Robin Hood: 3% match on IRA transfer

[rantk81]

For those who just buy and hold index funds for the long term, the arbitrage amount that the market-makers extract from transactions is pretty insignificant.  Like less than a penny per share.  And if you place limit orders, you'll never get an execution at a price that is less favorable than your limit.

Of all the things to get worked-up about, having a market maker shave a fraction of a cent per share off of my bi-weekly order to buy a few thousand dollars of SP500 index fund, which I will be holding for a decade or more before selling -- that is not high on my list of things to get worked up about.

[nalor511]

Did everyone get prompted to take photos of an ID and your face, or just me?

[Huffduf41]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/robinhood-gold-3-ira-transfer-bonus-unlimited-cash-bonus/

Anyone else tempted by this? Robin Hood is offering a 3% match on transferred in IRA's, roth or traditional.

Some of the cons:
Bonus is paid upfront, but IRA has to stay with Robin Hood for five years or faces claw back of bonus
Account balance must not be lower than initial transfer plus bonus during five year term, or face claw back of bonus
Must join RH Gold at $5 (or $7?) per month for a minimum of one year after first transfer
Will RH exist in five years?

This is AMAZING, thank you so much for the heads up. Still looking to find a flaw but thinking about moving four $500k accounts (wife and I both have reg & roth) over to RH.

I'm going to call Fidelity and see if they'll match.  Guessing NOPE.

[billy]

Did everyone get prompted to take photos of an ID and your face, or just me?

Ya, I did to update email and again to reactivate broker account.

[billy]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/robinhood-gold-3-ira-transfer-bonus-unlimited-cash-bonus/

Anyone else tempted by this? Robin Hood is offering a 3% match on transferred in IRA's, roth or traditional.

Some of the cons:
Bonus is paid upfront, but IRA has to stay with Robin Hood for five years or faces claw back of bonus
Account balance must not be lower than initial transfer plus bonus during five year term, or face claw back of bonus
Must join RH Gold at $5 (or $7?) per month for a minimum of one year after first transfer
Will RH exist in five years?

Do you mean account balance cannot be lower than transfer balance including bonus? Like $100,000 ACATS in, $3,000 bonus, so can't withdrawal $103,000 for 5 years? But if balance is above $103,000 from say a DIV payout, you can withdrawal that DIV?

[SmashYourSmartPhone]

Of all the things to get worked-up about, having a market maker shave a fraction of a cent per share off of my bi-weekly order to buy a few thousand dollars of SP500 index fund, which I will be holding for a decade or more before selling -- that is not high on my list of things to get worked up about.

The road to our current enshittified culture is paved with "Well, yeah, this is bad, but it doesn't bother me too much right now..."

[nalor511]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/robinhood-gold-3-ira-transfer-bonus-unlimited-cash-bonus/

Anyone else tempted by this? Robin Hood is offering a 3% match on transferred in IRA's, roth or traditional.

Some of the cons:
Bonus is paid upfront, but IRA has to stay with Robin Hood for five years or faces claw back of bonus
Account balance must not be lower than initial transfer plus bonus during five year term, or face claw back of bonus
Must join RH Gold at $5 (or $7?) per month for a minimum of one year after first transfer
Will RH exist in five years?

Do you mean account balance cannot be lower than transfer balance including bonus? Like $100,000 ACATS in, $3,000 bonus, so can't withdrawal $103,000 for 5 years? But if balance is above $103,000 from say a DIV payout, you can withdrawal that DIV?

That's right. But if the market drops below 103000 you can't take anything out, without owing some bonus clawback

[billy]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/robinhood-gold-3-ira-transfer-bonus-unlimited-cash-bonus/

Anyone else tempted by this? Robin Hood is offering a 3% match on transferred in IRA's, roth or traditional.

