Vanguard User Interface

[dallas27]

Anyone hold both business and personal accounts at vanguard?

I’ve held all my account at Tdameritrade for 20 years. I have been making use of the zero-commission vanguard etf until they just discontinued that program this winter.

So.... I started moving accounts to vanguard proper, and hitting two problems....

1 - apparently, I am told there is no way I would be able to log in with one account and see the cumulative balance of all accounts for myself and my wife simultaneously.

2 - I am told vanguard does not permit holding vanguard etfs in their 401k account, so I will be forced to liquidate my etfs.

Can anyone comment on either of these situations, and how you dealt with them?

 

[Gumby]

As far as I know, I have to log in twice (once under my ID, once under hers) to see accounts that aren't jointly held. I just jot down the numbers and add them by hand if I want the total.

 

[USGrant1962]

1 - apparently, I am told there is no way I would be able to log in with one account and see the cumulative balance of all accounts for myself and my wife simultaneously.

That's odd. When I log in I've always been able to see my wife's IRAs, even though they have different logins. I don't recall doing anything special to set that up, but I've been with Vanguard for a long time so maybe I forgot.

Also my DM recently granted me "limited authority" to monitor her accounts, and if I'm not careful with the account overview screen it adds her money to mine and DWs. I need to set up "Customize this Page" to prevent it.

At a minimum you should be able to have your wife grant limited authority to view her accounts on your account overview screen. It is under "Account Maintenance".

 

[Whisper66]

Anyone hold both business and personal accounts at vanguard?
- I do not. Only have personal accounts.

I am told there is no way I would be able to log in with one account and see the cumulative balance of all accounts for myself and my wife simultaneously.
- I believe that is incorrect unless it is something specific to a 401k account. I have several accounts including ones that are my own (ROTH and IRA) and ones that are joint with wife (Brokerage). I see and act on all with my one login. In addition, my wife's Roth account is a separate account accessed with a different user ID and login. We filled out forms that allow her account to be seen whenever I look at my account.... so her account all shows up on the same list as if it were one account with mine. When we filled out the forms, we left it where any changes to her account needed to be done from within her own login .... but even that could be changed if desired by the forms. I think the forms came from here... https://personal.vanguard.com/us/litfulfillment/ELFMainResults?cat=MAFM&subCat1=GACC&subCat2=GRET

I am told vanguard does not permit holding vanguard etfs in their 401k account, so I will be forced to liquidate my etfs.
- sorry, no idea on that one, my 401k is still with my employer.

 

[meierlde]

Anyone hold both business and personal accounts at vanguard?

I’ve held all my account at Tdameritrade for 20 years. I have been making use of the zero-commission vanguard etf until they just discontinued that program this winter.

So.... I started moving accounts to vanguard proper, and hitting two problems....

1 - apparently, I am told there is no way I would be able to log in with one account and see the cumulative balance of all accounts for myself and my wife simultaneously.

2 - I am told vanguard does not permit holding vanguard etfs in their 401k account, so I will be forced to liquidate my etfs.

Can anyone comment on either of these situations, and how you dealt with them?

If you indeed meant 401k then it is the plan sponsor not Vanguard that sets the rules. IN a vanguard IRA you can. For example before I rolled the 401k over you could only invest in vanguard MFs in the brokerage option. Also if you wanted to sell company stock you had to get the order in by 1 pm eastern time. Those where the plan sponsors rules not Vanguards.

 

[dallas27]

If you indeed meant 401k then it is the plan sponsor not Vanguard that sets the rules. IN a vanguard IRA you can. For example before I rolled the 401k over you could only invest in vanguard MFs in the brokerage option. Also if you wanted to sell company stock you had to get the order in by 1 pm eastern time. Those where the plan sponsors rules not Vanguards.

Their small business advisor told me flat out vanguard does not permit vanguard etfs in their 401k agreements, so if i set up a business plan with them, i have to liquidate etfs to transfer accounts.

 

[harley]

I don't know about the VG Business accounts, but I have access to both my and DW's accounts through a single login. I had to fill out a form and she had to sign off on it in order to make it happen. Once that was done there has been no problem.

 

[MissMolly]

I have both personal and business accounts at Vanguard. My husband has personal accounts. We have some joint personal accounts. I can see ALL of them under my single personal account login. We both have IRA's, 401K's, taxable accounts and he has an SEP. I can move money into/out of all our personal accounts (his/mine/ours) under my personal login. I have authorization on his accounts. However, I cannot make any transactions of any sort in my business account while logged into the personal login. I have to login under my Small Business login to do any transactions on my Individual 401K. Does that help?

 

[dallas27]

Thanks all, very helpful, more so than talking to the phone agents.

1 more question, if i may. To qualify for the various customer levels like flagship, etc. is that per account, per social security number, or can my spouse and I combine all our accounts ?

 

[Texas Proud]

I agree with others that you can look as long as they are regular or IRAs.... like others I have no 401(k)s so do not know...

Since I set them up I can see my kids 529s also...


I do not see my son's IRA but he never gave me permission to do so and I do not want it...

 

[MissMolly]

Thanks all, very helpful, more so than talking to the phone agents.

1 more question, if i may. To qualify for the various customer levels like flagship, etc. is that per account, per social security number, or can my spouse and I combine all our accounts ?

