Heads up - Getting Ready for Upcoming Broker Changes
Margaret Wentworth on
Thanks again to all of you who have seen my question and sent along what information you have. I appreciate this extra support from others who will be the person dealing with this merger. Third time for us since our organization in late 1997 when we had to have a bank account and deposit into it and then write a check to the broker. Much easier now and that is how we would like to keep it.
It seems to me that brokerages are blind to "non-business" organizations like investment clubs. Your legal organization structure (most likely a partnership) is more important. So I would not ask "what about investment clubs", I would ask about partnerships organized for investing/trading of partnership funds. Every representative should be able to discuss that with you. If that representative cannot do that, there certainly has to be someone up the line with that knowledge.
I just had a live chat with a Schwab rep. Her reply to my
question about our investment club account at TDAmeritrade
was this:
" At this time we do not have any guidance on how investment
cub accounts will be handled. The TDAmeritrade/Schwab merger
is expected to go through the end of 2020, and the
integration and transfer of accounts will take place over
the course of 18-36 months after that."
So our club is just standing by and waiting to see what
happens. We'll keep investing as usual until then.
Jeff Rauch on
I have been treasurer of the SCS Investment Club for the last couple years, which has been using Schwab (and Bivio) for as long as the club has been in existence (~20 yrs, I think). Schwab classifies us as a "General Partnership" (though we are not registered as such in Indiana, somehow we fall under the umbrella of our local Sr Center).
I don't know if Schwab has a policy regarding new investment clubs, however, I would be surprised if they would turn away business, especially that "acquired" thru a merger.
As far as working with Schwab there are several things I have learned in the last few years:
Normal month to month business works as well as can be expected.
Schwab customer support has been excellent. In the last couple years they "misplaced" a few investment checks I had mailed in one time. A call got that expeditiously sorted out. I have mostly contacted them by phone, and have rarely had to wait long, if at all, to talk to an agent.
Schwab (and Bivio) send e-mail updates for all transactions promptly. Which is how I noticed the missed checks. So your treasurer needs to monitor his e-mail regularly, and check statements vs Bivio monthly.
I have mostly used the Schwab phone app for trades. And have found it easy to used. I logon to their web site for monthly & annual reports and research.
In addition to investments we have a "bank" account with Schwab for our cash.
The one thing that I found difficult and time consuming with Schwab was setting up access to the accounts. When I took over from the treasurer of many years I had to work thru getting the Schwab agreements setup myself (i.e. without much help from the former treasurer). While this was, conveniently, a fill in the blank .pdf document, it was ~20+ pgs and in some cases not very clear as to what was required and what was optional (every page needed to be included, even if it did not apply). It took a couple months and many faxes, e-mails and phone calls to get to the point where I could login to Schwab. The following year we wanted to make a couple changes (added/deleted "Authorized Individuals") to our agreement, which still took about a month to get sorted. In this case a local Schwab office helped expedite getting the new agreement in place. And since I continued as treasurer I had access to the accounts thorough out the process.
Therefore, I recommend you get started on setting up your Schwab account a couple months ahead of when your TDAmeritrade account goes DARK.
So I recommend you establish a relationship with a "local" Schwab office. Our "local" agent is ~45 mi. away, but was easy to get hold of by phone or e-mail and was a consistent person rather than a different person each time I called the Schwab help number. While review and approval of the Schwab agreement has to go thru a central office the local agent can be a big help to get the initial draft agreement complete and work thru issues that will come up. As far as I know Schwab does not have a central e-mail address, but the local agents do. I found this convenient for sending agreement drafts.
Schwab has a secure web site that can be used to send/receive documents, though I have never used it (I sent stuff via a fax no) I recommend you try to.
Your treasurer will need to be an "Authorized Individual". I recommend you also make one or two other members "Authorized Individuals" as backup to your treasurer. This should insure that you will not lose access to your account if your treasurer changes.
Good Luck, and let me know if you have other questions.
Jeff Rauch, Treasurer
SCS Investment Club
jeff.rauch1948@icloud.com
On August 3, 2020 at 4:06 PM, "Margaret Wentworth via bivio.com" <user*25964300001@bivio.com> wrote:
Thanks for the feedback. Currently some us use direct pay from our banks but the rest hand me checks made out to TD and I make out a deposit slip and mail them. Will not go back to running a bank account so we can write one check each month. Any other Schwab clubs out there?
