Question about fees

[smooch]

I notified my financial advisor that I am moving funds to Vanguard. The response was:

"you will pay "transfer out" fees & will also pay fees at Vanguard outside of your 403B that are comparable to your fees here..."

Before I ask her, does anybody know what "transfer out" fees would be and what other fees at Vanguard I should be aware of? I am going on a compatison of the Expense Ratios for the VG funds as opposed to those at ML. Thanks.

 

[LOL!]

Some mutual funds have a "contingent deferred sales charge" or CDSC which is sometimes called a backend load.

Many brokerage accounts have a "account closure" fee.

Many 403(b)s are in annuities and these often have early surrender charges.
http://www.iii.org/individuals/annuities/buying/surrender/?printerfriendly=yes

We've never been charged a fee at Vanguard that I am aware of, but we are well over any minimums needed to avoid fees in IRAs.  Vanguard has a fee schedule on their web site for IRAs: http://flagship3.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/content/AccountServ/Retirement/ATSTradIRAAcctFeesContent.jsp

The transfer out fee could simply be a wire transfer fee. Make sure you pay it once and not for each individual account. I think even Vanguard charges for wire transfers. I guess you could get a check and it should cost less, but who knows?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Most 403b's charge a percentage of assets to take your money out. In other words, we cant overcharge you for poor fund offerings anymore, so we're going to make sure we can get a little more skin off of you before you go.

The rollover to vanguard, if over the fund minimums, usually $3000, has no "other" costs outside of the very low expense fees listed on each fund.

When my wife leaves her job, I will roll her 403b out of the Lincoln account its in now directly to vanguard without hesitation. Even if it costs me as much as 5% of assets to do it.

 

[WanderALot]

Before I ask her, does anybody know what "transfer out" fees would be and what other fees at Vanguard I should be aware of? I am going on a compatison of the Expense Ratios for the VG funds as opposed to those at ML. Thanks.

Vanguard does charge $15/year "custodial fee" for each fund in the 403(b). This is in addition to any Low Balance fees (if the fund has less than $2500??) and Index fund account maintenance fee (if the fund has less than $10k in it). The fees can quickly add up if you have a small 403(b) or many funds with low balances.