Selling my wife on Vanguard

[dandarc]

I want to move / consolidate all of our accounts to Vanguard - simplify life.  We currently have 5 investment accounts that we could move spread across 3 different companies.  There are another 2 accounts with my wife's employer that we can't change until she leaves, but there are actually pretty good options in these - one has Target Date retirement funds for 0.1% - I'd put all of our money in this fund if we could.  All these different accounts reflect our financial growth over the years.

I'd like to rollover all 5 of the accounts we can move to 3 accounts at Vanguard as follows:

Old Account	New Account at Vanguard
Wife's Roth IRA - American Funds	Wife's Roth IRA
My Roth IRA - American Funds	My Roth IRA
My Roth Solo 401K - ETrade	My Roth IRA
My Traditional Solo 401K - ETrade	My Traditional Solo 401K
My Traditional IRA - Principal	My Traditional Solo 401K

Obviously, I've done some research and am convinced this is a good move.  However, when I floated the idea to my wife, she objected mostly because I did a bad job presenting it - was something like "I want to move everything to Vanguard - what do you think?".  One objection was "I'm comfortable with mutual funds", so I think I just need to figure out a better way to approach the subject.  Any ideas on how to discuss this?

[Cpa Cat]

Couldn't you roll all of your own accounts to Vanguard and leave your wife's at American Funds?

Or... move your 401ks over and your E-trade Roth. Leave the two American accounts. Then after a month or two, show her how the fees in your Roth at Vanguard compare to your Roth at American Funds.

You can just leave her Roth out of the discussion and when you do your side-by-side comparison of your American Roth vs Vanguard Roth, tell her you plan on pulling this last account over to Vanguard and would she like to do the same. If she's still not comfortable with it, let her keep her Roth where she wants.

[dandarc]

Yes - I would still discuss it with her, because we view it all as "ours", but a gradual approach would be more her style.  I've let this sit too long - the Roth IRA's are going to come up in the 2014 investment list as early as next month, and I would really like to avoid that load.

[Russ]

If you want to sell your spouse, maybe try eBay or CL first? Vanguard doesn't seem very well set up for that.

[Jmoody10]

If you want to sell your spouse, maybe try eBay or CL first? Vanguard doesn't seem very well set up for that.

My thoughts exactly! :)

[teen persuasion]

Are you planning on rolling like accounts together, so that you will end up with only three accounts: your Roth, your tIRA, her Roth?

You could move your accounts first, use yourself as the guinea pig, and then show her the results.  Selling points: lower fees, simplifying number of accounts (if you are doing this), having all accounts at one consistent place and visible together.  It is nice having DH's Roth IRA and rollover IRAs show up on one screen, rather than in two different places.

I don't understand the comment about being comfortable with mutual funds.  You can use MF at Vanguard.  Maybe DW needs to see what Vanguard offers?

[dandarc]

I don't understand the comment about being comfortable with mutual funds.  You can use MF at Vanguard.  Maybe DW needs to see what Vanguard offers?

I didn't either initially - I had just assumed she had heard of Vanguard and at least knew they were a mutual fund company, but it turns that is not the case.

[Janie]

Here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/retirement-gamble/how-retirement-fees-cost-you/

[GR]

I wouldn't want my wife to see the title "Selling my wife". You may want to edit that first before you decide on the investment vehicle :)

[DoubleDown]

If she can cook, I'll give you $250 and you can cut out the Vanguard middleman.

[Beric01]

If she can cook, I'll give you $250 and you can cut out the Vanguard middleman.

I'll raise that to $500 if she can clean my place as well.

[frugalnacho]

hehe.  Take my wife - please.

[Roots&Wings]

Here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/retirement-gamble/how-retirement-fees-cost-you/

+1  I couldn't view the funky formatting on that website, but if you're considering lower expense funds at Vanguard, you could present how much more money you would have by switching to a Vanguard fund with lower expenses: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/retirement/cost-affect-retirement-spending-tool 

[Spork]

If you want to sell your spouse, maybe try eBay or CL first? Vanguard doesn't seem very well set up for that.

Came here for this.  Left satisfied.

