Moving from Betterment to Vanguard - Betterment's Flexible Portfolio can help?

[jimmy88]

Hello all, I want to move all my money from Betterment to Vanguard, but have yet to bite the bullet.

I have a Taxable account, IRA, and Roth IRA with Betterment ~100k total.

My plan so far has been to move my taxable account to Vanguard in-kind from Betterment. With this complete I would hold Betterment's selection of ~18 ETFs in my Vanguard account and would slowly sell of the ones I don't want to buy VTI (I'd have to pay a fee for selling non-Vanguard funds). The IRA transfer process is a simple liquidation / buy what fund you want, so this issue really only relates to the taxable account.

Betterment recently released something called a "Flexible Portfolio" https://www.betterment.com/resources/flexible-portfolio-customization/, and after looking at what's possible, it seems that I can change my Betterment allocation to 100% VTI. Betterment doesn't charge any fees to change allocation, so this seems like a no brainer move to make before transferring my taxable assets to Vanguard.

I wanted to run this feature by the MMM community since many people start off using Betterment.

Also, if anyone sees a reason not to go this Flexible Portfolio -> VTI -> transfer to Vanguard strategy please chime in.

[NoStacheOhio]

Someone in another thread posted about Betterment disallowing in-kind transfers on taxable accounts. I'm not sure how reliable it was, but take that for what you will.

Either way, exchanging is a taxable event, so watch out for ST capital gains and such.

[jimmy88]

Someone in another thread posted about Betterment disallowing in-kind transfers on taxable accounts. I'm not sure how reliable it was, but take that for what you will.

Either way, exchanging is a taxable event, so watch out for ST capital gains and such.

Betterment does allow in-kind transfers on taxable, I've confirmed this with them. There is some paperwork involved but it's pretty straightforward.

Indeed it's a taxable event, though I'm curious if Betterment's exchanging of the funds would be more efficient vs me doing it manually with Vanguard.

[Bill_]

I agree with others....use a friend or relative's US address to receive mail. 

This is not anyway illegal or even sketchy in this case.

This is almost entirely company policy, not driven by investing laws....and most of it is because they just don't want to mail stuff to Canada.

[sipsubsonic]

Hello all, I want to move all my money from Betterment to Vanguard, but have yet to bite the bullet.

I have a Taxable account, IRA, and Roth IRA with Betterment ~100k total.

My plan so far has been to move my taxable account to Vanguard in-kind from Betterment. With this complete I would hold Betterment's selection of ~18 ETFs in my Vanguard account and would slowly sell of the ones I don't want to buy VTI (I'd have to pay a fee for selling non-Vanguard funds). The IRA transfer process is a simple liquidation / buy what fund you want, so this issue really only relates to the taxable account.

Betterment recently released something called a "Flexible Portfolio" https://www.betterment.com/resources/flexible-portfolio-customization/, and after looking at what's possible, it seems that I can change my Betterment allocation to 100% VTI. Betterment doesn't charge any fees to change allocation, so this seems like a no brainer move to make before transferring my taxable assets to Vanguard.

I wanted to run this feature by the MMM community since many people start off using Betterment.

Also, if anyone sees a reason not to go this Flexible Portfolio -> VTI -> transfer to Vanguard strategy please chime in.

I am wondering if you could post a step-by-step for this process? I know nothing.

My current situation is I have <$30,000 in Betterment taxable account which has been there for ~4 years and am considering trying to DIY it for the first time with Vanguard. Currently in the lowest tax bracket, so I think taxes shouldn't be a big issue?

Would love any other general advice, also any resources on doing the DIY route with Vanguard for someone who is new to the game would be appreciated.