I have a confession/Advice sought - Quicken tracking invest

[The Captain]

Between DH and I we have wayyyy too many retirement accounts scattered around.  This past weekend I finally bit the bullet and started working on getting everything consolidated/updated in Quicken and will start doing some rollovers in the next few months.

On of my old 401(k) accounts changed record keepers about three years ago.  I'm set up for paperless notifications so the e-mail notification must have gone to my junk box.  When they changed record keepers the put my balance in a balanced/age retirement account (ie retirement 2030 etc.).

So for three years I never noticed the account stopped updating .  Was checking paper statements against my balances online and noticed the difference. 

The account I'm in now has actually done really well.  However there is no ticker symbol to track it and I'd have to enter around 15 individual symbols just to track this one account.  I'm thinking of moving money around to fewer securities so it's easier to track, but that seems kinda silly.  Plus the account automatically re-balances itself each quarter which is kinda nice.

Does anyone know if there is a different way I can track this in Quicken?

[Deleted]

Captain,

Do you have an account with USAA? They have a really need feature where you can add all your accounts to their website. Everything automatically updates itself. Far less work!

[Deleted]

I can't help on Quicken because I just use a spread sheet built into my computer.

I did read an article many years ago about having to many retirement accounts. They pointed out that after you get so many they can actually hurt you (this is about M.F.'s) because the areas they invest in can overlap so much without you really realizing it. We have 6 main accounts & one add on (from my wife's current play job). I find that for us the 6 accounts is very managable & I think it fullfills what we need.

[The Captain]

Mar 25, 2013 12:55:38 GMT -5 @oldtex said:

I can't help on Quicken because I just use a spread sheet built into my computer.

I did read an article many years ago about having to many retirement accounts. They pointed out that after you get so many they can actually hurt you (this is about M.F.'s) because the areas they invest in can overlap so much without you really realizing it. We have 6 main accounts & one add on (from my wife's current play job). I find that for us the 6 accounts is very managable & I think it fullfills what we need.

Tex - you are spot on.  That's one of the reasons I'm starting this exercise.  Between the two of us we have 7 401k accounts and 3 IRA's. 

[The Captain]

Mar 25, 2013 12:48:53 GMT -5 @bonnap said:

Captain,

Do you have an account with USAA? They have a really need feature where you can add all your accounts to their website. Everything automatically updates itself. Far less work!

No, it feels like I have accounts everywhere except USAA

I'm trying to decide if I should consolidate things at Vanguard or Fidelity.

[Deleted]

I'm trying to decide if I should consolidate things at Vanguard or Fidelity.

Thecaptain we use both. My wife is in Vanguard & my accounts are with Fidelity. I have to say that both of them have been good to deal with over the years. I would rank them both as outstanding. Certainly between the 2 of them I don't think that there is an area of investment out there that we wouldn't have choices of investing in.

[Deleted]

We have both too. I also have my old 457 with another company.

But all of it, including the after tax accounts show up on our USAA accounts page. As well as MIL's IRA and brokerage accts bahahahaha! (Yes we have her accounts listed under our profile, at her request, to keep an eye on things. It was a little startling the first time they popped up. I thought Dang, we're rich, LOL!)

[Ombud]

The Captain said:

Between the two of us we have 7 401k accounts and 3 IRA's. 

Why aren't you consolidating [rolling it into 2 IRAs]? Then listing the 2 on your USAA account so you can keep track? Your way seems like too much work. I can understand keeping one 457 as those can be tapped as early as 50 w/o penalties. Toss in a current 401k, Roth, brokerage acct , & 7 old 401Ks & multiple IRAS -- seems hard to manage asset allocations

[The Captain]

Ombud,

That's part of the point. The first time I rolled my retirement accounts into a IRA at Merril Lynch I had a personal advisor. Then they changed to a stupid central call center concept where you basically took whom ever was available next in line when you tried to call in. I went with the asset allocations they recommended and lost (NOT KIDDING) 70% of the value of my accounts in 2 years.This was 10 years ago and the values still have not recovered. The customer service there is horrible but unfortunately the choices at our next two employers were not much better in terms of 401k options.

