logged into account and money gone

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Jul 10, 2022
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I am in disbelief that at my age, so many "new" and never before experienced things continue to happen.

I had mentioned in some past thread that I do not check my retirement, maybe once a year. Because it's basically indexed by now etc.

Since I know things are at an all-time high, I got curious, and logged into Vanguard, 1/3 401k's.

I have a brokerage account there that was initiated when my wife worked there. It was the only account that showed.

My retirement is 7 figures there, so a bunch of thoughts raced through my mind. The most disgusting thing that I came across quickly, is that Vanguard is only open Mon-Fri.

I searched through Vanguard US Mail correspondence, and came across a letter stating my employer plan is moving to a new recordkeeper.

I go to that co's website and punch in my info, and get a response, your account is not eligible for web access. Interesting--but they would open at 9 AM EDT on Saturday.

Continue to search junk mail, and find a letter from this co stating that my retirement is moving to them, and will be locked out 9/11 through the end of September, and there will be no access whatsoever to the funds nor the account. It is NOT dated, nor was it sent first class mail. Looked like junk mail, no different than Andersen or Pella Window replacements.

I get that there is nothing I can do. But at least I know my funds are not gone. I'm just baffled thinking that things we believe to be under control, really are not. Just like oil changing, I just don't believe in paying someone to handle these matters.

For example, things of this nature, wouldn't a letter be sent first class mail? Vanguard's was--so the above scenario hinged on reading a Vanguard letter. imho the employer and the new co has a responsibility more so than Vanguard, who has no say. The real people in charge, my previous employer, or new "recordkeeper," did little to make sure folks knew what was going on. Again, there's no date on the correspondence, but in my estimation it was mailed <=7 days from 9/11.

Most things in life I can shrug off, but I'm just not in a position to recover if 7 figures of retirement funds were gone. Very strange--my cousin likely gave me good advice that I didn't take--he said never leave your 401k with your previous employer when you change jobs. Put it in a personal IRA. The end :giggle:
 
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Your cousin summarized it perfectly. Never ever ever leave a 401K with a prior employer.

In most cases, you are not only paying the for any fees that the platform is charging but also a small percentage fee for your “record keeper”. Go with a self directed Rollover IRA over at Vanguard if you were happy with their platform or with Fidelity if you like a bit more control; your style of investing tells me that you’d be happier back at Vanguard.
 
Yeah - much as I like Vanguard, leaving the administration of your entire retirement account to your prior employer ties you to them.

Not something I would want.

Roll it into an IRA. Pick a good company with which you’re comfortable. Vanguard would top my list of recommendations.
 
My wife went through something similar a few years ago, although it was not anywhere near 7 figures.

Luckily you still had the junk mail. Not even sure we got any - she had to contact HR and call a number.
 
Your cousin summarized it perfectly. Never ever ever leave a 401K with a prior employer.

In most cases, you are not only paying the for any fees that the platform is charging but also a small percentage fee for your “record keeper”. Go with a self directed Rollover IRA over at Vanguard if you were happy with their platform or with Fidelity if you like a bit more control; your style of investing tells me that you’d be happier back at Vanguard.
I have an IRA At Fidelity. I used to consider them the king, back in the days of the Magellan fund. I had it what Stansky was the manager. I even had their select mutual funds they were valued hourly.

Not long ago my buddy emailed me an article, once again to my disbelief, which showed some Vanguard fees to be higher than Fidelity’s.

Likely Fidelity is a logical choice for me.

My wife, by me giving her my cousins’s advice, has only two IRAs, but one that she moved previous employers to. T Rowe, for previous employers, and Fidelity, when she was doing a personal IRA.

It’s a wake up call that many things are not expected. Such as not being able to reach Vanguard outside of Mon-Fri. Could be wrong but I’d expect Fidelity to be 24/7….
 
I am in disbelief that at my age, so many "new" and never before experienced things continue to happen.

I had mentioned in some past thread that I do not check my retirement, maybe once a year. Because it's basically indexed by now etc.

Since I know things are at an all-time high, I got curious, and logged into Vanguard, 1/3 401k's.

I have a brokerage account there that was initiated when my wife worked there. It was the only account that showed.

My retirement is 7 figures there, so a bunch of thoughts raced through my mind. The most disgusting thing that I came across quickly, is that Vanguard is only open Mon-Fri.

I searched through Vanguard US Mail correspondence, and came across a letter stating my employer plan is moving to a new recordkeeper.

I go to that co's website and punch in my info, and get a response, your account is not eligible for web access. Interesting--but they would open at 9 AM EDT on Saturday.

Continue to search junk mail, and find a letter from this co stating that my retirement is moving to them, and will be locked out 9/11 through the end of September, and there will be no access whatsoever to the funds nor the account. It is NOT dated, nor was it sent first class mail. Looked like junk mail, no different than Andersen or Pella Window replacements.

I get that there is nothing I can do. But at least I know my funds are not gone. I'm just baffled thinking that things we believe to be under control, really are not. Just like oil changing, I just don't believe in paying someone to handle these matters.

For example, things of this nature, wouldn't a letter be sent first class mail? Vanguard's was--so the above scenario hinged on reading a Vanguard letter. imho the employer and the new co has a responsibility more so than Vanguard, who has no say. The real people in charge, my previous employer, or new "recordkeeper," did little to make sure folks knew what was going on. Again, there's no date on the correspondence, but in my estimation it was mailed <=7 days from 9/11.

