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I can confirm that just calling and asking can reap benefits/rewards. My primary account has always been with Fidelity. I also had a smaller account at Scottrade (<$50K) that I didn't want to have merged with TD Ameritrade. I got 100 free trades ($495) for moving the funds to Fidelity after speaking with a Fidelity rep.
I've had the same experience with E*TRADE. I've rolled over or transferred 401Ks and IRAs several times over the last 5 or 6 years and every time I've asked they've offered me cash that matches the scale Maurice mentioned. IIRC there was one time they were advertising a promotion but the other cases I've just asked.
Do any of the brokers who pay finders fees also cover the closeout fee of the old broker? Or is it that they'll do one or the other (finder fee or closeout costs) but not both?
I just earned a thou from ML for transferring three retirement accounts from Fido, leaving one. The downside is unavailability of some funds, of course, but they did transfer ones they do not 'carry'.
I asked Fido beforehand about retention / stay incentives, esp as a 50y customer, and got zilch.
The good news, if you can call it that, it that they're not ignoring a 50 year customer. As far as they know, you've only been with them 25 years - their records only go back to the 90s.
This came up in a conversation I had with Fidelity today - the rep explained that she says "thank you for being a customer since at least 199x", because they can't tell if you've been with them longer than that.
Wait until Fidelity has another cash promotion and then do a partial transfer back from ML. They charge $50 for a full transfer, but nothing for a partial. https://www.merrilledge.com/pricing
All the $50 xfer fees were reimbursed by ML. Our 'benefit' total will be $1150 all told, plus the zero commissions thing for all ML trading, although I seldom do that.
Somewhere I have Fido paperwork from 1971 account, which I kept to show a rep at a center once, not that long ago. (Yawn, another geezer passing through.)
Yeah, I've wondered how the thou will be logged. I am a little more tax-sensitive in semiretirement than I used to be, since I've been following the Optimal Retirement Planner guru's deep looks at withdrawal strategies and taxes. Man, does Welch keep up. He may not be Kitces or Thomas, but what a free service he provides; unbelievable.
Fidelity Investments Up to $2,500 Cash Bonus Promotional Offer
Promotion Offer: New and existing Fidelity customers can earn from $200 up to $2,500 cash bonus from Fidelity Investments when they open and fund brokerage or IRA accounts within 60-days from the time of registration for the offer.
Hi Maurice...the bonus is minimal. I think I was quoted ~few hundreds bucks for one mill of equities stocks if tranfsferred over. Although I found Schwab probably give very good customer services at their firm and their induvidusl bonds/fees/costs provbavbly lowest in the business. I've compared bonds before and the finsl cost ~5 bucks less overall compared to other firms
blockquote class="Quote" rel="Maurice">@msf It has been a long time since I transferred an account from one broker to another. But this summer I explored such a transfer with Schwab. Visiting their brick and mortar store, I was verbally told that I would receive a cash bonus, but not before I inquired about it. I can't remember if there was an advertised deal, or if the account rep was just being accommodating. He also stated that Schwab would cover any charges incurred by me for transferring my accounts from Scottrade. I also had to inquire about the latter, because the account rep did not mention this in our discussion. I did not get these offers in writing, because I haven't yet committed to making the change. The key is that if you don't ask, you probably won't get these deals. This is one of those instances, where doing it all on the internet without talking to a human being, probably won't yield you the best deal.
How are these "cash" rewards accounted; as to tax. Does one receive a 1099 or other relative IRS form? Thank you.
Hi Catch. The best I ever did was $100 once for opening a free checking account at a bank. And I remember that I did have to pay taxes on that. Suspect these offers from brokerages are treated similarly.
“Many banking customers who opened a new bank or credit card account with a sign-up bonus offer will realize that they received Form 1099-INT for that amount of that bonus. If you jumped on the $100 cash bonus for opening a Chase checking account or the Discover More Card $100 cash back bonus, the bonuses are considered taxable interest income. If your bank has a referral program (e.g., Ally Bank) that pays you for completed referral sign-ups, the referral commission is also reported on Form 1099-INT.”
Yeah, I subsequently found some of that info, tnx, pretty much identical to the other way, into ML. I shoulda done more but wanted to keep a big slug in Fido. Maybe in 10 months I will do the reverse and see if I can hit $2500, depending on how the market does ... I doubt I will even if possible.
I rolled most of my TRP 401k over to an IRA at Schwab in 2014. I forget what Schwab's promotion gave me to do so, $1500-$2000 I think, and there were no taxes.