[dude]

Simply present her with the math.  Use a reasonable expected rate of return on your current accounts (say, 7%) and then subtract the expense fees from that -- if you're paying 1.2% for example, your real rate of return (leaving aside inflation) is 5.8%.  Use a compound interest calculator like the great one at Moneychimp, and calculate how much of your money over the next 20 or 30 years is going to go straight into the pockets of your current fund managers.

Then do the same math with equivalent Vanguard funds, which are certainly going to be lower, and see the difference.  It is alarming.

There are also myriad articles out there about the foibles of actively managed funds.  Find 'em and print 'em.

Here's one today that drives the point home:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bogles-legacy-returns-that-trounce-active-investing-2014-08-07?link=MW_RM

[dandarc]

Simply present her with the math.  Use a reasonable expected rate of return on your current accounts (say, 7%) and then subtract the expense fees from that -- if you're paying 1.2% for example, your real rate of return (leaving aside inflation) is 5.8%.  Use a compound interest calculator like the great one at Moneychimp, and calculate how much of your money over the next 20 or 30 years is going to go straight into the pockets of your current fund managers.

Then do the same math with equivalent Vanguard funds, which are certainly going to be lower, and see the difference.  It is alarming.

There are also myriad articles out there about the foibles of actively managed funds.  Find 'em and print 'em.

Here's one today that drives the point home:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bogles-legacy-returns-that-trounce-active-investing-2014-08-07?link=MW_RM

Great article - and it actually highlights exactly what I want to do - throw everything into the Life Strategy Growth fund and relax, basically.

Leaving the post title the same because it's funny.

[dragoncar]

Just tried to sell my wife on Vanguard by rolling over around $200 from a 401k (her entire retirement savings).  But the website wouldn't let me put it in cash, and all the funds have minimums over $1000.  So is there just no hope there or am I missing something?  I know Fidelity will take our money.

[DoubleDown]

Just tried to sell my wife on Vanguard by rolling over around $200 from a 401k (her entire retirement savings).  But the website wouldn't let me put it in cash, and all the funds have minimums over $1000.  So is there just no hope there or am I missing something?  I know Fidelity will take our money.

There should be a coin slot on the side of your computer (usually the left side). It takes a while to feed it all in, but if you have enough change on hand you can usually meet the minimum amount Vanguard requires. And Pro Tip from someone who's been there, done that: Read the fine print on Vanguard's return policies. If your wife is unsatisfactory, they can revoke the sale and you have to take her back PLUS a "processing fee" (it was $200 back when I went through it, a very rude awakening). On top of losing the $200, you also have your unsatisfactory wife back who's now also extra angry at the attempted sale.

[solon]

omg! two awesome, but unrelated, conversations going on in this thread!

[Cheddar Stacker]

Just tried to sell my wife on Vanguard by rolling over around $200 from a 401k (her entire retirement savings).  But the website wouldn't let me put it in cash, and all the funds have minimums over $1000.  So is there just no hope there or am I missing something?  I know Fidelity will take our money.

There should be a coin slot on the side of your computer (usually the left side). It takes a while to feed it all in, but if you have enough change on hand you can usually meet the minimum amount Vanguard requires.

My coins aren't rectangular. Damn.

And Pro Tip from someone who's been there, done that: Read the fine print on Vanguard's return policies. If your wife is unsatisfactory, they can revoke the sale and you have to take her back PLUS a "processing fee" (it was $200 back when I went through it, a very rude awakening). On top of losing the $200, you also have your unsatisfactory wife back who's now also extra angry at the attempted sale.

ROFL

[dragoncar]

Just tried to sell my wife on Vanguard by rolling over around $200 from a 401k (her entire retirement savings).  But the website wouldn't let me put it in cash, and all the funds have minimums over $1000.  So is there just no hope there or am I missing something?  I know Fidelity will take our money.

There should be a coin slot on the side of your computer (usually the left side). It takes a while to feed it all in, but if you have enough change on hand you can usually meet the minimum amount Vanguard requires. And Pro Tip from someone who's been there, done that: Read the fine print on Vanguard's return policies. If your wife is unsatisfactory, they can revoke the sale and you have to take her back PLUS a "processing fee" (it was $200 back when I went through it, a very rude awakening). On top of losing the $200, you also have your unsatisfactory wife back who's now also extra angry at the attempted sale.

That's disappointing to hear... I guess I'll have to stick with craigslist for now.

[Rachelocity]

Came here for this.  Left satisfied.

That's what she said.