We have been with Schwab since the beginning 12 years ago. No problems or headaches with them, but have heard before that they are not taking on new Investment Clubs. I would think in the merger they would have to take on the TD Ameritrade Investment Clubs.
I also had the same experience when I explored the club option with Schwab several months ago when it was first mentioned. So, if anyone has experience with Schwab, it would be helpful to know.
I guess I was thinking if we made a purchase or sale right before the transfer of data we would not be able to check it for accuracy and get it corrected if need be.
Kim
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S10, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone
Subject: [club_cafe] Heads up - Getting Ready for Upcoming Broker Changes
In this second half of the year three brokers commonly used by clubs are being Acquired.
TDAmeritrade is being acquired by Schwab
Folio Investing is being acquired by Goldman Sachs
E*Trade is being acquired by Morgan Stanley
If your club uses any of these brokers, there are two things you should do right now to get ready.
Make sure that you check that the purchase dates, number of shares and cost basis shown for each lot of each of the stocks you own on the bivio "Investment Lot Cost Basis" report, agrees with similar details on an "Unrealized gain/loss" or "Open Tax Lot" report you can get from your broker.
Make sure that you check that the purchase dates, number of shares and cost basis and capital gain shown for each lot of each stock you have sold so far this year shown on the bivio "Capital Gains and Losses" report agrees with similar details that your broker shows on a "Realized gain/loss" or "Closed tax lot" spreadsheet.
The reason to do these things ASAP is that the information from your old broker will go to the new one. If any of it is incorrect, there then be no way to change it at the new broker.
If any of your information in bivio is incorrect, you will need information from the old broker to get it corrected. Access to this may be limited once the change has happened.
You want to find out and fix any problems now, before the brokers are taken over.
Laurie Frederiksen Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com
I have been treasurer of the SCS Investment Club for the last couple years, which has been using Schwab (and Bivio) for as long as the club has been in existence (~20 yrs, I think). Schwab classifies us as a "General Partnership" (though we are not registered as such in Indiana, somehow we fall under the umbrella of our local Sr Center).
I don't know if Schwab has a policy regarding new investment clubs, however, I would be surprised if they would turn away business, especially that "acquired" thru a merger.
As far as working with Schwab there are several things I have learned in the last few years:
Normal month to month business works as well as can be expected.
Schwab customer support has been excellent. In the last couple years they "misplaced" a few investment checks I had mailed in one time. A call got that expeditiously sorted out. I have mostly contacted them by phone, and have rarely had to wait long, if at all, to talk to an agent.
Schwab (and Bivio) send e-mail updates for all transactions promptly. Which is how I noticed the missed checks. So your treasurer needs to monitor his e-mail regularly, and check statements vs Bivio monthly.
I have mostly used the Schwab phone app for trades. And have found it easy to used. I logon to their web site for monthly & annual reports and research.
In addition to investments we have a "bank" account with Schwab for our cash.
The one thing that I found difficult and time consuming with Schwab was setting up access to the accounts. When I took over from the treasurer of many years I had to work thru getting the Schwab agreements setup myself (i.e. without much help from the former treasurer). While this was, conveniently, a fill in the blank .pdf document, it was ~20+ pgs and in some cases not very clear as to what was required and what was optional (every page needed to be included, even if it did not apply). It took a couple months and many faxes, e-mails and phone calls to get to the point where I could login to Schwab. The following year we wanted to make a couple changes (added/deleted "Authorized Individuals") to our agreement, which still took about a month to get sorted. In this case a local Schwab office helped expedite getting the new agreement in place. And since I continued as treasurer I had access to the accounts thorough out the process.
Therefore, I recommend you get started on setting up your Schwab account a couple months ahead of when your TDAmeritrade account goes DARK.
So I recommend you establish a relationship with a "local" Schwab office. Our "local" agent is ~45 mi. away, but was easy to get hold of by phone or e-mail and was a consistent person rather than a different person each time I called the Schwab help number. While review and approval of the Schwab agreement has to go thru a central office the local agent can be a big help to get the initial draft agreement complete and work thru issues that will come up. As far as I know Schwab does not have a central e-mail address, but the local agents do. I found this convenient for sending agreement drafts.
