Am I Thinking Correctly? [Moving from Edward Jones to TD Ameritrade] (2024)

I've been reading this forum for awhile. I believe it has come time to make a change. My wife and I started with Edward Jones many years ago because they were the vendor for our school where we taught. In order to get the school's 403b match, we had to put money in. Long story short, we now have right at $500,000 with Edward Jones. After reading about all the fees and tricks used there and the information gained here, I believe I have talked my wife into a change of scenery. These investments are in separate accounts for each of us. We each have our own traditional IRA accounts, our own Roth accounts, and jointly own some individual stocks. The mutual funds in the traditional and Roth IRAs are all in various American Funds. We are both 49 and plan to work at least 6 more years before being eligible for retirement. Having at least 6 years of income, I think there is still time for more investing. Now for questions.

1. We have a TD Ameritrade account and have bought some individual stocks. Is this an OK platform to move these and to create a 3 fund portfolio? Or should we use a broker?

2. If we transfer our accounts to TD Ameritrade, I believe we would call TD and someone would walk us through the transfer process. TD Ameritrade does not sell the funds we have at Edward Jones, will these have to be sold before they transfer or after? And, will there be transaction fees/commissions to move?

3. Since these are in IRA and Roth accounts, do these accounts transfer as such and continue?

Thank you in advance for advice and let me know if I need to add more information or am not clear.

Jonesy

1. TD is a perfectly fine broker.

2. Yes, they will walk you through. The standard is that the receiving broker runs the process. Account types remain the sane. i.e. IRA to IRA. Brokers can charge to liquidate mutual funds sadly.

3. Using a broker is up to you. The point of bogleheads is that you can do it yourself and save the brokerage fees. I mostly agree with this. Some people need their hand held. Others have complex problems. These are legitimate cases where a advisor might earn their fees.

I have been a TDAmeritrade client for decades. They will be fine for what you intend to do. Good luck!

I have been a Vanguard client for longer than I have been a TDAmeritrade client.

jebmke wrote: ↑Fri Feb 04, 2022 1:07 pmI thought TD Ameritrade is a broker.

There are discount brokers. The brokerage account is self directed. TD falls here.

There are full service brokers. Here you have a personal advisor who directs the account. EJ falls here.

Yes TDAmeritrade is good low cost brokerage company to use to hold your investments. They can handle all kinds of accounts (IRA, Roth IRA, Standard brokerage account, etc..) and you can buy and sell ETFs and single stocks and mutual funds in them. I am not sure if they will handle American mutual funds. Ask TDA. I have multiple accounts there and like the service and website. BUT beware that TDA has been bought by Schwab and will merge operations soon. This merger of people and facilities will take place in 2022 and 2023.

I am not sure if you can move your IRAs to TDA. I suspect your work accounts are actually 401K accounts, not IRAs. And moving a 401K to a different brokerage is usually a rollover transaction that becomes a IRA account. This is normally only done when your retire or leave the company. You need to ask your employer 401K provider who handles the retirement stuff if this is possible before your retire. There are lots of laws and rules applying to these types of accounts.

Good Luck.

btenny wrote: ↑Fri Feb 04, 2022 1:46 pmYes TDAmeritrade is good low cost brokerage company to use to hold your investments. They can handle all kinds of accounts (IRA, Roth IRA, Standard brokerage account, etc..) and you can buy and sell ETFs and single stocks and mutual funds in them. I am not sure if they will handle American mutual funds. Ask TDA. I have multiple accounts there and like the service and website. BUT beware that TDA has been bought by Schwab and will merge operations soon. This merger of people and facilities will take place in 2022 and 2023.

I am not sure if you can move your IRAs to TDA. I suspect your work accounts are actually 401K accounts, not IRAs. And moving a 401K to a different brokerage is usually a rollover transaction that becomes a IRA account. This is normally only done when your retire or leave the company. You need to ask your employer 401K provider who handles the retirement stuff if this is possible before your retire. There are lots of laws and rules applying to these types of accounts.

Good Luck.

And not just laws. The plans themselves can be more restrictive than the law allows. E.g. not accepting roll overs at all.

TD is a good brokerage. Keep in mind next year around April all TD accounts merge with Charles Schwab.

They are moving some of the TD tools over like think or swim, but the interface will be Schwab’s.

btenny wrote: ↑Fri Feb 04, 2022 1:46 pmYes TDAmeritrade is good low cost brokerage company to use to hold your investments. They can handle all kinds of accounts (IRA, Roth IRA, Standard brokerage account, etc..) and you can buy and sell ETFs and single stocks and mutual funds in them. I am not sure if they will handle American mutual funds. Ask TDA. I have multiple accounts there and like the service and website. BUT beware that TDA has been bought by Schwab and will merge operations soon. This merger of people and facilities will take place in 2022 and 2023.

I am not sure if you can move your IRAs to TDA. I suspect your work accounts are actually 401K accounts, not IRAs. And moving a 401K to a different brokerage is usually a rollover transaction that becomes a IRA account. This is normally only done when your retire or leave the company. You need to ask your employer 401K provider who handles the retirement stuff if this is possible before your retire. There are lots of laws and rules applying to these types of accounts.

Good Luck.

I just pulled out a statement and it says, "Traditional Individual Retirement Account," in our Edward Jones accounts.

We also have 403Bs through our current employer. Horace Mann is the vendor for these accounts.

Is there concern with TDA being bought by Schwab?

In short, most likely will be moved no problem. For each type of IRA (Roth - traditional - brokerage) you will have a separate account for TD but can link the login so you can see all from 1 account. You likely have a local TD office not to far from you which you can also talk to someone which can help you in your process. Even after leaving TD I still maintain good relations and contact with my local account rep which they generally make any process easier and are super knowledgeable about all the nuts and bolts.

403b can generally roll over easily into traditional IRAs, however really you just need to sit down and read your plan terms and understand any process nuances.

The Schwab piece is in the eye of the beholder. Some folks don’t like them, some love them, ultimately I’ve had them and never had a bad word to say about them and they blow away Vanguard and Interactive Brokers customer service and general experience. I recently consolidated all my accounts to Vanguard, however if I were to have a do over, likely would not have done that and would have just went with Schwab.