Consider a multi-year selling strategy to diversify into index funds to reduce risks into retirement.
1 Like
@Hoggirl, you can definitely transfer the securities in kind and avoid any taxable events. At Fidelity, we have had a Donor Advised Fund (per @Colorado_mom) for probably 20 years. Gifting appreciated stock to the DAF is a great thing to do (and I think is simpler than gifting directly to a charity). You can do that gradually as you need tax deductions and you can use the DAF to make charitable contributions. Other than regularly and sometimes inexplicably making me redo the password, Fidelity has been pretty easy to deal with regarding the DAF.
2 Likes
Okay, we are charitable people, but not wealthy enough for me to give away all of my stock holdings. Lol. We have gifted stock directly in the past. It hasnât been that difficult.
I know I can transfer to a different brokerage company without a taxable event. I understand the difference between just moving my stock to another company and selling it.
Each year we plan for and take some capital gains. Have been doing that for the last few years. But, I donât necessarily like selling just for the sake of selling if that makes any sense. I have some nice dividend stocks.
Itâs simply a matter of my doing the work to make changes happen. Iâm just a huge fan of the easy button, but itâs gotten to the point that ease is costing me too much.
I appreciate the suggestions
4 Likes
I moved 15 years ago. I never changed banks even though the nearest branch is 120 miles away.
In those 15 years, I think I had to drive to the branch twice.
I certainly understand why it is difficult to switch brokerage accounts when everything is connected to it. Today, all of my bills are set up to pay through the bank and itâs a real PITA to switch.
Hence why Iâm too lazy to switch. Nowadays, itâs even easier to do everything on line than it was 15 years ago
3 Likes
One of my FAs switched backend providers and that meant transferring many brokerage accounts. Royal PITA.
My sister and I are co-executors of my motherâs estate and have been trying for weeks/months to transfer securities from my motherâs account to her beneficiaries. Her accounts are at TIAA. I have jumped through many hoops and finally got them to give me a plan. For some completely opaque reason, they would not distribute securities directly to the brokerage accounts of the beneficiaries if the accounts were not at TIAA. So, each beneficiary would have to set up a TIAA brokerage account. Then, I could give the estate instructions to distribute securities to the beneficiaries accounts. They would not distribute directly to external accounts. Then, the beneficiaries supposedly will be able to transfer the securities to their accounts at other brokerages. After drafting the letter of instruction to TIAA (to transfer the funds to TIAA brokerage accounts), they triple-checked and decided that my signature and my sisterâs should both be notarized. My sister took the letter to a bank to sign and get notarized and said the bankâs notary claimed that he needed a bank medallion guarantee to transfer securities. They suggested getting UPS to notarize. Then, Iâm sure there will be hassles actually transferring it from the individual TIAA accounts to the individual brokerage accounts at other brokers.
For an estate situation, wouldnât it have been easier to liquidate the securities and distribute the cash? Then the beneficiaries could repurchase if they wanted, with stepped up basis it should have been a tax-neutral event.
Or am I missing something?
1 Like
What a nightmare. Seems like TIAA wants the beneficiaries to keep the money in house. 
Can you imagine a less informed person trying to wade through that muck?
Actually I think this is standard practice. Iâm handling uncles estate. His investments are at Edward Jones and all are set up with beneficiaries. They are setting up Ed Jones acct for each heir (if one has EJ account already will use that)and dividing assets between 6 nieces/nephews. Once transferred we are free to transfer to another brokerages, whatever.
So will each get a IRA, stock, a Cd and some cash. It all transfers as is except that partial/ remainder shares that donât divide by 6 are sold and added to cash. Unfortunately as his POA I hadnât taken uncles whole RMD yet so we each will have to do that when we get IRA distributed since non-spouse or that is my understanding.
2 Likes
Thatâs common (unfortunately). Yes, itâs a small hassle for beneficiaries, but itâs the fastest way to get the assets transferred at teh correct cost basis. 1) Open a New brokerage account with the parents broker; 2) broker transfers funds and cost basis to New account; then 3) go to your regular brokerâs website and transfer everything electronically from Parentâs broker to your own regular broker. (As the New broker account now has a zero balance, eventually theyâll close it.)
The alternatives is to sell everything into cash, and have broker wire funds/cut checks to each beneficiary OR the total to the Trust checking account and Trustee can distribute the cash to each benie.
btw: if parents have money in EJ only funds, they will likely not be transferable to other brokerage firms. In such a case, just tell EJ to cash them out as Trustee. (Assumes account is in a Trust. If only in the Will, then the Personal Rep has less control and its easier to instruct each beneficiary demand that EJ cash out the funds and send them a check.)