Receive.............Deposit or Transfer $200 .................$50,000 to $99,999 $300 .................$100,000 to $249,999 $600 .................$250,000 to $499,999 $1,000..............$500,000 to $999,999 $2,500..............$1,000,000+
Personally, those incentives (restated above) wouldn’t be enough to induce me to leave a competent manager who’s taken good care of me over the past 25+ years. I trust him. I understand his policies and procedures. He treats me well. And, I’m intimately familiar with many of his in-house funds.
Just $300 for tor transferring $200,000?
A 1% gain on that $200,000 would be worth $2,000. So you’re looking at the equivalent of something like an 0.15% profit for moving a significant sum of money. I’d think you could easily miss a 1% gain on that money during the time the transfer is in progress. And, if you presently have a manager who allows you to play a little fast & lose (with exchanges), it isn’t hard to grab a quick profit (far in excess of that meager payout) by trading in and out when opportunity arises.
Comments
I asked Fido beforehand about retention / stay incentives, esp as a 50y customer, and got zilch.
Thank you.
This came up in a conversation I had with Fidelity today - the rep explained that she says "thank you for being a customer since at least 199x", because they can't tell if you've been with them longer than that.
Wait until Fidelity has another cash promotion and then do a partial transfer back from ML. They charge $50 for a full transfer, but nothing for a partial.
https://www.merrilledge.com/pricing
>> Wait until Fidelity has another cash promotion
have not seen such; they have had?
All the $50 xfer fees were reimbursed by ML. Our 'benefit' total will be $1150 all told, plus the zero commissions thing for all ML trading, although I seldom do that.
Somewhere I have Fido paperwork from 1971 account, which I kept to show a rep at a center once, not that long ago. (Yawn, another geezer passing through.)
Yeah, I've wondered how the thou will be logged. I am a little more tax-sensitive in semiretirement than I used to be, since I've been following the Optimal Retirement Planner guru's deep looks at withdrawal strategies and taxes. Man, does Welch keep up. He may not be Kitces or Thomas, but what a free service he provides; unbelievable.
http://www.topratedfirms.com/brokers/promotions/fidelity-promotionoffers.aspx
Fidelity Investments Up to $2,500 Cash Bonus Promotional Offer
Promotion Offer: New and existing Fidelity customers can earn from $200 up to $2,500 cash bonus from Fidelity Investments when they open and fund brokerage or IRA accounts within 60-days from the time of registration for the offer.
blockquote class="Quote" rel="Maurice">@msf It has been a long time since I transferred an account from one broker to another. But this summer I explored such a transfer with Schwab. Visiting their brick and mortar store, I was verbally told that I would receive a cash bonus, but not before I inquired about it. I can't remember if there was an advertised deal, or if the account rep was just being accommodating. He also stated that Schwab would cover any charges incurred by me for transferring my accounts from Scottrade. I also had to inquire about the latter, because the account rep did not mention this in our discussion. I did not get these offers in writing, because I haven't yet committed to making the change. The key is that if you don't ask, you probably won't get these deals. This is one of those instances, where doing it all on the internet without talking to a human being, probably won't yield you the best deal.
“Many banking customers who opened a new bank or credit card account with a sign-up bonus offer will realize that they received Form 1099-INT for that amount of that bonus. If you jumped on the $100 cash bonus for opening a Chase checking account or the Discover More Card $100 cash back bonus, the bonuses are considered taxable interest income. If your bank has a referral program (e.g., Ally Bank) that pays you for completed referral sign-ups, the referral commission is also reported on Form 1099-INT.”
https://www.mybanktracker.com/news/taxes-reporting-income-interest
"It's Awesome to share!"
- Goovey Joe
https://i-orp.com/gamma/extended.html
$200 .................$50,000 to $99,999
$300 .................$100,000 to $249,999
$600 .................$250,000 to $499,999
$1,000..............$500,000 to $999,999
$2,500..............$1,000,000+
Personally, those incentives (restated above) wouldn’t be enough to induce me to leave a competent manager who’s taken good care of me over the past 25+ years. I trust him. I understand his policies and procedures. He treats me well. And, I’m intimately familiar with many of his in-house funds.
Just $300 for tor transferring $200,000?
A 1% gain on that $200,000 would be worth $2,000. So you’re looking at the equivalent of something like an 0.15% profit for moving a significant sum of money. I’d think you could easily miss a 1% gain on that money during the time the transfer is in progress. And, if you presently have a manager who allows you to play a little fast & lose (with exchanges), it isn’t hard to grab a quick profit (far in excess of that meager payout) by trading in and out when opportunity arises.
Just MHO