- quote -


Very fortunate of me to have come across this post, I was actually
going to try to open an ING account here shortly! Please "refer"
Joseph DeGroff at joedegroff[at]gmail.com

Thanks so much, and God Bless,

--Joseph DeGroff

-------------------
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

In article <1166049973.733226.43460[at]j72g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> ,
"emailforian[at]gmail.com" <emailforian[at]gmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

I think what (someone) meant by this is there is no _IRS_ early
withdrawal penalty if a contribution to an IRA is withdrawn before the
due date of your tax return for the year that the contribution was made,
and if you file for an extension it can be withdrawn tax free up to the
extended due date.

For example, if you made your investment sometime in 2006, you have
until April 15, 2007 (or later if you file for an extension) to withdraw
your 2006 contribution without being subject to the IRS early withdrawal
penalty.

This has nothing to do with the separate penalty that many (most?) funds
charge for redeeming the fund less than 180 days from the time the fund
was purchased -- it doesn't matter if the fund was part of an IRA or not.

--
-Ernie-

Skyman wrote:
- quote -


Here's my opinion; I am not an expert at such things, but do have some
experience.

That 5.75% is a sunk cost. You will not get it back, so don't factor it so
much in your decisions what to do with that account. Since this is an IRA,
the most we could be talking about is $230 (.0575 x $4000, the maximum you
can invest in an IRA in a tax year.) You learned a lesson for $230,
probably less. That's pretty cheap.

I can't tell if the .7% was a bank-imposed account fee or a fund-imposed
fee. Reputable front-end load funds have very low management fees (because
they charged you up front for the management) so you might as well leave
that money in the find that it's in if the investment was reasonable to
begin with. You don't have to ever put another penny in the account. Open
another IRA somewhere else that offers lots of different fund families, and
some day you might want to roll over that bank IRA into the discount broker
IRA (especially if it gets rid of any annual account maintenance fees
charged by the bank.)

Don't let this discourage you from saving and investing for your
retirement. I opened an IRA back in the 1980's just a couple of months
before the stock market crashed. It scared me away from the markets, and I
didn't start saving for retirement again until 1998. Now I'm trying to
catch up for those lost 10 or 12 years.

Good luck, and best regards,
Bob

Skyman wrote:
- quote -

People say a lot of things.

- quote -

That's correct.

- quote -

That's a decision only you can make.

- quote -

You don't know what they said, you only know what the person at the
bank told you they said. And even if they did say it, they only said
what the person at the bank wanted to hear, knowing full well that it
meant nothing, and that your account would be opened as routine.

- quote -

Of course you did. See my previous statement.

- quote -

The real reason you are in this pickle is because you invested in
something without reading the prospectus, and without investigating
your options. This is not a criticism of you as a person (we've all
made mistakes), but you should learn from your mistakes.

- quote -

It transfers your account to Fidelity. Once at Fidelity, you can
choose which fund you want to invest in. And please research the fund
this time BEFORE you buy it. Read the prospectus and the annual
report, especially the part about fees.

- quote -

No, you have already paid a front end load, and you may also have to
pay a penalty to transfer the money, depending on the terms of the fund
that you bought.

- quote -

This is most definitely NOT true. There are several very reputable
fund companies, such as Vanguard, Fidelity, T Rowe Price, Schwab and a
few others who have many funds with no front end or back end loads and
relatively low expense ratios.

- quote -

No. Fidelity does not offer American Funds. They are two different
fund families. Fidelity only offers Fidelity funds.

- quote -

You're welcome.

First of all, I deeply appreciate the help.

Someone said that I could withdraw my money without penalty in the
first year. There's a early withdrawal fee on the mutual funds I
invested in. I assume this means that if I take out the money and try
to put it into my Fidelity Funds, I will end up losing even more of my
original investment. So, I probably should not do that, right?

The reason I don't like American Funds is that my bank called them and
they said they would "try" to stop the paperwork from going through
when they received it in the mail. Of course, I got a envelope a few
days ago telling me all about my new account that I have opened with
them. It's because of this that I am upset with both American Funds
and my bank. I don't feel that either of them "tried" or else, I
wouldn't be in this pickle.

