Comments on: Say Hello to Vanguard’s Newest Member :)

By: J. Money

J. Money — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 20:31:55 +0000

In reply to G. Ouch yeah, that doesn't sound fun at all :(

By: G

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 03:52:52 +0000

Although it was some yrs ago, Vanguard screwed up and despite my written request did not convert my traditional IRA to Roth during a lower income year – then tax bracket went up. Not cool. I do still invest in VTI though

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 03:03:56 +0000

In reply to renae.

In order to name a beneficiary on a joint account, you need to see what the tenancy clause is on your account. There are five possible clauses – Joint tenants with rights of survivorship, joint tenants in common, joint tenants by the entirety, community property, and community property with rights of survivorship.

Only joint tenants with rights of survivorship, joint tenants by the entirety, and if offered, community property with rights of survivorship are allowed to place what is called a transfer of death provision on your account. The only time the TOD kicks in is in the case where both account owners pass. Otherwise if one passes, the person above was correct and receives the proceeds of the account.

not all states offer the same tenancy clauses. Example, only 11 states offer the community property option – such as Texas, California, Wisconsin, Idaho, and a few others. In a community property state, in order to leave your retirement accounts to someone other than your spouse requires that your spouse sign off on the beneficiary designation.

As for Vanguard itself, it’s great for long term, high net worth investors, but is not a great platform for someone starting out as the minimums investments are often high, and their brokerage does not offer much in terms of online research, education, or self service features. I don’t think they’ve joined the rest with no commissions just yet either. Finally, it’s worth noting that Vanguard for years has refused to pay for distribution of it’s funds, which is how many companies make their money and are able to keep their costs low and offer free commissions. This comes into play particularly in the defined retirement space as Fidelity, Vanguard, and TIAA go head to head for sole record keeper of retirement accounts in academia. Finally an important note, other firms have specialty products they feature that are attractive to many people. TIAA for example offers a liftetime, guaranteed annuity that is guaranteed to last your lifetime. Not many firms offer such a product. As always, one should seek professional advice as not all investments are suitable for your situation. Example – an annuity might not be the best option for someone just starting their retirement savings.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 20:01:24 +0000

In reply to Felicia.

That’s why most of us in the $$ field go with *index* funds :) We’re all fine with tracking the market and being “average”, and fortunately that means not much management involvement!

Here are two articles I read recently that may help:

http://www.mrcrazykicks.com/efficient-investing-with-the-three-fund-portfolio/
http://www.wallstreetphysician.com/building-vanguard-three-fund-portfolio-simple-index-fund-portfolios/

And JL Collins has a great stock series on his blog too that goes into a lot of this if you want to check that out: http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

By: Felicia

Felicia — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 15:54:24 +0000

I realize I am late to this article, but what advice would you give to investors who are attracted to Vanguard’s no-load funds, but who may not have the education or experience to manage their own accounts and choose the most appropriate funds for themselves and their investment goals? As someone who works in the industry, I can see how many people are turned off by sales charges that come with an actively managed portfolio, however, after going through several market cycles, nine times out of ten the ones who chose to invest on their own didn’t come close to beating the returns on accounts with an active manager, even with the fees. Unless someone is willing (and has the time and interest) to go out and do the research and choose the specific funds that best meet their investment goals, I struggle to recommend a Vanguard account. But that is just my opinion based on what I’ve come across.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 09:56:09 +0000

In reply to lauren.

I’m currently only using them for my retirement account, but you can use them for regular brokerage accounts too! I plan on doing that once I have extra money to invest :)

You can also look into Acorns or Betterment.com for just getting started and/or depositing smaller amounts. I’m not as familiar with Betterment as I don’t use them myself (a handful of my blogger friends do though), but I very much like Acorns. Here’s my review on them:

https://eliteedgemoney.com/2015/03/acorns-app-review/

They round up your transactions and drop tiny amounts into a portfolio for you, but you can also push extra money over into it anytime you want to build it up. The nice thing is that you can start with $0 and go at your own pace, and they also help you build a portfolio of funds based on your own risk levels vs stock picking so it’s less volatile. Though it does cost $1.00/mo to use.

Hope this helps!

By: lauren

lauren — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 19:07:19 +0000

Do you use vanguard for personal investing or just retirement? Are there any blogs on here about starting a personal investment account? I am saving my “savings” money – ie. Ebates, savingstar $, ETC in a separate account and I’d like to build it fast! I am talking low starting amounts ….

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 14:45:27 +0000

In reply to Pete. Yikes, sorry to hear man. Not sure what's going on with that but sounds annoying as hell :(

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 14:32:07 +0000

I’ve been trying to setup my vanguard account for over a month. Not please at all thus far with the customer service or the “ease of setup.” I should note I’m not doing this incorrectly, I’ve done these before and do tech support for a living. Filling out a form isn’t rocket science. But each time I have it says it can’t verify my identity – despite them having my SSN. So guess who gets to print off a 18 page document and mail It in old school?! A joke thus far, it better be worth it once I’m done.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 15:41:45 +0000

In reply to Morgan.

Ooh, really??

That sucks…

I’m trying to remember how I did it, and I think I went through *Vanguard* and had them initiate the xfer if I’m not mistaken. I remember them saying that they weren’t sure how smooth it would be or not, but then after they started the process it all just started moving over!

So maybe that’s the route to look into for others thinking about doing this… I did have to sign some stuff, but I did it all over the computer while the Vanguard rep was on the phone walking me through it. I literally didn’t do a thing with hard copies or waiting or any of that. It took some time for all the funds/$$ to be moved over, but outside of that it was all rather smooth…

Sorry you had such a hassle :( But yay for moving over! Will def. be one of those one-time annoyances for lots of future benefits :) Congrats!