Best Merrill Lynch Edge Money Market?

[imbatman]

Merrill doesn't provide default sweep money market investments for free cash like some other brokers and instead has a list of money market mutual funds you can choose from and manually buy/ sell. None have short term trading fees and earn interest daily, most have $1K initial minimums..........but the rest (even basics like expense ratio) they don't fully summarize so have to review one at a time individually.

Merrill Rate Sheet Link

I read on Bogle and general find these two mentioned the most with the following comments:

• TMCXX (.18exp; 4.64% yield) for the highest yield but others say it could impose liquidity gates, has a floating NAV, and clears next day
• TOIXX (0.20 exp; 4.43% yield) for basically NOT having the above downsides

Anyone done this review and choose something else?

 

[audreyh1]

Those are both decent yields and the small difference in yield not worth bothering over.

 

[Badger]

We are not a fan of Merrill Lynch. Years ago Merrill was the only place for my wife to open a 403b. They wanted her to allow them to handle her money to buy and sell MFs and move it from one loaded fund to another as they saw fit. Those they initially wanted her to open were also funds with loads. Sounded too much like churning to me. So she put her money in a money market account and every few months moved it to a no-load Vanguard account.
I wonder how many other teachers have been faced with the same business practice.

Cheers!

 

[PlaysWithCars]

When MM rates started moving up, I realized Merrill wasn't paying me anything at all for my money too, so I moved it to FSIXX, which is on the list you provided. It takes a day to move it out and back into cash so you can deploy it, so it is one more step you have to take before you can get into another investment. For me, that does limit some opportunities, but it is only a single day delay to get your money to an investable state.

 

[ctbktb]

Merrill doesn't provide default sweep money market investments for free cash like some other brokers and instead has a list of money market mutual funds you can choose from and manually buy/ sell. None have short term trading fees and earn interest daily, most have $1K initial minimums..........but the rest (even basics like expense ratio) they don't fully summarize so have to review one at a time individually.

Merrill Rate Sheet Link

I read on Bogle and general find these two mentioned the most with the following comments:

• TMCXX (.18exp; 4.64% yield) for the highest yield but others say it could impose liquidity gates, has a floating NAV, and clears next day
• TOIXX (0.20 exp; 4.43% yield) for basically NOT having the above downsides

Anyone done this review and choose something else?

Good morning, Batman

I fight for every basis point... and I put our money in TMCXX. They are the first in that list to move rates and they are consistently the highest yielder. Right behind them is Federated Hermes PVOXX. They lag TMCXX by a few days and maybe a basis point or two (and as of today, 3 basis points!).

Be well,

ctbktb

 

[Golden sunsets]

We use TMCXX in our ME account. It does require an initial $100,000 investment but the money can be moved out the next day and as long as a $1 remains in the account it will be available as a cash account to hold liquid funds. It is not a sweep account though.

 

[imbatman]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, yes now that there are real meaningful interest rates, I have been very frustrated with ML for removing the sweep back in 2018 and am slowly transitioning my business elsewhere. Not only is the lack of default interest earning costly to me, but even using these manual methods still ties up my money for an extra day and makes me less nimble on big market move days.

I did call them multiple times to talk to "premium support" and it doesn't sound like this will be changing in the near future. This is now a meaningful money maker for them as sure most people can't be bothered with manual buy/ selling of free cash.

 

[Healthy Lifestyle]

I read on Bogle and general find these two mentioned the most with the following comments:

• TMCXX (.18exp; 4.64% yield) for the highest yield but others say it could impose liquidity gates, has a floating NAV, and clears next day
• TOIXX (0.20 exp; 4.43% yield) for basically NOT having the above downsides

Anyone done this review and choose something else?[/QUOTE]


Any concerns with the added restrictions or safety of TMCXX?

I have been looking to place six figures or so, and see that TOIXX is positioned in Treasuries which maybe safer to hold cash but slightly lower yield?