Now, If I rollover to the Fidelity account, what exactly does that do?
Can I use the money that was originally invested with my bank and
invest it into some Fidelity Funds, without penalty? I noticed on all
funds that there seems to be a fee for taking money out of the fund
within a year or two. Does this mean that I can rollover the funds to
Fidelity, but they must stay in American Funds (that is, if I don't
want to pay any fees)?



**If you don't want to read a commercial, then stop reading**
I figured that this is a good place for investors, so I thought I'd
talk about my new ING direct savings account. To make it short, they
give you 4.5% APY (which fluctuates, and seems to be getting higher),
it's insured, and, If someone refers you, you get 25 bucks for opening
a new account with at least $250 in it. So if you don't have one
already, leave me your name and e-mail address (I get $10 for each
referral).

Again, thanks for all the help,

Skyman

- quote -

Sorry about that. You are correct, thay do charge a 5.75 front-end load
on class A shares. However, don't blame them for it. The fees were
clearly stated in the prospectus. They are actually within the first 8
pages (not diluted deep in the middle). Fees should have been discussed
and evaluated before purchase not after.

- quote -

I didn't say "loads", I said fees. "No load" MFs still have all sorts
of fees embedded in the fund.

According to the SEC a no-load fund is permitted to charge purchase
fees, redemption fees, exchange fees, and account fees, none of which
is considered to be a "sales load." Also a fund is permitted to pay its
annual operating expenses and still call itself "no-load," unless the
combined amount of the fund's 12b-1 fees or separate shareholder
service fees exceeds 0.25% of the fund's average annual net assets.

Even no-load funds aren't in the business of working for free.

kastnna wrote:
- quote -

Oh yes they are. American funds are load funds. Whether you invest
through a bank or not, you still pay that load up front to American
funds.

- quote -

Not all mutual funds have loads. There are so many no load mutual
funds that it's a mystery why anyone would invest in a load fund.

American funds is a Mutual Fund company just like Fidelity,
Oppenheimer, Vanguard, and a couple hundred others. They are not
responsible for the outrageous charges placed by your bank, nor are
they to blame for any of this. They simply buy and sell MFs based on
the instructions of your custodian.

If the investments are sound (American funds has historically had good
funds), you should consider rolling over your bank Roth to you new
Fidelity Roth "in kind" and still hold the American funds MFs inside of
your Fidelity account.

All mutual funds have fees, although they vary from fund to fund (2-3%
is not uncommon). They also have different class structures which
impose those fees, to differing degrees of severity, at different
times. Depending on the share class your bank sold you it may be in
your best interest to transfer "in kind" to avoid paying these fees at
liquidation. I would also openly ask Fidelity about this, as a transfer
in kind does not make them as much money either (it really only
benefits you) and therefore they are less prone to point that out to
you if you don't ask.

Talk to Fidelity about the rollover, but FYI you can withdraw
contributions to an IRA in the year they were made without penalty.

jIM wrote:

- quote -

But he still has to say goodbye to the 5.75%. This was an upfront fee,
not an annual expense. If he already bought the fund, it's gone.

JOE

Skyman wrote:
- quote -

A Rollover would work without too much issue. Tell Fidelity what you
need, give them the account information, and they might be able to do
the rollover for you, or at minimum guide you through the paperwork.

Fidelity's rollover web site
http://personal.fidelity.com/product...tro.shtml.cvsr

I just turned 18, and I opened a Roth IRA with my bank. They a 5.75%
fee on everything that I invest. Then there's the 0.7% fund management
fee annually. I called them 48 hours after I opened it and told them
that I wanted to cancel it. I found out that Fidelity.com would not
charge this mysterious 5.75% on every investment. So I opened an
account with Fidelity and invested some into that account (BTW,
fidelity has awesome customer support). My bank called me back today
(it's been about a week) and told me they couldn't cancel it. The
investment company my bank uses is called American Funds. So my
question is: Is there any kind of law that gives me a few days to
change my mind and cancel the account?

So far, my search on google has been fruitless. My other question is,
would it be right if I filled a complaint with the Better Business
Bureau against both my bank and American Funds? I figure, if I can't
close the account, I will rollover the funds into my fidelity account
so I'm not putting anymore money into their pockets. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Skyman