Do I need to diversify across brokerages?

[BlueHouse]

I'll be rolling over my work 401k into an IRA this week.   All of my other assets are held at Vanguard.  I would like to keep it simple and move everything into Vanguard.   Is there any reason for me to diversify the firms holding the money?  Maybe put my 401k into Schwab or Fidelity instead of Vanguard?  I would still want an index fund - likely an S&P 500 fund, so it's not too much of a difference if I buy a VG S&P500 thru VG or thru Fidelity, or even just a FI S&P500 fund. 

But is there any benefit at all in diversification across investment brokerages if my investing itself is very simple and boring and Bogle-like? 

A few years ago when I started simplifying, I decided there was no benefit in keeping separate companies to hold my funds, but just wanted to check in again, because I plan to do this once and be done forever. 

(I'm retired, I'm shutting down my solo 401k, so transferring to another 401k is a no-go as far as I know, although I'd prefer the protections that come with 401K vs. IRA.

[cool7hand]

Whenever this issue hits the forum, the consensus answer is that there is very little risk to keeping all of your eggs in one basket.

[YttriumNitrate]

Well, the Fidelity office in downtown Chicago has nice complimentary beverages, so there was that benefit over having everything in Vanguard.

I figure the worst case scenario for the major brokerages is an outage of a few days. Assuming you are doing boring investing, not being able to access your account for a few days probably won't matter (aside from news stories, you probably wouldn't even notice).

[Dee18]

I agree there's little risk having one, but there's also little hassle in having two.  I use Fidelity and Vanguard.

[yachi]

Curious why you're shutting down the solo 401k.  Can it not outlive the business, and exist on its own?  Does it have onerous reporting requirements?  Nothing I saw in the IRS documents said you had to get rid of it once you're retired.  If you prefer the protections it has, it seems to be you could just keep it.

[ixtap]

Curious why you're shutting down the solo 401k.  Can it not outlive the business, and exist on its own?  Does it have onerous reporting requirements?  Nothing I saw in the IRS documents said you had to get rid of it once you're retired.  If you prefer the protections it has, it seems to be you could just keep it.

The rules state that you have to have a business to have a 401k, so it should be shut down once you shut down the business.

[Telecaster]

Some people reported that Vanguard went down for a while last week.   The frequency of such things happening is low, but it would be a hassle if it did and you wanted your money.   

[travel2020]

As others have stated, there’s limited risk if you stick with major established companies like Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. Over the years, I personally took the route of moving 401ks to IRAs at different brokerages but ultimately it just got tedious to manage all the accounts and different interfaces, etc.

I’ve recently consolidated the accounts to Fidelity and Schwab and happy with the decision. I did consider moving everything to Vanguard but ultimately got tired of dealing with Vanguard’s somewhat clunky interface and  not so great customer service. Eventually I want to get rid of my brick and mortar bank account as well and move that to Schwab or Fidelity to make things even simpler.

If you are planning to move a substantial 401k, you might also be able to get an incentive bonus for moving to Fidelity or Schwab.

[DaTrill]

For simple accounts (buy sell ETFs) here is no reason to have brokerage diversification.  But it can be beneficial if you begin to utilize more complex strategies.  For example, if you want to do a 72t, it might be a good idea to have this in a separate (workplace Fidelity) firm from your normal brokerage (not Fidelity).  Every firm has unique benefits, Schwab worldwide no fee ATM, Platinum AMEX bonus, Fidelity 2% cash back, many others.  I'd pick one with the closest branch.       

[BlueHouse]

Curious why you're shutting down the solo 401k.  Can it not outlive the business, and exist on its own?  Does it have onerous reporting requirements?  Nothing I saw in the IRS documents said you had to get rid of it once you're retired.  If you prefer the protections it has, it seems to be you could just keep it.

The rules state that you have to have a business to have a 401k, so it should be shut down once you shut down the business.

^^^^^ This is why.

Thank you everyone for the advice.  I've decided to stick with Vanguard to make my life simpler.  I actually like (or at least have gotten used to) VG's interface and performance tools, and the downloads into Quicken have been very straightforward for years. 
I've also read on another thread that some people switch brokerages to chase the rewards.  I'm not too interested in that right now, but it did reinforce that I can change later if I want to spread my money across brokerages.