Some of the cons:
Bonus is paid upfront, but IRA has to stay with Robin Hood for five years or faces claw back of bonus
Account balance must not be lower than initial transfer plus bonus during five year term, or face claw back of bonus
Must join RH Gold at $5 (or $7?) per month for a minimum of one year after first transfer
Will RH exist in five years?

Do you mean account balance cannot be lower than transfer balance including bonus? Like $100,000 ACATS in, $3,000 bonus, so can't withdrawal $103,000 for 5 years? But if balance is above $103,000 from say a DIV payout, you can withdrawal that DIV?

That's right. But if the market drops below 103000 you can't take anything out, without owing some bonus clawback

What if I withdrawal and then my balance is $103,000 so I good. But a week later my funds goes down $1,000 because of a market decline, do they claw back retroactively?

[nalor511]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/robinhood-gold-3-ira-transfer-bonus-unlimited-cash-bonus/

Anyone else tempted by this? Robin Hood is offering a 3% match on transferred in IRA's, roth or traditional.

Some of the cons:
Bonus is paid upfront, but IRA has to stay with Robin Hood for five years or faces claw back of bonus
Account balance must not be lower than initial transfer plus bonus during five year term, or face claw back of bonus
Must join RH Gold at $5 (or $7?) per month for a minimum of one year after first transfer
Will RH exist in five years?

Do you mean account balance cannot be lower than transfer balance including bonus? Like $100,000 ACATS in, $3,000 bonus, so can't withdrawal $103,000 for 5 years? But if balance is above $103,000 from say a DIV payout, you can withdrawal that DIV?

That's right. But if the market drops below 103000 you can't take anything out, without owing some bonus clawback

What if I withdrawal and then my balance is $103,000 so I good. But a week later my funds goes down $1,000 because of a market decline, do they claw back retroactively?

No way to know. Personally I wouldn't do the transfer if you expect to withdraw, and don't want to risk the market being down and losing that hefty bonus.

[billy]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/robinhood-gold-3-ira-transfer-bonus-unlimited-cash-bonus/

Anyone else tempted by this? Robin Hood is offering a 3% match on transferred in IRA's, roth or traditional.

Some of the cons:
Bonus is paid upfront, but IRA has to stay with Robin Hood for five years or faces claw back of bonus
Account balance must not be lower than initial transfer plus bonus during five year term, or face claw back of bonus
Must join RH Gold at $5 (or $7?) per month for a minimum of one year after first transfer
Will RH exist in five years?

Do you mean account balance cannot be lower than transfer balance including bonus? Like $100,000 ACATS in, $3,000 bonus, so can't withdrawal $103,000 for 5 years? But if balance is above $103,000 from say a DIV payout, you can withdrawal that DIV?

That's right. But if the market drops below 103000 you can't take anything out, without owing some bonus clawback

What if I withdrawal and then my balance is $103,000 so I good. But a week later my funds goes down $1,000 because of a market decline, do they claw back retroactively?

No way to know. Personally I wouldn't do the transfer if you expect to withdraw, and don't want to risk the market being down and losing that hefty bonus.

Ya, I'm going to leave it alone for the tIRA and rIRA bonuses, for 5 years. I was thinking about my taxable bonus, as I normally take DIV distributions. When I asked RH, they answer my scenario with a general statement which is vague....a bit annoying.

[nalor511]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/robinhood-gold-3-ira-transfer-bonus-unlimited-cash-bonus/

Anyone else tempted by this? Robin Hood is offering a 3% match on transferred in IRA's, roth or traditional.

Some of the cons:
Bonus is paid upfront, but IRA has to stay with Robin Hood for five years or faces claw back of bonus
Account balance must not be lower than initial transfer plus bonus during five year term, or face claw back of bonus
Must join RH Gold at $5 (or $7?) per month for a minimum of one year after first transfer
Will RH exist in five years?

Do you mean account balance cannot be lower than transfer balance including bonus? Like $100,000 ACATS in, $3,000 bonus, so can't withdrawal $103,000 for 5 years? But if balance is above $103,000 from say a DIV payout, you can withdrawal that DIV?

