Following the
investment order list. Finally got to the end where we have some extra to put into a regular, taxable investment account.
The choice now is: Where to open the account? More specifically Vanguard (with whom we already have IRAs) or some robo-advisor? To be perfectly clear, this isn't a "which one is better" question. If you have any new opinions I'd be happy to read them, but I've already found many other threads about it. I'm comfortable DIYing our asset allocation and rebalancing, but still mulling over tax loss harvesting.
My specific question is: Can this choice be delayed? Can one start putting money aside in either institution, just to start building the stash, while they take the time to decide where they ultimately want to end up? Or will there be big tax consequences for a later move and a long term choice needs to be made before investing even begins?
So if one starts out with a taxable account at Vanguard but later decides they want to use Betterment, can positions be transferred in-kind into Betterment without incurring capital gains? Or do all positions have to be cashed out, transferred, and investments purchased on the other side? Conversely if one starts over at Betterment but later decides it's not worth it, can positions be transferred to Vanguard without capital gains?
Or is the transfer just fine, but it's the "settling into different funds" period at the new destination that will cause taxable events? For example, if I brought funds from Betterment to Vanguard, even if they got transferred without any sales, I'd imagine we'd still be invested in whatever mix Betterment had for us. Assuming we want to end up in Vanguard funds, we'd have to sell whatever Betterment had us in, and that would incur the capital gains, yes? Not the transfer itself?