This is how my motherâs Schwab accounts were handled. Each child had to open brokerage, Inherited IRA, and Inherited Roth IRA accounts. Once the funds were distributed to those accounts, each person could transfer out.
Thanks for the information. I guess the good news here is that we would have had the same hassle at Schwab or Edward Jones or elsewhere.
1 Like
Not sure Iâd look at it as a hassle. Had similar situation for my momâs Fidelity and and CDs. If owner assigns âbeneficiaryâ, the expectation is they are like giving the asset (or portion of the assets). Honestly I was pleased my mother had gone to the trouble to assign beneficiaries. For the older assets, she got it updated to our maiden names.
Another method of course is to just let everything flow through the will, probate process. In that case I imagine assets get sold and split. Oh⊠remembering more. There was some Computershare stock without beneficiary, and that also resulted with new Computershare accounts.
Any suggestions about good website/whatever to find a Medicare Broker?
Just recommended to a friend to use Medicare Broker to figure out the best plan a few months before turning 65. We had a referral for my husbandâs, but that wonât work because different state, not taking new clients. Friend is in TN.
1 Like
Ugh. These taxes from withdrawing from our 401K to buy property are killing us. Canât decide whether to pull some from our Roths to pay the taxes (canât take more from the taxable 401K till Jan because of tax rates) or take a one year/0% rate on our credit card (with a 5% fee). Never thought weâd have to do the debt thing again, but here we are. Or maybe weâll end up doing both. What would you guys do?
I imagine that one of the reasons you did Roth was to have a tax-free source of income when needed. Maybe take advantage of that and then do some Roth rollovers in next years?
1 Like
Thatâs a good point. For some reason, I keep thinking that when the Roth money is gone, itâs gone (unless we start working again and contribute more), but why not just roll it over in subsequent years? Weâre still under a fairly high tax rate because of pensions, but it wouldnât be as bad as when we were working.
1 Like
If itâs in Vanguard, the cash that you have sitting, is likely in their sweep account, earning more than 5%. So itâs well worth figuring out what theyâre paying in your âcashâ account, wherever it is. It might be doing far better than the stock market!
My nieceâs boyfriend is in that business, but heâs in WA, so I guess thatâs not helpful. It seems to be very confusing, and well worth getting a broker!
1 Like
If your friends in TN have their own âMedicare and You 2024â , at the back of it, it lists âMedicare Advantage and other Health Plansâ for their state. I have not used this feature on line, but Medicare has an on line tool to find a health plan. In the print edition, they identify plans as PPO or HMO (PPO being Medigap, HMO being Advantage/C plan), with a couple of lines for each offered which includes a 800 phone number â on the print copy (or if one does a print out from the computer screen) can highlight what looks promising. In this same 2024 issue, on P 119 on âCompare health and drug plans in your areaâ has a specific warning, âRemember, you canât use (and canât buy) a Medigap policy while youâre in a Medicare Advantage Plan. Go to pages 75 - 78 for more information on Medigap.â
TN, IMHO has a unique paradigm on insurances and health care coverage, which your friends in TN may be well aware of if they have lived in TN for a while. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of TN (for example) for their regular coverage (pre-retirement) may not have âin networkâ providers in other states, while other Blue Cross/Blue Shield policies (AL, TX - we have been on both of these plans) have providers in other states who accept BCBS considered as âin networkâ. We know this through BIL/SIL, and now DDâs boyfriend who canât see a BCBS physician provider in AL âin networkâ who accepts BCBS because it is BCBS of TN policy (BFâs organization is in TN and his branch is in AL). BIL/SIL had good providers within their TN area and did not seek out care outside of the state of TN. On US travel, when a medical issue came up, they went back home to follow up with TN health care providers to avoid all the extra bills (and the medical issue did require hospitalization).
BIL/SIL have had health insurance in TN for a long time with national company BIL worked for, and were on BCBS from another state - which had its own âins and outsâ but they had âin networkâ providers before retirement. They were able to find and have kept their providers with getting Medicare, Medigap and Part D drug plan, and every year (like we do in AL) check their Part D drug plan to decide if they will switch either of their drug plan for 2024.
However, BCBS C+ Plan, if the provider accepts Medicare, then it is my understanding that the provider pays and coordinates nicely w/o any additional payment besides the annual Medicare deductible ($226). The drugs, as stated prior, are a separate item, Medicare D.
