Advice on Transferring Out of Edward Jones (2024)

I am a newbie to this forum, and am wanting to transfer out of Edward Jones and any advice/guidance you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I am considering moving funds from my Edward Jones account to either Vanguard or Fidelity. The problem is, I had them rebalance my portfolio in order to harvest tax losses back in April when the market was down, and liquidating all of my assets ($218k in advisory account) would cancel that out. Additionally, since it was rebalanced less than a year ago, I would have to pay short term capital gains on all of it. I have heard mixed things about whether you can transfer the funds in your advisory account in kind to Vanguard or Fidelity and would love to have any feedback on that or any other fees I would be charged or advice you may have. I included the details on my investments below. Thank you so much and have a great day!

Emergency funds: Three months of expenses

Debt: Mortgage on primary residence, and on a rental property-in process of refinancing

Tax Filing Status: (Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, Head of Household, Qualifying Widow/Widower with Dependent Children)

Tax Rate: 22% (marginal)

State of Residence: Tennessee

Age:35
Current Accounts Held at Edward Jones:
$66k Amazon stock
$50k traditional IRA
$60k Roth IRA #1
$34k Roth IRA #2
$41k 529 College Plan
$219k Advisory (Taxable account) made of:

EFAISHARES MSCI EAFE ETF
SCZISHARES MSCI EAFE SMALL CAP ET
EFVISHARES MSCI EAFE VALUE ETF
OEFISHARES S&P 100 ETF
VEUVANGRD FTSE ALL-WRLD EXUS ETF
VUGVANGUARD GROWTH ETF
VOVANGUARD MID CAP ETF
VBKVANGUARD SMALL CAP GROWTH ETF
VBRVANGUARD SMALL CAP VALUE ETF
VTVVANGUARD VALUE ETF
BBMUXBRIDGE BUILDER MUNICIPAL BOND
JFMXXJPM FEDERAL MONEY MARKET I

Current Assets (Outside of Edward Jones):
My Roth 401k: $51k
Spouse’s Traditional 401k: $41k
Private Equity Investment: $375k

Annual Contributions:
We max out both of our annual IRA contributions (19k goes to roth, 19k goes to traditional)

Welcome to the forum!

First, one should always work with the brokerage house receiving the transfer. They will have the incentive to make sure things will go smoothly.

You don't indicate how much of which funds you hold, but most of what you have are ETF type funds which will transfer "in -kind" (that means that the holdings are transferred without any selling). Vanguard or Fidelity will be glad to work with you to transfer the funds, the only one I see that may be a question is BBMUX, it may need to be sold. Take a look at the basis for this fund to see the amount of capital gains you owe - I suspect that it will be low because a muni bond fund pays out most of the returns as interest.

Anything that needs to be sold inside the tIRA or Roths can be sold without any tax implications. Again, talk with the brokerage you have selected to receive the transfer, they will be glad to help (they want your business).

Recent EJ refugee here.

You WILL be hit with a $95 account closure fee. This fee is per account.

Before you do anything else, download every EJ statement you can find before you initiate a transfer. If memory serves, you can also download your cost basis info in Excel format. Once the receiving firm starts the transfer, EJ will lock you out of online access, and only communicate with you via U.S. Mail. I won't say that EJ would "willingly" withhold any of your account information after the transfer request is submitted. But they would not have any motivation to help you escape their clutches.

I didn't even say anything to our EJ rep. I just grabbed all my data, submitted the paperwork, and ran.

The holdings you list are very similar to what I had. I may have had one or two funds liquidated before transfer, but it was worth it to get free of the fees that were eating us alive. Capital gains is always going to nail us, but junk fees cost even more over the long term.

Personally, I set up shop with Vanguard. But as others on this forum will tell you, Fidelity and Schwab are other good alternatives.

If you feel nervous or hesitant about leaving Edward Jones, sit down and take the time to read this:

https://kronstantinople.blogspot.com/p/ ... -saga.html

It's an eye-opener.

You do not have to sell the holdings - many or maybe all can be transferred "in kind". Not familiar with the last 2 on the list - you might have to sell those.

EJ will charge account closing fees for the 3 IRAs for sure and possibly for the other accounts as well. Just pay it and move on. It is the cost of your financial education and will will soon break even with that by getting out from under the AUM fee.

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