Schwab has a secure web site that can be used to send/receive documents, though I have never used it (I sent stuff via a fax no) I recommend you try to.
Your treasurer will need to be an "Authorized Individual". I recommend you also make one or two other members "Authorized Individuals" as backup to your treasurer. This should insure that you will not lose access to your account if your treasurer changes.
Good Luck, and let me know if you have other questions.
Thanks for the feedback. Currently some us use direct pay from our banks but the rest hand me checks made out to TD and I make out a deposit slip and mail them. Will not go back to running a bank account so we can write one check each month. Any other Schwab clubs out there?
We have been with Schwab since the beginning 12 years ago. No problems or headaches with them, but have heard before that they are not taking on new Investment Clubs. I would think in the merger they would have to take on the TD Ameritrade Investment Clubs.
I also had the same experience when I explored the club option with Schwab several months ago when it was first mentioned. So, if anyone has experience with Schwab, it would be helpful to know.
I guess I was thinking if we made a purchase or sale right before the transfer of data we would not be able to check it for accuracy and get it corrected if need be.
Kim
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S10, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone
Subject: [club_cafe] Heads up - Getting Ready for Upcoming Broker Changes
In this second half of the year three brokers commonly used by clubs are being Acquired.
TDAmeritrade is being acquired by Schwab
Folio Investing is being acquired by Goldman Sachs
E*Trade is being acquired by Morgan Stanley
If your club uses any of these brokers, there are two things you should do right now to get ready.
Make sure that you check that the purchase dates, number of shares and cost basis shown for each lot of each of the stocks you own on the bivio "Investment Lot Cost Basis" report, agrees with similar details on an "Unrealized gain/loss" or "Open Tax Lot" report you can get from your broker.
Make sure that you check that the purchase dates, number of shares and cost basis and capital gain shown for each lot of each stock you have sold so far this year shown on the bivio "Capital Gains and Losses" report agrees with similar details that your broker shows on a "Realized gain/loss" or "Closed tax lot" spreadsheet.
The reason to do these things ASAP is that the information from your old broker will go to the new one. If any of it is incorrect, there then be no way to change it at the new broker.
If any of your information in bivio is incorrect, you will need information from the old broker to get it corrected. Access to this may be limited once the change has happened.
You want to find out and fix any problems now, before the brokers are taken over.
Laurie Frederiksen Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com
Our club has been a client of Schwab for over 20 years as well so basically echo Jeff's comments.
We avoid the whole check deposit business by requiring each partner to authorize Schwab to pull money from their bank account on the same date of the month. We amended the partnership agreement to provide that valuation for purposes of buying units is the date the money arrives at Schwab so it matches the bivio default dates for multiple capital payments.
We don't have a separate Schwab Bank account, but can write checks on the cash portion of the brokerage account when necessary.
Our Schwab representative in the local office and, more importantly, the front counter staff have always cut through issues with the paperwork.
Jack Ranby
From: club_cafe@bivio.com [mailto:club_cafe@bivio.com] On Behalf Of Jeff Rauch via bivio.com Sent: Tuesday, 4 August, 2020 09:49 To: club_cafe@bivio.com Subject: [club_cafe] Re: [club_cafe] Heads up - Getting Ready for Upcoming Broker Changes
I have been treasurer of the SCS Investment Club for the last couple years, which has been using Schwab (and Bivio) for as long as the club has been in existence (~20 yrs, I think). Schwab classifies us as a "General Partnership" (though we are not registered as such in Indiana, somehow we fall under the umbrella of our local Sr Center).
I don't know if Schwab has a policy regarding new investment clubs, however, I would be surprised if they would turn away business, especially that "acquired" thru a merger.
As far as working with Schwab there are several things I have learned in the last few years:
Normal month to month business works as well as can be expected.
Schwab customer support has been excellent. In the last couple years they "misplaced" a few investment checks I had mailed in one time. A call got that expeditiously sorted out. I have mostly contacted them by phone, and have rarely had to wait long, if at all, to talk to an agent.