When I rolled those into the next employer they changed recordkeepers/funds from something that was good to choices that were subpar at best. Not wanting to fall into that trap again we've left 401k's at prior employers who provided good choices.

I also need to look into the fees/loads we will pay if we try to rollover. At one point when I looked at it there would be about $4-5K in fees and I am not willing to take that kind of a haircut.

Our total account balances now eligible for consolidation are sizeable enough that I should be able to get the brokerage to waive any fees that may happen. That was not the case a few years ago.

[Ombud]

When I left govt I rolled it all to Schwab bc I wanted more control, lower fees, & I've never regretted it. Also combined an older 401k & IRA into the 457 rolled over. They have a great tool that aids in monitoring allocations which can be an issue with multiple accounts. (Fidelity has something similar if you have over a set amount with them.) I can still see day-to-day fluctuations on my USAA account but don't need to track daily

[Ombud]

Forgot to mention: Schwab will reimburse most fees involved in transferring over accounts -- they did for me when I transferred my Fidelity to them.

[The Captain]

Ombud - that's good to know.  Does Schwab charge loads or quarterly/annual maintenance fees?

[Deleted]

Captain,

Do check into rolling all of those old 401ks into 2 rollover IRA accounts (you and your husband) with Vanguard. As you know they have very low fees for their mutual funds and they make the process very easy.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my old 401k has been rolled into an account with Vanguard (who was also the former administrator of the 401k). DH's old 401k has been rolled into an IRA with Fidelity (who was also the administrator of the 401k). I still need to rollover a very small IRA with Merrill Lynch. And I still have my 457 with the old employer because the rules are different from a 401k (I can access at any time without the 10% penalty since I'm separated from service). But we can see all of these accounts on the USAA website when we log in.

[Deleted]

I also need to look into the fees/loads we will pay if we try to rollover. At one point when I looked at it there would be about $4-5K in fees and I am not willing to take that kind of a haircut.

I guess that I'm kind of dumb here. I move money between retirement accounts every now & then at no cost. If you have 2 (for example) IRA's with 2 different companies are they charging you to move one account to another & close the first account? Like I say, I've never seen this about fee's (unless there is a minimum that you have to be in the fund).

[The Captain]

oldtex

I was actually shocked to find that some of the B and C shares (no/reduced load) in some of my 401k's had a fee associated with them if you sold/transferred/rolled out within a range of years (I can't remember if the max was 5 or 10).  I may be past that period now.  In addition, some of the A share funds (which normally carry a 5% commission, or "load" fee) could not be transferred share for share into an IRA.  If I wanted to stay in the same fund, same shares then I would have the pay the load when rolling in.

The difference between A, B, and C shares is a combination of the commission you pay upfront (less commission usually means higher annual managment fees in the fund itself).  If you pay a 5% load for A shares, the fund usually pays management fees of .5% or less.  Compare that to a C share where you may pay a zero load upfront, but the fund pays an annual management fee of 1.5%. 

The management fee is subtracted from the funds' operating results BEFORE the profits are dispersed to the fund holders.  So if you have a fund with a .5% fee for A shares, and a 1.5% fee for C shares, you pay 1% more each year for the C shares for as long as you hold the fund.  Over a 10,15,20 year investment span that could add up to big bucks.

It all depends on how the invididual 401k plan is set up.  I'm mostly in A shares that I got for no load (due to the plan agreement with the plan administrator) and would have to give up either the lower management fee or have to pay a commision to keep the same shares if I were to transfer out of the 401K into an IRA.

Does my explanation make any sense?

[Gardening Grandma]

Until you get these IRA's consolidated, you could use the free portfolio tracker at TRowe Price. You don't have to have an account with them to use their portfolio tracker (you do have to register though)