Eligibility is based on total household assets held at Vanguard, with a minimum $1 million to qualify for Vanguard Flagship Services®. We determine eligibility by aggregating assets of all qualifying accounts held by you and your immediate family members who reside at the same address.

 

[pb4uski]

.... At a minimum you should be able to have your wife grant limited authority to view her accounts on your account overview screen. It is under "Account Maintenance".

+1 it works for me.

 

[ocean view]

DH had to grant full access rights to me, the form required a notarized signature, but now I can do whatever needs to be done (trade, move $$, etc) from one login.

Flagship status requires $1M invested in Vanguard funds (per household), not just $1M+ balance held in the accounts.

 

[upset264]

Per Vanguard website, assets that count toward Flagship:
Assets that qualify

• Vanguard mutual funds.
• Vanguard ETFs®.
• Certain annuities through Vanguard.
• The Vanguard 529 Plan.
• Certain small-business accounts.

 

[donheff]

You can't just ask to see another account, the other account holder has to authorize you to do so. Sounds like a catch-22 when you own both accounts. Maybe you need to call in twice.

 

[DatumPoint5]

My wife and I called Vanguard and asked the representative to make my wife's accounts visible and controllable by me, and my accounts visible and controllable by her. We put our phone on "conference" mode so that all three of us could hear and talk to each other. Total time on phone was about 15 minutes.

She has her own login credentials, and I have mine. Completely independent and different.

I can see and manipulate all of our accounts. She can do the same. We did this about 1.5 years ago and have never had a problem......

 

[VanWinkle]

My wife and I called Vanguard and asked the representative to make my wife's accounts visible and controllable by me, and my accounts visible and controllable by her. We put our phone on "conference" mode so that all three of us could hear and talk to each other. Total time on phone was about 15 minutes.

She has her own login credentials, and I have mine. Completely independent and different.

I can see and manipulate all of our accounts. She can do the same. We did this about 1.5 years ago and have never had a problem......

+1 I did the same thing about 3 years ago and it works perfect. You can actually do it online as well. You just have to log into her account and give permission to you to handle transactions in her behalf.

 

[Helen]

+1 I did the same thing about 3 years ago and it works perfect. You can actually do it online as well. You just have to log into her account and give permission to you to handle transactions in her behalf.

This is what I did as well. It is one of the easier procedures to do at Vanguard. It is more cumbersome at Fidelity to do the same thing.

 

[pb4uski]

+1 I did the same thing about 3 years ago and it works perfect. You can actually do it online as well. You just have to log into her account and give permission to you to handle transactions in her behalf.

I have been annoyed for years at having to do his and her log ins to check in on things... so I did what you described last night... all online and it took 5 minutes... now all our accounts are shown on a single screen.

 

[Brat]

Per Vanguard website, assets that count toward Flagship:
Assets that qualify

• Vanguard mutual funds.
• Vanguard ETFs®.
• Certain annuities through Vanguard.
• The Vanguard 529 Plan.
• Certain small-business accounts.

Now that you mention that, our 529s for grandchildren are in the Utah program (my state does not offer a program worth investing in). Monitoring those investments - which are in Vanguard funds - is a pain and they take a nibble each month. Would moving them to Vanguard be better?

 

[meierlde]

Now that you mention that, our 529s for grandchildren are in the Utah program (my state does not offer a program worth investing in). Monitoring those investments - which are in Vanguard funds - is a pain and they take a nibble each month. Would moving them to Vanguard be better?

Since you already would likley be paying state income tax if your state has on on 529 plans switching to Vanguards Nevada based plan seems simple. I have a new born grand niece and intend to put a little into the vanguard total stock market fund for her (min to open at vanguard is 3k)

 

[Sunset]

Their small business advisor told me flat out vanguard does not permit vanguard etfs in their 401k agreements, so if i set up a business plan with them, i have to liquidate etfs to transfer accounts.

I have a self-401K , and yes I only hold vangaurd mutual funds in them, not etf's. However the cost is as cheap or nearly as cheap as etf's so I it doesn't matter to me.

 

[Sunset]

Anyone hold both business and personal accounts at vanguard?

......

So.... I started moving accounts to vanguard proper, and hitting two problems....

1 - apparently, I am told there is no way I would be able to log in with one account and see the cumulative balance of all accounts for myself and my wife simultaneously.

.....

As folks have said, you can view other people's accounts if they authorize it.

Plus I can see my 401K accounts (regular and roth) in my Vanguard personal account, but it's only for viewing. To do actions I have to log into the business account.

 

[CoolRich59]

I don't know about the VG Business accounts, but I have access to both my and DW's accounts through a single login. I had to fill out a form and she had to sign off on it in order to make it happen. Once that was done there has been no problem.

This. We just transferred our accounts to Vanguard this past November. In order to see my wife's accounts, she had to complete some form (a power of atty IIRC), have it witnessed and notarized.

That was kind of a pain, but once it was done and mailed to Vanguard, when I logged on a couple of days later all our accounts were visible.

 

[ocean view]

I’m hearing some people say they are able to gain access to the spouse’s accounts through a very simple online form and others needing notarized POA (myself included) and wondering why the difference. For those who were able to do the simple method, were any of your accounts trust accounts?

We each had IRAs and then our trust account, for which we are both trustees.

Just trying to understand the different requirements.