Federated Hermes Treasury Obligations Fund --- Institutional Class5, 6, ** TOIXX 4.43%

 

[Another Reader]

I have cash in B of A earning zilch. It's an account I set up years ago because the branch was nearby. The minimum to avoid fees was substantial, so I considered the minimal amount an emergency fund. I actually used the account to transfer money to an out of state contractor back in 2008, when it wasn't clear whether the banks were going to open the next business day because of the various financial company failures.

I shrugged at the tiny interest rate until recently. Seeing I could put the money in ME and have it count towards the B of A minimum balance, I thought about doing that. However, the minimum at B of A for this account has been dropped to $10,000. Based on the comments here, I'm better off transferring everything over that to one of the brokerages I use and trust than putting it at ME.

 

[imbatman]

I will add one more learning I had today since going through this myself. I manually added to an existing MM fund investment yesterday at 2PM thinking they would clear because on the Fund Management site, they list a 5PM cutoff time.

Of course, Merrill Lynch doesn't follow those times and has a completely different schedule much earlier in the day, in my case 1:45PM. You can find a little more information on these options, including the custom Merrill cutoff times, under Research/ Mutual Funds/ Cash Management Solutions.

Can't wait until I get all my money away from these guys, this level of fiddling is a huge waste of time when everyone else uses sweeps (and this company CHOSE to disable it in order to earn my interest themselves).

 

[SpinDr]

We are not a fan of Merrill Lynch. Years ago Merrill was the only place for my wife to open a 403b. They wanted her to allow them to handle her money to buy and sell MFs and move it from one loaded fund to another as they saw fit. Those they initially wanted her to open were also funds with loads. Sounded too much like churning to me. So she put her money in a money market account and every few months moved it to a no-load Vanguard account.
I wonder how many other teachers have been faced with the same business practice.

Cheers!

Saw something very similar with my wife. She was a school teacher and was required to work through a 3rd party administrator to invest in their 403b. The administrator was very deceptive and tried to steer her to their house funds with high fees and loads. It was only after pressing them hard did they acknowledge that we could utilize Voya to choose from a wide variety of Vanguard and other funds.

I spoke to the school district about our experience which fell on deaf ears. I always wonder what percentage of new teachers, without much money experience, just went with what was suggested. My guess is a high percentage.

 

[Badger]

Saw something very similar with my wife. She was a school teacher and was required to work through a 3rd party administrator to invest in their 403b. The administrator was very deceptive and tried to steer her to their house funds with high fees and loads. It was only after pressing them hard did they acknowledge that we could utilize Voya to choose from a wide variety of Vanguard and other funds.

I spoke to the school district about our experience which fell on deaf ears. I always wonder what percentage of new teachers, without much money experience, just went with what was suggested. My guess is a high percentage.

I believe you are correct. The large city where my wife taught is a good example. The great majority of teachers don't realize they are being ripped off. The only reason I went with ML is because the 19 other investment options for her 403b were insurance companies with annuities. I even went to the teachers union to explain how the investment options could be much better and how the choices they gave the teachers were hurting their retirement plans but the president of the teachers union refused to talk to me. I have a sneaky suspicion there was some behind the scenes back scratching.

Cheers!

 

[Healthy Lifestyle]

Well I am a new Merrill Edge IRA holder where I just moved a large six figure cash amount into their fix income options. There I found that I could move and position this cash around easily.

I would of preferred Vanguard where I do have assets, but had to settle for ME at this time.

 

[imbatman]

I am using TOIXX right as it clears same day if you transact by 2PM.

So since we have to manually "sweep" these funds for purchases, do you guys sell the portions you need on the actual settlement day of your purchases or do you sell some time period prior?

 

[xlf11]

Another option is to use floating T note ETF like TFLO (30d yield of 4.88%) or USFR in real time trading with similar return compared with MM and use MM for small change.


https://www.ishares.com/us/products/260652/ishares-treasury-floating-rate-bond-etf