It is researching or finding out the best Drug plan (Part D) to fit oneâs needs, and using the Medicare web site to plug in individualâs drugs and get the listing of plans to âbest fitâ Part D drug plan purchase. It takes a little initial time, but under each personâs Medicare log in, the system saves your drug list. Part D is easy to switch every year during open enrollment, and we have done so with the changes of medications and the changes in the part D plans. Every year we plug in our drugs and compare the pricing. This is the first year I am staying on the drug plan I have been on for 2023, while we have significant cost savings with DH by switching drug plans for 2023. DH is on a patent drug (on Xarelto, but Eliquis is also still on patent/no generics yet) which drives his prescription plan to a higher cost.
So the âbigger pictureâ for them is finding/sorting out the Medigap policy (hence the use of a broker), having their data on drug plan (Medicare D) and then seeing if there is any Medicare Advantage (Medicare C) policy that stacks up to what is desired for insurance coverage once their insurance switch goes to Medicare.
IDK how SIL in TN found their Medigap policy - but I know she called some identified Medigap plans and found the one that worked best for them - and made sure with her PCP office that that insurance coverage does work well. She may have narrowed down from a brokerâs recommendations, or from Medicare site listing for TN insurance. I think she may have use a SHIP - There are State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) which give local health insurance counseling to people with Medicare at no cost. They are not connected to any insurance company or health plan.
A friendâs bedridden mother (still living at home in AL, and is mentally with it) is on a Medicare Advantage plan that works great - it provides all her medical and home care costs (she has supplies delivered), and medications all included for what her Advantage plan costs. She has been on the plan for several years, and at age 85, may be continuing on for a limited number of more years. Her DD is a LPN who lives there (but goes to work FT), and there are close relatives that make sure she has her meals and what she needs 24/7. They are selling some of the motherâs land to keep all her financial cash flow needs met (a few parcels/lots sold, she has plenty of assets/land). The Medicare Advantage plan she has works great.
My caveat is that care needs to be taken to really evaluate if going to an âAdvantage planâ (called Medicare C) and then not being able to switch back to the traditional âMedigapâ policy (often called Medicare supplement, and then with the chosen drug plan, called Medicare D).
It does take time to âabsorbâ the information, even for someone that has worked in health care (like SIL and me). I kept SIL from falling into the Medicare rules snafu(where Initial Enrollment rules supersede Special Enrollment rules, not identified anywhere in that Medicare and Me book but is on line if you specifically look for it with key words - she and DH had that situation, and we had a very big delay on getting it straightened out with Medicare, while she avoided the problem). SIL did call her local Medicare office, and stated she was in her initial enrollment period - and what month she wanted to switch on her Medicare and other Medicare related coverage, and found out that my information was accurate â and contrary to what she was initially told with their office with Medicare Special Enrollment (which her DH was doing for him, and she was under his employment insurance coverage - he worked two extra years after he turned 65, waiting until she qualified for Medicare, and he had a managerial bonus to wait on, which had them want to switch after she was 65 but during her initial enrollment âwindowâ). We didnât receive DHâs Medicare A and B card until beginning of Dec, backdated to Sept 1 - as soon as it showed up electronically, I sent DH to get a flu shot. Between Oct 1 (when my private health care insurance ended) and getting that delayed Medicare card, if DH had a medical emergency, I would have had to tell them to suspend billing because he has Medicare B and Medicare D in place but waiting on Medicare A and B card. We did get billed by Medicare for those months, and paid for those Medicare B months (Sept - Dec), and paid directly to Medicare for his Medicare Part B until DH started his Social Security (and they took the payments out of his SS). I had to press the local Medicare office the office who created an electronic mess and never dealt with it when it was sent âup the chainâ - the local Medicare office director had to take 2 days of calls âup the chainâ/regional office for DHâs Medicare electronic file to get corrected. Very stressful for us! DH had paroxysmal A Fib and cardiologist appointment the beginning of Jan - and lots of medical care since that point in time. This was during Covid, and local office was not doing face to face meetings, and had erroneous information entered into DHâs Medicare file, kept telling us wrong things.
1 Like
Boomer Benefits is a good nationwide broker. I talked with them, but I ended up going with Giardini Medicare. They may or may not be licensed to sell in your state. I was impressed by their educational resources, and I really appreciated the very thorough questions they asked before we had our initial telephone conversation. Ali shared her screen, showing us comparisons to explain our best options. I highly recommend them, if they sell in your state.
3 Likes