digger1959
Dryer sheet wannabe
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2013
- Messages
- 16
Good day,
Some background...My husband & I retired early in 2012 at 54 and 52 respectively and we have been clients of Merrill Lynch for over 25 years. I have been wanting to ditch ML for quite some time and my husband has finally agreed. Neither one of us are particularly skilled or interested in investing which is probably why we have stayed with ML so long. I keep track of all of the finances, still work a bit 1/2 to 1/4 part time and am a volunteer certified tax preparer.
We currently have a couple of 401Ks managed by Fidelity and although, it seems that I would probably have to open a new account, I thought going with Fidelity might simplify matters. I use the ML bill pay and it looks like the Fidelity bill pay is very similar.
With ML we have two IRAs (one for him and one for me), a taxable investment account and a checking account. So for the IRAs, I just roll them over and then I am thinking about using the Fidelity Go robo-advisor service for them. For the taxable investment account, it looks like all of the holdings are common ones that I can transfer directly to Fidelity so I can keep those in what they are in for now.
Questions:
1) Can anyone comment on experience with making this kind of move? Are you happy that you did? Do you feel like you are making as much (or more) money without the advisor fees (we don't pay for trades)?
2)Does anyone have Fidelity Go and can comment on it?
3) Do anyone use the Fidelity bill pay? Can you have bills sent directly to them and receive alerts/notifications?
4) Am I correct about transferring my holdings over from ML to Fidelity? I am thinking of doing that so I won't have to pay capital gains tax this year. Do you think that is the right move or should I just go ahead and sell all this and let Fidelity Go manage it as well? I see that they want to start with cash and not holdings.
Sorry this is so long but I would appreciate any insight/advice that you can provide.
Some background...My husband & I retired early in 2012 at 54 and 52 respectively and we have been clients of Merrill Lynch for over 25 years. I have been wanting to ditch ML for quite some time and my husband has finally agreed. Neither one of us are particularly skilled or interested in investing which is probably why we have stayed with ML so long. I keep track of all of the finances, still work a bit 1/2 to 1/4 part time and am a volunteer certified tax preparer.
We currently have a couple of 401Ks managed by Fidelity and although, it seems that I would probably have to open a new account, I thought going with Fidelity might simplify matters. I use the ML bill pay and it looks like the Fidelity bill pay is very similar.
With ML we have two IRAs (one for him and one for me), a taxable investment account and a checking account. So for the IRAs, I just roll them over and then I am thinking about using the Fidelity Go robo-advisor service for them. For the taxable investment account, it looks like all of the holdings are common ones that I can transfer directly to Fidelity so I can keep those in what they are in for now.
Questions:
1) Can anyone comment on experience with making this kind of move? Are you happy that you did? Do you feel like you are making as much (or more) money without the advisor fees (we don't pay for trades)?
2)Does anyone have Fidelity Go and can comment on it?
3) Do anyone use the Fidelity bill pay? Can you have bills sent directly to them and receive alerts/notifications?
4) Am I correct about transferring my holdings over from ML to Fidelity? I am thinking of doing that so I won't have to pay capital gains tax this year. Do you think that is the right move or should I just go ahead and sell all this and let Fidelity Go manage it as well? I see that they want to start with cash and not holdings.
Sorry this is so long but I would appreciate any insight/advice that you can provide.