Monthly Goal Update: Asset Allocation Implementation

February 5, 2005 By Jonathan Ping 3 Comments
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My goal for last month was to implement my chosen asset allocation plan. Here is my current status:

1) My E*Trade Traditional IRA is liquidated and transferred to a Vanguard Traditional IRA where it is currently invested in VTTHX. I am going to consider rolling it over to the Roth IRA.

2) My $7,000 Roth Contributions ($3k 2004/$4k 2005) are invested in a Vanguard Roth IRA in VTTHX, along with

3) My Ameritrade Roth IRA (previously cash) which is also transferred to the Vanguard Roth IRA.

4) My wife’s $7,000 contribution is still sitting on the sidelines, due to some issues with her recent name change. I need to get working on that.

All in all, I am pretty happy with the speed of the transfers. Vanguard said it would take up to 10 weeks, but it took only about four. I almost have all my family’s IRAs at Vanguard. (And I am totally free of E*Trade!) I had to fill out some paperwork and get them “Medallion Signature Guaranteed”, but that was free at my local Bank of America branch.

Filed Under: Goals
Last updated: August 4, 2006
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Comments

  1. erin says
    February 6, 2005 at 4:42 am

    I went through a similar hassle about two years ago trying to get away from E*trade. I was new to the whole finance thing, and selected E*trade to house my portfolio. It was good for about a year, year-and-a-half, but then they started hitting me with tons of fees. My perception was that they didn’t want anything to do with the little guys. I eventually switched to Fidelity.

    Regarding your post, I wasn’t aware that a traditional IRA could be rolled into a Roth. What are the fees and penalties associated with that?

    Keep up the good posts!

    erin

    http://www.frugalgirl.blogspot.com

    Reply
  2. Jonathan says
    February 6, 2005 at 8:37 am

    Exactly! When I started with E*Trade, they had I think $15 trades, and no maintenance fees for their brokerage. No, their trades are $23 (with a bogus “handling” fee) and they have a $5,000 minimum. Not to mention their customer service is very lacking, not sure if you get better service as a Power E*Trade customer. Fidelity is better, with a $25 trades for the basic level but no mininum if you opt for e-mail statements (which I just save or print out).

    As for Traditional to Roth IRA conversion, yes you can do it, I also need to look more into it myself. You basically have to pay taxes on the IRA amount to be rolled over (which you avoided with the original contribution to the Traditional IRA).

    Reply
  3. jp says
    February 6, 2005 at 8:39 am

    Oh, and Fidelity has a much better selection of no-transaction-fee mutual funds.

    Reply

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