That's right. But if the market drops below 103000 you can't take anything out, without owing some bonus clawback

What if I withdrawal and then my balance is $103,000 so I good. But a week later my funds goes down $1,000 because of a market decline, do they claw back retroactively?

No way to know. Personally I wouldn't do the transfer if you expect to withdraw, and don't want to risk the market being down and losing that hefty bonus.

Ya, I'm going to leave it alone for the tIRA and rIRA bonuses, for 5 years. I was thinking about my taxable bonus, as I normally take DIV distributions. When I asked RH, they answer my scenario with a general statement which is vague....a bit annoying.

For a 1% taxable bonus I would be less hesitant, but, if you can take the money from elsewhere and leave the dividends to reinvest until your hold expires, then I would do that

[HeadedWest2029]

I've been reading up on this here and on Bogleheads https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=410277 with lots of interest.

I have 3 concerns:
1) The 5 year lockup period would basically push out accessing traditional / rollover IRA funds to 10 years in a scenario where someone is building a Roth IRA ladder.  5 years of not withdrawing or converting to Roth without risking the transfer bonus in the traditional account, plus 5 years after a conversion of traditional to Roth before it can be withdrawn penalty free.  Niche concern, but relevant for this sub.
2) If you are transferring in mutual funds, from say Vanguard, you'll first need to sell those because Robinhood can't transfer in mutual funds.  So when you consider the settlement period of selling mutual funds, plus the ACAT transfer period, you could conceivably be out of the market for a bit and easily see the market go up 3% during that time.  Possibly mitigated by first buying the ETFs equivalents in the old account before initiating the transfer. Curious if anyone has had Vanguard convert a mutual fund to the ETF equivalent for them without a settlement period??
3) This seems like a pretty telegraphed play by Robinhood to look more attractive for someone to buy the company.  So I'm guessing this won't be hassle free and you might not like where you end up being custodied by the end of it. 

But, the return on hassle still intrigues me.  I could transfer in 4 accounts (his & her Roth + traditional) and make over $18k, all while staying under the $500k SIPC insurance threshold for each account. 

[Must_ache]

Of all the things to get worked-up about, having a market maker shave a fraction of a cent per share off of my bi-weekly order to buy a few thousand dollars of SP500 index fund, which I will be holding for a decade or more before selling -- that is not high on my list of things to get worked up about.

The road to our current enshittified culture is paved with "Well, yeah, this is bad, but it doesn't bother me too much right now..."

Meaningless comment.  It's not going to bother him at any point in time.

[nalor511]

I've been reading up on this here and on Bogleheads https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=410277 with lots of interest.

I have 3 concerns:
1) The 5 year lockup period would basically push out accessing traditional / rollover IRA funds to 10 years in a scenario where someone is building a Roth IRA ladder.  5 years of not withdrawing or converting to Roth without risking the transfer bonus in the traditional account, plus 5 years after a conversion of traditional to Roth before it can be withdrawn penalty free.  Niche concern, but relevant for this sub.

You can't withdraw for 5yrs without risking the bonus. If the market rises more than you want to convert/remove, you're good. It's just math, and they're fairly clear about it up-front. Start a spreadsheet, and decide.

2) If you are transferring in mutual funds, from say Vanguard, you'll first need to sell those because Robinhood can't transfer in mutual funds.  So when you consider the settlement period of selling mutual funds, plus the ACAT transfer period, you could conceivably be out of the market for a bit and easily see the market go up 3% during that time.  Possibly mitigated by first buying the ETFs equivalents in the old account before initiating the transfer. Curious if anyone has had Vanguard convert a mutual fund to the ETF equivalent for them without a settlement period??

ETF conversion MF->ETF at VT takes one phone call and then 2 market days. It's easy, and converts at NAV. Would prefer you didn't have to call, but, oh well.

