"Mark Freeland" <nNeEwTs[at]sonic.net> writes:

- quote -

Mailing in forms??

What do they think this is, 1999 or something?



--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

"Rich Carreiro" <rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us> wrote in message
news:m33bmm3ksi.fsf[at]animato.home.lan...
- quote -

The Fidelity page I quoted goes on to say:

"If you add the Money Line Service online, the bank account you specify must
be a checking account. To add the service and specify a different type of
bank account (e.g. non-passbook savings, NOW account), you can complete and
return a Money Line form to Fidelity."

--
Mark Freeland
Blue Control Technologies
(650) 259-5866
msf[at]bluecontroltech.com

Chu wrote:
- quote -

Wachovia has no fees for Checking Accounts including online banking and bill pay
with no minimum balance or direct deposit requirement. If you maintain a 1500$
minimum, you can upgrade to their next level of service which gets you free
checks. For $5000 minimum balance, upgrade to next level and get a free safety
deposit box.

"Mark Freeland" <nNeEwTs[at]sonic.net> writes:

- quote -

That's interesting, since when you go to the page to actually
add a bank account to the list of bank accounts linked to
the Fido account, the page specifically talks about "checking"
accounts and even requires you to enter the number of your
next check.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

You are able to do a "Roth IRA Conversion" where you move some of your
traditional IRA into a Roth. The amount you move over is taxable as
regular income but not penalized. For that reason, most people only
move over a small portion per year. Otherwise, it could put you in a
higher tax bracket. Since you're only 35, I think this is a good idea
because the money will have a lot of time to grow. The earnings you
make on your ROTH are all completely tax free after you're 59 1/2.
It also depends on what kind of tax bracket you're in now, and what
you'll expect to be in when you retire. If you expect to still be in a
high tax bracket when you retire (hopefully!), the ROTH is great!

"Rich Carreiro" <rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us> wrote in message
news:m38xwf3jfw.fsf[at]animato.home.lan...

- quote -

I'm not sure about some of this. Fidelity will link to "a checking, NOW,
non-passbook savings, or Money Market Deposit Account (MMDA)."
https://scs.fidelity.com/webxpress/h...html#howdoiadd

I'm not sure you can initiate an ACH transfer on the non-Fidelity side in
all cases. I do know that you can pull from the other side, because I've
paid estimated taxes that way (i.e. I've gone online at my state site, given
the Fidelity brokerage account info, and had the state pull the tax
payments).

It is possible that there is a restriction on intiating transfers with a
Fidelity *mutual fund* account (as opposed to a brokerage account). I've
asked Vanguard whether it is possible to pull money (ACH) from a Vanguard
fund (not from a Vanguard brokerage account), and they've said absolutely
not - the transfer must be initiated from the fund side.

Certainly a brokerage is not a bank. But it is also not a mutual fund, and
I don't know for sure exactly which features a brokerage shares with banks.

--
Mark Freeland
nNeEwTs[at]sonic.net

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I was mostly interested in the
"banking" aspects from a fee avoidance perspective. Just about any
bank will let you write out money to Fidelity (rather, Fidelity can
make an ACH to/from a checking account). My principle interest was in
having my "household value" be worth something to the banking side of a
firm so that I could get a frequently-used checking account with no
minimum monthly balance requirement, free online stuff, and a safety
deposit box.

At this point, I've decided to roll over to Fidelity and worry
separately about finding a good, cheap, bank. (I already use ING for
savings).

Fidelity also called back promptly and have been very helpful. Who
knows - they may get my Roth IRA too, since I don't have one setup
currently. Which could lead to another question: is it worth it to
move some money out of the rollover IRA and put into the Roth? (is this
even permissible? I"m 35 years old).

Thanks again for the advice.
./Chune.

"anoop" <ghanwani[at]gmail.com> writes:

- quote -

Well, since Fidelity only links to checking accounts and ING Direct
doesn't do checking accounts, that's out. Whether or not you can
push money to Fidelty (vs. pulling it to Fidelity) is a question
to ask ING. I'd imagine they'll say no, since, as you noted,
a brokerage is not a bank.

But the fact that ING is an "online bank" has nothing to do
with the probably lack of ability to establish a link between
a Fidelity brokerage account and it.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

Rich Carreiro wrote:

- quote -

What about going the other way; i.e. log in to ING Direct and
initiate a transfer to/from Fidelity. This is what ING Direct
requires and I thought it wasn't possible with Fidelity.

Anoop

Rich Carreiro wrote:
- quote -

What about going the other way; i.e. log in to ING Direct and
initiate a transfer to/from Fidelity. This is what ING Direct
requires and I thought it wasn't possible with Fidelity.

Anoop

"anoop" <ghanwani[at]gmail.com> writes:

- quote -

You can link a Fidelity account to any bank checking account,
where I'm using "link" to mean "log in to your Fidelity account
and initiate an ACH funds transfer to/from your checking account".

And while you are correct that a Fido brokerage account with checkwriting
isn't the same as a checking account, given that the checkwriting is free
and the checks can be for any amount, the functional difference is close
to nil for most purposes. Also, Fido brokerage accounts have online
billpay.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

Rich Carreiro wrote:
- quote -

A Fidelity account with check-writing is not the same as
a checking account. AFAIK, you can't link a Fidelity account
to an online Bank such as ING Direct.

Anoop

I would consolidate everything into your existing Fidelity account.
They all all the services you are looking for.

Have you considered doing a Roth Conversion on part of the account? If
you can afford to pay taxes on part of it now, it would be all tax free
when you withdrawal at retirement. I'm sure Fidelity can help you in
the conversion.. Might be worth looking into...

Scottrade also offers IRA's but if you're not a very active trader, it
might be best to keep everything at Fidelity.

Good luck.

"Chu" <chunews[at]gmail.com> writes:

- quote -

Since you mentioned Fidelity, you do realize that Fidelity
offers all the things you mentioned in your second paragraph,
don't you?

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

Hello,

I currently have an existing rollover IRA and, with a recent job
change, will soon have another. Is now the time and opportunity to
consider rolling the new 401(k) and/or consolidating the IRAs into a
single, larger rollover?

Unfortunately, all the sites I visit each promote their *own* rollover
capability and I've had little luck in finding a site that has a
comprehensive comparison of the rollover-capable institutions.

It would be nice to rollover into a directed account; my current
rollover is with Fidelity (some funds and stocks). Since I do very
little trading, their expenses aren't prohibitive for me.

I'd also like to rollover to an institution that will also offer
additional benefits (ie: linked to a bank account to waive monthly
fees, for example), have no specific IRA maintenance fees, and
otherwise stay out of my way.

I have an existing trading account with Scottrade - which is great -
but I don't know if they would handle the IRA well too.

Advice, suggestions, comparison-shopping sites welcome!
Thanks.
./Chune.