Schwab (and Bivio) send e-mail updates for all transactions promptly. Which is how I noticed the missed checks. So your treasurer needs to monitor his e-mail regularly, and check statements vs Bivio monthly.
I have mostly used the Schwab phone app for trades. And have found it easy to used. I logon to their web site for monthly & annual reports and research.
In addition to investments we have a "bank" account with Schwab for our cash.
The one thing that I found difficult and time consuming with Schwab was setting up access to the accounts. When I took over from the treasurer of many years I had to work thru getting the Schwab agreements setup myself (i.e. without much help from the former treasurer). While this was, conveniently, a fill in the blank .pdf document, it was ~20+ pgs and in some cases not very clear as to what was required and what was optional (every page needed to be included, even if it did not apply). It took a couple months and many faxes, e-mails and phone calls to get to the point where I could login to Schwab. The following year we wanted to make a couple changes (added/deleted "Authorized Individuals") to our agreement, which still took about a month to get sorted. In this case a local Schwab office helped expedite getting the new agreement in place. And since I continued as treasurer I had access to the accounts thorough out the process.
Therefore, I recommend you get started on setting up your Schwab account a couple months ahead of when your TDAmeritrade account goes DARK.
So I recommend you establish a relationship with a "local" Schwab office. Our "local" agent is ~45 mi. away, but was easy to get hold of by phone or e-mail and was a consistent person rather than a different person each time I called the Schwab help number. While review and approval of the Schwab agreement has to go thru a central office the local agent can be a big help to get the initial draft agreement complete and work thru issues that will come up. As far as I know Schwab does not have a central e-mail address, but the local agents do. I found this convenient for sending agreement drafts.
Schwab has a secure web site that can be used to send/receive documents, though I have never used it (I sent stuff via a fax no) I recommend you try to.
Your treasurer will need to be an "Authorized Individual". I recommend you also make one or two other members "Authorized Individuals" as backup to your treasurer. This should insure that you will not lose access to your account if your treasurer changes.
Good Luck, and let me know if you have other questions.
Jeff Rauch, Treasurer
SCS Investment Club
jeff.rauch1948@icloud.com
On August 3, 2020 at 4:06 PM, "Margaret Wentworth via bivio.com" <user*25964300001@bivio.com> wrote:
Thanks for the feedback. Currently some us use direct pay from our banks but the rest hand me checks made out to TD and I make out a deposit slip and mail them. Will not go back to running a bank account so we can write one check each month. Any other Schwab clubs out there?
We have been with Schwab since the beginning 12 years ago. No problems or headaches with them, but have heard before that they are not taking on new Investment Clubs. I would think in the merger they would have to take on the TD Ameritrade Investment Clubs.
I also had the same experience when I explored the club option with Schwab several months ago when it was first mentioned. So, if anyone has experience with Schwab, it would be helpful to know.
I guess I was thinking if we made a purchase or sale right before the transfer of data we would not be able to check it for accuracy and get it corrected if need be.
Kim
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S10, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone
Subject: [club_cafe] Heads up - Getting Ready for Upcoming Broker Changes
In this second half of the year three brokers commonly used by clubs are being Acquired.
TDAmeritrade is being acquired by Schwab
Folio Investing is being acquired by Goldman Sachs
E*Trade is being acquired by Morgan Stanley
If your club uses any of these brokers, there are two things you should do right now to get ready.
Make sure that you check that the purchase dates, number of shares and cost basis shown for each lot of each of the stocks you own on the bivio "Investment Lot Cost Basis" report, agrees with similar details on an "Unrealized gain/loss" or "Open Tax Lot" report you can get from your broker.
Make sure that you check that the purchase dates, number of shares and cost basis and capital gain shown for each lot of each stock you have sold so far this year shown on the bivio "Capital Gains and Losses" report agrees with similar details that your broker shows on a "Realized gain/loss" or "Closed tax lot" spreadsheet.
The reason to do these things ASAP is that the information from your old broker will go to the new one. If any of it is incorrect, there then be no way to change it at the new broker.
If any of your information in bivio is incorrect, you will need information from the old broker to get it corrected. Access to this may be limited once the change has happened.