3) This seems like a pretty telegraphed play by Robinhood to look more attractive for someone to buy the company.  So I'm guessing this won't be hassle free and you might not like where you end up being custodied by the end of it. 

This is purely conjecture. We can all guess until the cows come home. Bottom line, transfer <$500k into each type of account, and you're fully covered by SIPC. Really, not that much to be concerned about here, IMO. Best of luck

[billy]

I've been reading up on this here and on Bogleheads https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=410277 with lots of interest.

I have 3 concerns:
1) The 5 year lockup period would basically push out accessing traditional / rollover IRA funds to 10 years in a scenario where someone is building a Roth IRA ladder.  5 years of not withdrawing or converting to Roth without risking the transfer bonus in the traditional account, plus 5 years after a conversion of traditional to Roth before it can be withdrawn penalty free.  Niche concern, but relevant for this sub.

You can't withdraw for 5yrs without risking the bonus. If the market rises more than you want to convert/remove, you're good. It's just math, and they're fairly clear about it up-front. Start a spreadsheet, and decide.

2) If you are transferring in mutual funds, from say Vanguard, you'll first need to sell those because Robinhood can't transfer in mutual funds.  So when you consider the settlement period of selling mutual funds, plus the ACAT transfer period, you could conceivably be out of the market for a bit and easily see the market go up 3% during that time.  Possibly mitigated by first buying the ETFs equivalents in the old account before initiating the transfer. Curious if anyone has had Vanguard convert a mutual fund to the ETF equivalent for them without a settlement period??

ETF conversion MF->ETF at VT takes one phone call and then 2 market days. It's easy, and converts at NAV. Would prefer you didn't have to call, but, oh well.

3) This seems like a pretty telegraphed play by Robinhood to look more attractive for someone to buy the company.  So I'm guessing this won't be hassle free and you might not like where you end up being custodied by the end of it. 

This is purely conjecture. We can all guess until the cows come home. Bottom line, transfer <$500k into each type of account, and you're fully covered by SIPC. Really, not that much to be concerned about here, IMO. Best of luck

Yup, I called VG to convert my mutual fund to ETF W/O selling.

[EliteZags]

seems like this is being done commonly, any thoughts

since with Gold the first $1000 of margin is "Free", that what I plan to do is transfer $2k into the taxable account, enable margin, buy $3k of SGOV, and then the $1k on margin will earn me ~5% or ~50/yr, and pay for 2/3 of the Gold fee

then keeping Gold will allow the 3% match on each year's Roth contributions, with the caveat being those being locked up another 5 years at RH

[nalor511]

seems like this is being done commonly, any thoughts

since with Gold the first $1000 of margin is "Free", that what I plan to do is transfer $2k into the taxable account, enable margin, buy $3k of SGOV, and then the $1k on margin will earn me ~5% or ~50/yr, and pay for 2/3 of the Gold fee

then keeping Gold will allow the 3% match on each year's Roth contributions, with the caveat being those being locked up another 5 years at RH

Yes, this works, and almost pays for itself.

[sonofsven]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

[nalor511]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

Only. If. You. Take. Money. Out.

Roth conversion is taking money out.

[EliteZags]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

not sure if I'm reading correctly but it would seem without current income would be a great time to convert to Roth first at lowest taxation then do the transfer to RH Roth to maximize the value of the bonus going straight into Roth and never being taxed..

the conversion and transfer shouldn't affect what/when you buy into, just need to convert mutual funds to equivalent ETFs before transfer and there should be little/no time out of market

[sonofsven]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

Only. If. You. Take. Money. Out.

Roth conversion is taking money out.

I was thinking of only moving my Roth to RH, then doing conversions from my Vanguard tira to make up for any market downturns.
However, a big enough downturn might require a big conversion that affects ACA planning.

