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I have Vanguard, Fidelity, and TDAmeritrade. So far Fidelity has better customer service, but I was mad at them before for charging closing fee once and vowed to never ever open an account with them again. I now vow never ever to say never again.
Last edited by NewbieHere; 03-28-2019 at 11:20 AM..
Maybe or the guy could just be a jerk but on the face of it the OP moved nearly all her assets out, won’t engage in possibly Bringing assets back, isn’t interested in doing any more business or providing referrals well then the relationship is worth close to zero and carries risk. There could be more to the story but doesn’t need to be
Nobody owes you referrals and they can move certain assets out if they want to. Those things are not violating the broker/client relationship nor are they a breach of ethics on the part of the client. Clients do not sign any document promising to give you, the broker, names of their friends and family to do a sales pitch to. Nobody wants to be contacted by their broker every two weeks for another sales pitch. That is excessive. Clients don't have to keep feeding brokers continual business. Find other clients. If your service is so good, people should be beating the door down to invest with you. This man has a right to his feelings but he doesn't have a right to act on those feelings the way he wants to. He really should have plenty of other clients he can milk for business and he should also be spending more time trying to find new ones. It appears he doesn't have much going on and is getting desperate.
The broker making threats and using coercion is a breach of ethics, though. They are held to certain standards, fair or not. You can't threaten to drop someone's funds because they won't give you more business. It would be fine to tell them to find a different broker within the same business but you can't cancel their fund and liquidate their accounts.
Last edited by PriscillaVanilla; 03-28-2019 at 12:41 PM..
Nobody owes you referrals and they can move certain assets out if they want to. Those things are not violating the broker/client relationship nor are they a breach of ethics on the part of the client. Clients do not sign any document promising to give you, the broker, names of their friends and family to do a sales pitch to. Nobody wants to be contacted by their broker every two weeks for another sales pitch. That is excessive. Clients don't have to keep feeding brokers continual business. Find other clients. If your service is so good, people should be beating the door down to invest with you.
The broker making threats and using coercion is a breach of ethics, though. They are held to certain standards, fair or not. You can't threaten to drop someone's funds because they won't give you more business. It would be fine to tell them to find a different broker within the same business but you can't cancel their fund and liquidate their accounts.
Not sure how he's making threats or using coercion.
So lets recap.
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Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla
I moved all my funds over from a brokerage firm a few years ago, except for one. The broker has asked me ever since to reconsider and move the funds back but I told them I didn't care for the fees that they charge (and it's also a hassle to transfer all these funds back and forth). The one remaining fund I have is an education college fund that I still have with this brokerage. I left it there because it was doing pretty well in spite of the loading fees. The broker called me recently and said, "just take this fund out too, I'm done with you. Your 14K a year doesn't help me." Then he hung up.
While grumpy, that's not threats or coercion. He's telling you he's done working with you. He has every right. If you get a letter from his firm telling you to move your account... then yes... you have to move it.
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Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla
I guess I'm too busy to worry about his needs or how he will earn a living, or how he would feel. It's just not on my radar.
Whatever decision I make will be the one that benefits me the most, not him.
He's made the decision. He's done with you. You're not worth his time. And if you've gotten a letter telling you to move your account, the firm is done with you.
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Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla
The fund is doing well enough where it is now and I don't have time to move it. Also, it is a breach of his fiduciary duty to "order" me to move the account. I don't have to do so. If he wants, however, he can ask a different adviser to put it with his accounts so he can be done with me, but it will remain with the same funds.
No, it isn't a breach of his fiduciary duty. He doesn't want you as a client, that's his choice. He's not obligated to work with you.
It takes less time to move it than to make a stink on random internet message boards.
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Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla
Nope. Wrong. They can't terminate an account for no reason. They would have to have a very good reason for doing this and they don't have one. If he even attempted such a thing I would sue them to repay the load fees and annual fee I paid on this account. If you work as a broker you should understand the risks of doing that to your clients. Not to mention the tax liabilities for liquidating an account like that and issuing as a check payable to the owner which would cause problems with the IRS. I'd lose a lot more money and he'd wind up losing any professional certifications he has.
This also conflicts with your previous statement that it was a liability for him to have me as a client with the 529 plan. Now you're flip flopping and saying he has no fiduciary duty at all.
Probably because there are none. They can liquidate the account, mail you a check, and as long as you deposit the check into a new 529 plan within x days there are no tax liabilities. Once they mail you the check, it's strictly on you to meet that deadline.
As outlined before and by multiple others; yes, they can terminate an account for no reason.
Probably because there are none. They can liquidate the account, mail you a check, and as long as you deposit the check into a new 529 plan within x days there are no tax liabilities. Once they mail you the check, it's strictly on you to meet that deadline.
As outlined before and by multiple others; yes, they can terminate an account for no reason.
No they cannot mail me a check. That become a taxable event. It can't be mailed directly to me. And no, they can't terminate the account for no reason. The negative consent rules don't allow for the account to be terminated in this situation.
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