You want to find out and fix any problems now, before the brokers are taken over.
Laurie Frederiksen Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com
How much access to the TDA Platforms and research is
available to club members?
Peter Dunkelberger on
I suspect not much if TDA is not your broker. Even if TDA is your broker, each club member will have to have the same username and password as each other club member. That means they can access the same information that the treasurer sees. One account number = one username and one password. At least with our account, there is only one level of access.
How much access to the TDA Platforms and research is
available to club members?
Joe Farrell on
Why would you need to provide every partner the username, password and all the other broker access information.
Few partnerships do that. Just the treasurer and one other person has that access in my three clubs and two of them use AMTD.
No other general partnership I worked with during my business life allowed all partners such access.
All of our partners has their own brokerage(s) and use their personal access for research. If a partner wants to know something about the account or holdings then they go to bivio or IClub.
Joe Farrell
On Aug 6, 2020, at 4:50 PM, Peter Dunkelberger via bivio.com <user*26984900001@bivio.com> wrote:
I suspect not much if TDA is not your broker. Even if TDA is your broker, each club member will have to have the same username and password as each other club member. That means they can access the same information that the treasurer sees. One account number = one username and one password. At least with our account, there is only one level of access.
How much access to the TDA Platforms and research is
available to club members?
Peter Dunkelberger on
I did not say we did. My response was to the question of how much access to TDA platforms and research is available to club members? My response was not much if TDA is the club brokerage. But, to get that access, each partner would have to have the same username and password, and everyone would have the same degree of access.
Why would you need to provide every partner the username, password and all the other broker access information.
Few partnerships do that. Just the treasurer and one other person has that access in my three clubs and two of them use AMTD.
No other general partnership I worked with during my business life allowed all partners such access.
All of our partners has their own brokerage(s) and use their personal access for research. If a partner wants to know something about the account or holdings then they go to bivio or IClub.
I suspect not much if TDA is not your broker. Even if TDA is your broker, each club member will have to have the same username and password as each other club member. That means they can access the same information that the treasurer sees. One account number = one username and one password. At least with our account, there is only one level of access.
How much access to the TDA Platforms and research is
available to club members?
Peter Dunkelberger on
I read in one of these emails recently that Bivio does not use individual brokerage pricing to value a club's stocks. If that is the case, from where does Bivio obtain pricing of individual stocks?
The next question I have is related to the valuation of a deceased partner's account. As a club, our bylaws require that we value a partner's account on the brokerage statement date. The reasoning for that is lost in the annals of time, but that is our current policy. We are discussing changing that date. One of the reasons is in the instance of the death of a partner, the estate will want a value at the date of death. But if the bylaws dictate the valuation at a different date, and if we are not transferring stock to the decedent, would the partnership valuation date take precedence?
Also, won't the decedent receive a K-1? When does Bivio value the numbers that go on the decendent's K-1? Is it the valuation date or the date of death?
How much access to the TDA Platforms and research is
available to club members?
Charles Bard on
A few years ago I checked with TD Ameritrade. Anyone could open an account with TDA in their own name. The account does not need to be funded. Club membership is not an issue.
Charles Bard
From: club_cafe@bivio.com <club_cafe@bivio.com> On Behalf Of Peter Dunkelberger via bivio.com Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2020 3:07 PM To: club_cafe@bivio.com Subject: Re: [club_cafe] Re: Heads up - Getting Ready for Upcoming Broker Changes
I did not say we did. My response was to the question of how much access to TDA platforms and research is available to club members? My response was not much if TDA is the club brokerage. But, to get that access, each partner would have to have the same username and password, and everyone would have the same degree of access.
Why would you need to provide every partner the username, password and all the other broker access information.
Few partnerships do that. Just the treasurer and one other person has that access in my three clubs and two of them use AMTD.
No other general partnership I worked with during my business life allowed all partners such access.
All of our partners has their own brokerage(s) and use their personal access for research. If a partner wants to know something about the account or holdings then they go to bivio or IClub.
I suspect not much if TDA is not your broker. Even if TDA is your broker, each club member will have to have the same username and password as each other club member. That means they can access the same information that the treasurer sees. One account number = one username and one password. At least with our account, there is only one level of access.