[sonofsven]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

not sure if I'm reading correctly but it would seem without current income would be a great time to convert to Roth first at lowest taxation then do the transfer to RH Roth to maximize the value of the bonus going straight into Roth and never being taxed..

the conversion and transfer shouldn't affect what/when you buy into, just need to convert mutual funds to equivalent ETFs before transfer and there should be little/no time out of market

Yes, you read correctly, I could use Roth conversions from my tira that I leave at Vanguard to make up any shortfalls in the RH Roth, that part I get.
The concern for doing the exchange now when the S&P is at an all time high is that there's a good chance of a correction in the next five years. That will require a Roth conversion into the RH Roth ira, potentially, or, if working, a contribution.
How much time will we have to add to the RH ira if this happens, or is it only looked at by RH at the end of the five year period?

[nalor511]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

Only. If. You. Take. Money. Out.

Roth conversion is taking money out.

I was thinking of only moving my Roth to RH, then doing conversions from my Vanguard tira to make up for any market downturns.
However, a big enough downturn might require a big conversion that affects ACA planning.

You don't care about a downturn unless you're taking money out before 5yrs.

[sonofsven]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

Only. If. You. Take. Money. Out.

Roth conversion is taking money out.

I was thinking of only moving my Roth to RH, then doing conversions from my Vanguard tira to make up for any market downturns.
However, a big enough downturn might require a big conversion that affects ACA planning.

You don't care about a downturn unless you're taking money out before 5yrs.

Thanks, I read the t & c's closely which answered most of my questions.

[EliteZags]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

not sure if I'm reading correctly but it would seem without current income would be a great time to convert to Roth first at lowest taxation then do the transfer to RH Roth to maximize the value of the bonus going straight into Roth and never being taxed..

the conversion and transfer shouldn't affect what/when you buy into, just need to convert mutual funds to equivalent ETFs before transfer and there should be little/no time out of market

Yes, you read correctly, I could use Roth conversions from my tira that I leave at Vanguard to make up any shortfalls in the RH Roth, that part I get.
The concern for doing the exchange now when the S&P is at an all time high is that there's a good chance of a correction in the next five years. That will require a Roth conversion into the RH Roth ira, potentially, or, if working, a contribution.
How much time will we have to add to the RH ira if this happens, or is it only looked at by RH at the end of the five year period?

no we don't seem to be on the same page at all, it's been repeatedly stated that depreciation value does not impact the bonus, only withdrawals. So downturns are irrelevant as long as you don't withdraw which no one should be out of Roth anyways

my point was with no income now why not convert all the tira to Roth at min tax before transferring that way the 3% match is also maximized and deposited directly to Roth which gets the biggest bang for buck

[sonofsven]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

not sure if I'm reading correctly but it would seem without current income would be a great time to convert to Roth first at lowest taxation then do the transfer to RH Roth to maximize the value of the bonus going straight into Roth and never being taxed..

the conversion and transfer shouldn't affect what/when you buy into, just need to convert mutual funds to equivalent ETFs before transfer and there should be little/no time out of market

Yes, you read correctly, I could use Roth conversions from my tira that I leave at Vanguard to make up any shortfalls in the RH Roth, that part I get.
The concern for doing the exchange now when the S&P is at an all time high is that there's a good chance of a correction in the next five years. That will require a Roth conversion into the RH Roth ira, potentially, or, if working, a contribution.
How much time will we have to add to the RH ira if this happens, or is it only looked at by RH at the end of the five year period?

no we don't seem to be on the same page at all, it's been repeatedly stated that depreciation value does not impact the bonus, only withdrawals. So downturns are irrelevant as long as you don't withdraw which no one should be out of Roth anyways

my point was with no income now why not convert all the tira to Roth at min tax before transferring that way the 3% match is also maximized and deposited directly to Roth which gets the biggest bang for buck

Because of ACA planning

[nalor511]

