings" immediately on closing (second half of 2017). I think this will make TDA the largest discount broker by volumes. The real interesting part is the role TD Bank ( Canadian Bank) plays. TD Bank owns about 42% of TDA. TD Bank gets the ST Bank to merge it with their wholly owned TD Bank USA. As a shareholder of the parent Canadian Bank, I love this deal.

+1
On combining. Either you are maintaining two systems that do the same thing, or you're paying a third party, either way you shoot one.

[Danmar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley I've had accounts with TD since whenever they bought Price Waterhouse (my original brokers). I've had one account that's never been traded since it was set up, and I've never had an inactivity fee. I doubt it will be a problem.

TD bought Waterhouse Investment Services in1997. You are getting confused with the Accounting firm now called PriceWaterhouseCoopers. I knew Larry Waterhouse the original founder. A great guy.

As I recall TD paid about $750million for Waterhouse. This was just before the internet trading boom. In 1999 TD IPO'ed an 11% stake for about $1billion (subsequently bought back much cheaper). So in 2 years they realized an 1200% gain. Despite this Larry Waterhouse never complained about the deal. Classy.

TD rolled its investment in Waterhouse into the 42% stake in TD Ameritrade in 2005.

[harley]

Yeah, you're right. Too many TDs and Waterhouses. But still, no inactivity fees in the ~20 years I've been with them

[NW-Bound]

I never had an account with TD Ameritrade, but had one with Scottrade for years until recently.

Just looked to see that TD Ameritrade charges $10 per stock and option trades, while Scottrade is charging $7. Who is going to change?

It does not matter to me now as I recently moved to Merrill Edge for a self-directed account, not to be confused with the old Merrill Lynch "full-service" (read full fee) brokerage. I have enough there for them to give me 100 free stock trades/month, way more than I ever need. Option trades are $3 each.

I moved some money from Schwab to Scottrade many years ago, back when the former was charging $30/trade compared to the latter's $7. I kept some money at Schwab to make use of their free ETF trades.

And now, the free trades at Merrill Edge are just too good to pass up. I am no day trader, but buy/sell enough to spend a few $K each year in trading cost with Scottrade. That money can now get me quite a few XO Cognac bottles, or tankfuls of gasoline for my motorhome.

[Danmar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I am no day trader, but buy/sell enough to spend a few $K each year in trading cost with Scottrade. That money can now get me quite a few XO Cognac bottles, or tankfuls of gasoline for my motorhome.

Wow! I'm surprised you trade so much. My last trade was Dec/15. Usually do less than 10 per year. So trading costs don't mean anything to me.

[NW-Bound]

I buy or sell a bit here and there, mostly just add to my existing positions or reduce them. My trades are usually of small amounts, between $5K to $20K. I do not go "all in", or "all out".

Even so, I spend less time to study a $10K stock trade than I would on a $400 electronic toy. So, I cannot see myself making big moves.

It's a long time since I made a trade in the 6 figures. In terms of percentage of portfolio turnover, mine is lower than Wellesley or Wellington mutual funds.

[Danmar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I buy or sell a bit here and there, mostly just add to my existing positions or reduce them. My trades are usually of small amounts, between $5K to $20K. I do not go "all in", or "all out". Even so, I spend less time to study a $10K stock trade than I would on a $400 electronic toy. So, I cannot see myself making big moves. It's a long time since I made a trade in the 6 figures. In terms of percentage of portfolio turnover, mine is lower than Wellesley or Wellington mutual funds.

Right. Sounds more like "entertainment" or a "hobby". I would probably do the same except I am fully invested so a trade requires me to sell something (would probably be a sale from my largest holding) which would trigger pretty large capital gains.

[NW-Bound]

Even as a hobby, I would not do it if I lose too much money, and in fact like to do it to make a bit extra.

I keep stocks that I believe in holding long term. That does not mean that I expect them to keep on going up and up out of sight. So, in the last few years I have been selling out-of-the-money covered call options on some stocks that I think are overbought. I also sell out-of-the-money put options on unloved stocks.

The money obtained from this option activity is not enough to make me rich, but adds another 1% to my annual return.