I went to transfer my Roth IRA from Merrill Lynch / Edge (about $6K) to my Roth IRA at Vanguard last week. I got all the way to the end of the form, then called Merrill Lynch to make sure that there wasn't anything additional I had to "authorize" in order to complete the transfer (something the Vanguard website seemed to suggest?).
What I got was, obviously, a "please don't break up with us" plea from ML that confused me.
My funds are currently in a BlackRock high yield (BHYCX) and BlackRock Large Cap (MCLRX) and overall the Roth has gained about 20% in 2 years, something I knew before I went to transfer. The ML guy told me, "The funds you are holding in have done really well! And you're a Platinum Privileges client, so you have those benefits too!" I told him that I was also paying a crazy 1.8% fee, and that the stock market
in general has done really well for the past two years. He said they could "move the funds if I"m really fee-conscious". I also asked if he could explain, exactly, what the PP benefits were worth to me. I never really got clear answers.
Here are my questions, then:
- Would I be able to buy Vanguard funds...at ML? It would seem not, and when I go to the "trade" tab in my ML acct, I get a message that basically blocks me from doing it myself.
- Is there any advantage whatsoever in not having all your investment accounts with one institution? Does anyone with a large portfolio at one institution place themselves at risk for, I don't know...if Vanguard "went under", or similar? Is "all the eggs in one basket" even concern, or does it only matter what you're invested in?
- Am I missing something, or is the ML guy full of baloney? All I'm hearing is "But you have a lot of money with us and we don't want you to move it to another place", but no reasons WHY they're the best option.
Here are the other threads I found, for reference.
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/merrill-lynch-ira-roll-over-tooooo/msg233735/#msg233735http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/merrill-lynch-personal-manager-service-or/msg666810/#msg666810http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/the-final-days-of-merrill-lynch/307621/ <-- not a thread, but scary stuff that's concerning when you're thinking of building a portfolio somewhere