A big drop in the market concerns me, and how to get money into the affected ira without earned income. Maybe keep my tira out and do Roth conversions to make up any shortfall. But that makes it hard to plan. We're buying in at what could be a high point in the market.
What's the mechanism that triggers the bonus clawback if the account drops: monthly, yearly, at the end of five years? I need to do more research.
Also, I do have nostalgia for my old Vanguard accounts and I feel the inertia of just staying put.
I had decided not to do it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but now I'm getting sucked in again!

not sure if I'm reading correctly but it would seem without current income would be a great time to convert to Roth first at lowest taxation then do the transfer to RH Roth to maximize the value of the bonus going straight into Roth and never being taxed..

the conversion and transfer shouldn't affect what/when you buy into, just need to convert mutual funds to equivalent ETFs before transfer and there should be little/no time out of market

Yes, you read correctly, I could use Roth conversions from my tira that I leave at Vanguard to make up any shortfalls in the RH Roth, that part I get.
The concern for doing the exchange now when the S&P is at an all time high is that there's a good chance of a correction in the next five years. That will require a Roth conversion into the RH Roth ira, potentially, or, if working, a contribution.
How much time will we have to add to the RH ira if this happens, or is it only looked at by RH at the end of the five year period?

no we don't seem to be on the same page at all, it's been repeatedly stated that depreciation value does not impact the bonus, only withdrawals. So downturns are irrelevant as long as you don't withdraw which no one should be out of Roth anyways

my point was with no income now why not convert all the tira to Roth at min tax before transferring that way the 3% match is also maximized and deposited directly to Roth which gets the biggest bang for buck

Because of ACA planning

You can still do the Roth+traditional as long as you don't need to Roth convert for 5yrs, or, if you can commit to doing so only if the market is up

[dividendman]

Started my transfer last Friday, got it over with the 3% match today... just invested the funds... seemed pretty easy to me. Let's see how it goes.

Going to transfer my roth now.

[sisto]

This thread had me excited. I was considering all the free money we could gain. I was really considering it even though it's RH and I don't like them or how they operate. What's stopping me is the fact that they don't currently charge a fee for IRA's, but that could change in the future. Then I'd be forced to pay those fees until the 5 years is up in order to retain that match. I'm also considering the fact like others have pointed out that this may be a effort to be attractive for selling the company and the new company may charge a fee. I have until April to decide.............

[nalor511]

This thread had me excited. I was considering all the free money we could gain. I was really considering it even though it's RH and I don't like them or how they operate. What's stopping me is the fact that they don't currently charge a fee for IRA's, but that could change in the future. Then I'd be forced to pay those fees until the 5 years is up in order to retain that match. I'm also considering the fact like others have pointed out that this may be a effort to be attractive for selling the company and the new company may charge a fee. I have until April to decide.............

If that happened you'd do the math and decide to stay until your hold period expired, or leave and lose the match to avoid the fee. It's not that complicated. A bird in the hand.

[tj]

This thread had me excited. I was considering all the free money we could gain. I was really considering it even though it's RH and I don't like them or how they operate. What's stopping me is the fact that they don't currently charge a fee for IRA's, but that could change in the future. Then I'd be forced to pay those fees until the 5 years is up in order to retain that match. I'm also considering the fact like others have pointed out that this may be a effort to be attractive for selling the company and the new company may charge a fee. I have until April to decide.............

There is no reason to believe that they would charge fees. Brokerages have been charging less fees over time.

It's pretty normal when a company is acquired to be able to move your account without consequence.

[Huffduf41]

@EliteZags if you have ETFs in an IRA you should be able to do an in-kind transfer of the funds... that's what I did (I just selected move entire account). For 401ks I don't think there is any alternative but to liquidate any funds.

As for the IRA/401k. The bonus will be half (since you have half the assets) as much but they'll both grow tax free, only the 401k you have to pay tax as you withdraw, with the roth you don't.

@thedigitalone it looks like from their promo material that 401ks (via a rollover) are also eligible.

Do you know for sure that you can transfer in-kind?  I spent 30min waiting for RH to answer this elementary question to no avail....

