pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Yup, I'm sure they will. Time to grow a pair. [emoji16]
Yup, I'm sure they will. Time to grow a pair. [emoji16]
My FA at EJ is going to pressure me to stay.
My FA at EJ is going to pressure me to stay.
Should I tell my FA about this group and what the users suggested?
My FA at EJ is going to pressure me to stay.
+1000I smell a troll.
No need for this and it's actually counterproductive. Vanguard will let them know. Sending an email just lengthens the time that Fast Eddie has to hassle the soon-to-be-ex-customer.... Just send an e-mail something like:
"Be advised I am using Vanguard going forward and have filled out papers with them requesting my funds be transferred from you to account XXXX. Please liquidate funds that cannot be transferred and work with them to ensure the transition goes smoothly"
Sincerely,
F.I.R.E User"
I smell a troll.
No need for this and it's actually counterproductive. Vanguard will let them know. Sending an email just lengthens the time that Fast Eddie has to hassle the soon-to-be-ex-customer.
Incidentally, I don't think it has been mentioned but VG would probably be willing to reimburse all of Fast Eddy's fees.
Indubitably. Question: Why do you care?
When I dumped my regional broker I never even spoke to them. I called Fido and gave them the regional broker’s contact info and my account number. They filled out the forms which I signed and Fido took care of everything (transfer in kind in this case). When the regional outfit hit me with a transfer fee Fido reimbursed it.
Edit: I was actually a bit disappointed they didn’t even call me to fight for my business. Good riddance.
Coming in very late to this thread...but in answer to this question:
Only if you want to listen to someone demonstrate that they don't actually understand investing (at best) or show that they will straight up lie to bring home their pay check (at worst).
A personal perspective:
About 18 months ago I pried my Mom out of the clutches of a Morgan Stanley FA. What a crook.
He had her in 23 different managed funds. He fought providing me data at every step of the process, but from my research reading her annuity contract and investigating the funds inside the annuity/other funds, my Mom was eating $5000 in fees on a $160k portfolio...3% or so.
His last move was pressuring an 86 year older person to take on a new annuity with a 7 year surrender period. He was also trying to get her to buy into mutual fund that used hedging techniques. Seriously. Fortunately I was able to dive on those grenades before they went off.
When I told him to put her assets into a low cost, index funds, he attacked me in an email, copying my mom, and tried to roll out his "20 years of experience" (bilking un-informed investors). He finally sent me a CYA letter saying that his investment choices were "appropriate based on the client's expressed desires for the future uses of the funds." He then told me to f-off and take the money elsewhere.
Its sitting safely at Schwab now, conservatively deployed, and paying about 0.2% in fees. If Mom needs a nursing home, all I have to do is click "sell."
OP: As many others have said, you should read up and learn more about the basics of investing. If it were me, I would then move the funds from EJ to a Schwab/Fido/Vanguard, and probably pay them a one-time fee to build a simple financial plan. But if all you did was move it to a low cost brokerage and put the money into a target date or balanced fund, I suspect you would come out way ahead of where you are now. Good luck.
Well yes, you and others that fell into his trap are his meal ticket. He will tell you a hundred different reasons you should stay, but he will be lying, he wants you to stay so he can suck your financial blood. Never engage these folks with reasons or explanations, they are professional manipulators and can make you doubt your own name. Just give them simple, written directions.
You generally should set up an account at the new firm first. When I transferred funds into Vanguard, I set up an account and filled out a form downloaded from Vanguard with the company and account numbers I was transferring from and the Vanguard account I was transferring to, signed and mailed it back. After several days to a week (some of this was time in the mail), Vanguard contacted the old company and moved the money. One transaction got messed up as the old firm was playing games to make it hard and I had to keep calling and e-mailing them to get it back on track (took a month!, which completely coincidentally took them to the end of a quarter so they did not feel the need to refund fees).
If you have several types of accounts (taxable, your Roth, your traditional IRA, spouse Roth, spouse IRA), you will have to repeat the above process for each. For your taxable account, you can just have them put the money in your bank account and you move it later to your new firm, but I recommend you do this all at once while you are focused on it, so that it gets all done quickly.
Once you have filled out the information with the new company and sent it back in, then let EJ know to expect it and send them the account numbers to put the money in. Keep everything in e-mail, don't take any phone calls from them, only give instructions, no complaints about the past, reasons for what you are doing or anything else. After the money has arrived at the new firm, then you can tell your former what you think of him, but not until the money has moved, they will use the argument as a way to delay and try to turn you around.
Just send an e-mail something like:
"Be advised I am using Vanguard going forward and have filled out papers with them requesting my funds be transferred from you to account XXXX. Please liquidate funds that cannot be transferred and work with them to ensure the transition goes smoothly"
Sincerely,
F.I.R.E User"
No need for this and it's actually counterproductive. Vanguard will let them know. Sending an email just lengthens the time that Fast Eddie has to hassle the soon-to-be-ex-customer.
Incidentally, I don't think it has been mentioned but VG would probably be willing to reimburse all of Fast Eddy's fees.
I might add that Fidelity can likely do the job better, from my experience. Vanguard is good, but with no local offices all the paper work must be Medallion signature guarantied somewhere and snail mailed to them.
Fidelity is great for getting local support in office and they have much better on line tracing of the funds being moved. You can visit an office and they will fill out the forms and get it going for you simply and faster than even fast eddie can blink!
Also, I believe Fido can hold funds that VG may not so you may be able to transfer funds prior to liquidating. Something to ask FIDO.
I let my former FA know I was firing him like this after I had submitted the paperwork to VG. Since the papers were already in motion, thought it would help and figured it wouldn't hurt.
To brighten everyone's day, Advisor still managed to not liquidate anything and since the funds themselves couldn't be moved, all they sent to VG was a couple grand in cash. I had to squawk multiple times to get the process restarted. Each time, they would apologize and then do nothing. During those weeks that this game went on, the market went down some and their funds went down a lot more, meaning I lost tens of thousands in the whipsaw, while they got to finish the quarter holding my money without even a refund of fees.
So even though I'm doubting the intention of the OP to do anything, I hope he does move, to help strike a blow to put the leeches in the "advisor" industry out of business.
Who was your regional broker? Did you have a specific FA? What was the transfer fee? How long were you with that regional broker?
I have been with EJ since 2007.
Certifications are nice but mean little other than somebody passed a test. I've had CFPs try to annutize all my assets because "it would be good for me". No it would be good for them. Look around you'll see many people who aren't willing to do the right thing sell out their certification/license for money.I have been with them since 2007. My brother even longer. I don’t think he will move as he really loves his FA. I will move to Vanguard.
Also, do you think the certifications they hold matter in being a reputable FA?
I have been with them since 2007. My brother even longer. I don’t think he will move as he really loves his FA. I will move to Vanguard.
Also, do you think the certifications they hold matter in being a reputable FA?
I have been with them since 2007. My brother even longer. I don’t think he will move as he really loves his FA. I will move to Vanguard.
Also, do you think the certifications they hold matter in being a reputable FA?