[nalor511]

@EliteZags if you have ETFs in an IRA you should be able to do an in-kind transfer of the funds... that's what I did (I just selected move entire account). For 401ks I don't think there is any alternative but to liquidate any funds.

As for the IRA/401k. The bonus will be half (since you have half the assets) as much but they'll both grow tax free, only the 401k you have to pay tax as you withdraw, with the roth you don't.

@thedigitalone it looks like from their promo material that 401ks (via a rollover) are also eligible.

Do you know for sure that you can transfer in-kind?  I spent 30min waiting for RH to answer this elementary question to no avail....

For IRA, yes, transfer in kind (acats). For 401k usually not, it's up to the 401k custodian

[Huffduf41]

perfect, ty.  I sold a pile of mutual funds Friday and bought back ETFs this morning for a slight gain : )

RH's customer service is absolutely terrible.  I feel dirty leaving Fidelity but 3% is 3%.

[dividendman]

Started my transfer last Friday, got it over with the 3% match today... just invested the funds... seemed pretty easy to me. Let's see how it goes.

Going to transfer my roth now.

Got my 3% match on my roth too. It all seemed pretty easy. I like Robinhood's interface.

I put dividend reinvestment on and now I don't plan on logging in until next year to cancel gold (well, maybe monthly for net worth updates).

[nalor511]

On the FAQ it says $75 acat reimbursement per account type and per broker on transfers over$7500 - did anyone get Two reimbursements for one broker, Roth+Trade, $150 reimbursed for a single broker?

[EliteZags]

re: Pro Rata Rule

So I have a Roth with Vanguard and a Traditional IRA which I opened solely for contributing/converting backdoor Roth, I have an old 401K with Fidelity and another with JH.

So I was mainly wanting to transfer Roth anyways since those bonus dollars are more valuable and was on the fence with 401K, but looking more into it since transferring 401K would involve rolling into traditional IRA at RH, which would hinder future backdoor Roth contributions due to Pro Rata Rule correct?

with this being the case I'd probably opt to keep my 401K's in place to preserve ability of future backdoor Roth contributions

Let's say you have $100,000 in a Traditional IRA, $7,000 of which came from non-deductible contributions. Because you've already paid taxes on $7,000, the IRS will not require you to pay taxes on that amount twice. Some retirement savers believe that, since they've already paid taxes on that amount, they can then convert $7,000 to a Roth IRA without paying taxes again. By law, though, you cannot dictate that your Roth conversion will only use those after-tax funds.
If you'd like to convert $7,000 to a Roth IRA, you will need to calculate how much of your IRA funds are actually taxable. The IRS requires you to include the value of all your non-Roth IRAs as the basis. The formula for tax purposes looks like this:
(non-deductible amount) / (total of all non-Roth IRA balances) = non-taxable percentage
(amount to be converted to Roth IRA) x (non-taxable percentage) = amount of after-tax funds converted to Roth IRA
In other words, 7% of the $100,000 is non-taxable since you already paid taxes on those $7,000. But if you want to convert $7,000 to a Roth IRA, in reality, the converted amount comes from 93% pre-tax funds and only 7% after-tax funds. You'll have to pay taxes on 93%, or $6,510, of the converted amount. By the same token, that means $6,510 of the original non-deductible $7,000 is still in the Traditional IRA, and any future after-tax contributions to your non-Roth IRAs will further complicate your Pro-Rata percentage, making future withdrawals messier than you might assume.

[tj]

It would be pointless to transfer your 401k to a Robinhood IRA because you'd have to wait five years to start converting those funds.

[salt cured]

Anyone manage to get their account reactivated? I requested it 2 weeks ago, but I'm still waiting.

[tj]

Anyone manage to get their account reactivated? I requested it 2 weeks ago, but I'm still waiting.

Have you bugged them on chat?

[billy]

Anyone manage to get their account reactivated? I requested it 2 weeks ago, but I'm still waiting.

I did, after 2 days I I/M and asked to manually review my account to get it reactivated, and they did like 20 minutes later.

[EliteZags]

It would be pointless to transfer your 401k to a Robinhood IRA because you'd have to wait five years to start converting those funds.

not converting, would rollover to traditional first then transfer to get bonus, but just having the funds in traditional would hinder future backdoor Roth contributions due to Pro Rata?

[tj]

It would be pointless to transfer your 401k to a Robinhood IRA because you'd have to wait five years to start converting those funds.

not converting, would rollover to traditional first then transfer to get bonus, but just having the funds in traditional would hinder future backdoor Roth contributions due to Pro Rata?

if you're doing backdoor stuff, you have way more income than me, lol, but yes, it would.

[Not Sure]

I reached out to Schwab support to see if they would be willing to match the Robinhood transfer bonus and got a response that they do not match transfer bonuses from other firms.  Bummer -- a match from Schwab would have been preferable to me.

[nalor511]

I reached out to Schwab support to see if they would be willing to match the Robinhood transfer bonus and got a response that they do not match transfer bonuses from other firms.  Bummer -- a match from Schwab would have been preferable to me.

They do match. They do not match offers this good. It's totally at their discretion, and they rarely match the really good ones. I have them match once a year.

[Not Sure]

I reached out to Schwab support to see if they would be willing to match the Robinhood transfer bonus and got a response that they do not match transfer bonuses from other firms.  Bummer -- a match from Schwab would have been preferable to me.

They do match. They do not match offers this good. It's totally at their discretion, and they rarely match the really good ones. I have them match once a year.

Thanks for sharing your experience.  When looking for a match, have you found any means of contact to be more productive than others?

[tj]

I reached out to Schwab support to see if they would be willing to match the Robinhood transfer bonus and got a response that they do not match transfer bonuses from other firms.  Bummer -- a match from Schwab would have been preferable to me.

The only offers Schwab has (other than the referral sign up bonuses)  is through matching, you just have to talk to the right person. Obviously they aren't going to match an offer like this.

LOL @ a match from Schwab being preferable - obviously. They're a much better firm, but 3% is 3%. I don't care if I leave my IRA at RH for 5 years. All I'll do with the account the next 5 years is check the balance monthly.

[tj]

I reached out to Schwab support to see if they would be willing to match the Robinhood transfer bonus and got a response that they do not match transfer bonuses from other firms.  Bummer -- a match from Schwab would have been preferable to me.

They do match. They do not match offers this good. It's totally at their discretion, and they rarely match the really good ones. I have them match once a year.

Thanks for sharing your experience.  When looking for a match, have you found any means of contact to be more productive than others?

A financial consultant has to hook you up with a trading consultant. Some of the former play ball, some don't. My second time around, I just asked the trading consultant directly if they are still matching and he called me and said yes. (I had Citi's $50k for $500 matched in late summer). Hopefully he'll still be there in 5 years when it's time bring the funds back. :D

[Must_ache]

I had an unnecessary 2 week IRA transfer wait.  The key is to make sure you open up an IRA first.  Then do the transfer.
Once I figured that the first transfer bombed - because transferring an IRA to a brokerage account is a massive distribution - things moved smoothly.

It was extremely easy to get the transfer going, and it is moving along at a good clip. My existing carrier (E*TRADE) did charge $75 but I should be able to get that reimbursed at some point after the fact.

[sonofsven]

I had an unnecessary 2 week IRA transfer wait.  The key is to make sure you open up an IRA first.  Then do the transfer.
Once I figured that the first transfer bombed - because transferring an IRA to a brokerage account is a massive distribution - things moved smoothly.

It was extremely easy to get the transfer going, and it is moving along at a good clip. My existing carrier (E*TRADE) did charge $75 but I should be able to get that reimbursed at some point after the fact.

Also, make sure to sign up for Gold status before you transfer.