Most things in life I can shrug off, but I'm just not in a position to recover if 7 figures of retirement funds were gone. Very strange--my cousin likely gave me good advice that I didn't take--he said never leave your 401k with your previous employer when you change jobs. Put it in a personal IRA. The end :giggle:
Wife in same situation 7 years ago when leaving employment at a bank. It was made very to her clear what need to be done with her 401K at the time. We rolled it over into an IRA at Schwab. I manage it still.
 
I have an IRA At Fidelity. I used to consider them the king, back in the days of the Magellan fund. I had it what Stansky was the manager. I even had their select mutual funds they were valued hourly.

Not long ago my buddy emailed me an article, once again to my disbelief, which showed some Vanguard fees to be higher than Fidelity’s.

Likely Fidelity is a logical choice for me.

My wife, by me giving her my cousins’s advice, has only two IRAs, but one that she moved previous employers to. T Rowe, for previous employers, and Fidelity, when she was doing a personal IRA.

It’s a wake up call that many things are not expected. Such as not being able to reach Vanguard outside of Mon-Fri. Could be wrong but I’d expect Fidelity to be 24/7….
Some Vanguard fees may be higher than some Fidelity. Depends on the amount of assets. Vanguard “flagship” funds have much lower fees, but require a certain account balance.

Your buddy’s article sounds like a Fidelity sales brochure.
 
Wife in same situation 7 years ago when leaving employment at a bank. It was made very to her clear what need to be done with her 401K at the time. We rolled it over into an IRA at Schwab. I manage it still.
My justification to myself was that I was in some Vanguard funds that were closed to new investors. Also nonsense, but they are a local co that I always admired and wanted to work for. My wife oddly is not in my position as she moved employer 401s to T Rowe Price each time so it’s all in one place, other than her older personal IRA at Fidelity.
 
Some Vanguard fees may be higher than some Fidelity. Depends on the amount of assets. Vanguard “flagship” funds have much lower fees, but require a certain account balance.

Your buddy’s article sounds like a Fidelity sales brochure.
Be curious if I could recreate the info prior to this month, from paper statements and see. I think so.
 
My justification to myself was that I was in some Vanguard funds that were closed to new investors. Also nonsense, but they are a local co that I always admired and wanted to work for. My wife oddly is not in my position as she moved employer 401s to T Rowe Price each time so it’s all in one place, other than her older personal IRA at Fidelity.
Move it into Fidelity and don't look back.
 
I've had some great administrators and some bad for various 401ks. Still, always rolled to an IRA when leaving for the control/protection and then consolidated to a Roth. Next time around (assuming there is a next time) I may consolidate to the new company's 401k.

I try to make it a habit to log in every week/every other week to avoid surprises. Good luck!
 
Move it into Fidelity and don't look back.
This.

I have some at a couple other places, but Fidelity for wife and I = bulk. Some at Schwab and others.

This incident really screams PAY ATTENTION. If the primary mode of communication is snail mail, then read and act accordingly. That said, the only financial and health US Mail we get is the kind they say for now crazy reasons, must be mailed - most of it company or stock voting info and the like, and our marketplace insurance which they claim by law must be mailed.

Anyway, go electronic. Glad not deadly, phew.
 
My wife (the financial brains of the operation) and I log in almost daily, to track the active trading portion of our portfolio, but we also check the mutual funds, to maintain a proper perspective on the entire portfolio, which is apportioned across Vanguard, T.Rowe Price, Charles Schwab, and the USN Thrift Savings Plan.

Checking nearly daily means that we are both connected to market moves and trends, but we would notice a change, as most notices are plastered across the log in as well as sent via snail mail.

By the way, checking every day is a great way to induce panic - something to which we aren’t susceptible, but some folks who check often make a lot of mistakes in buying and selling too often, and based on anxiety.

Be careful about checking every day…
 
I searched through Vanguard US Mail correspondence, and came across a letter stating my employer plan is moving to a new recordkeeper.
Not enough coffee yet, so I'm slow (well I'm that way all the time but I'll use caffeine as my excuse). For your employer to change from one retirement provider to another, wouldn't there be no small amount of interoffice email about it? I forget how many times my employer has changed (maybe it was only once) but for even me, during a time where I studiously ignored everything about retirement, could not but hear about this change. Emails, snail mail and corporate meetings in the big conference room.

Did they really change firms on the low-down? Or am I missing something, like you switched jobs?
 
My wife (the financial brains of the operation) and I log in almost daily, to track the active trading portion of our portfolio, but we also check the mutual funds, to maintain a proper perspective on the entire portfolio, which is apportioned across Vanguard, T.Rowe Price, Charles Schwab, and the USN Thrift Savings Plan.

Checking nearly daily means that we are both connected to market moves and trends, but we would notice a change, as most notices are plastered across the log in as well as sent via snail mail.

By the way, checking every day is a great way to induce panic - something to which we aren’t susceptible, but some folks who check often make a lot of mistakes in buying and selling too often, and based on anxiety.

Be careful about checking every day…
I experimented a lot in the 90’s. My first employer used Merrill Lynch. I moved funds daily. Market up, sell. Market down, buy. 100% learned this minimized my returns. I also had Fidelity select back then and checked hourly. I remember being on a ski trip and Dell got clipped and I felt bad—this isn’t rational I’m at Mt Tremblant I’m supposed to enjoy myself not worry about Dell!

I don’t want to get into the habit of checking daily, but at least monthly would make sense. This morning, Vanguard showed I last logged in April 2024.

I look at this stuff like it’s a big ship, it’s impossible to turn. I remember being at my last job 20+ years ago, and wanting to jump out the window. My portfolio went down $8k since the open. How much is that relative to my daily take home, I asked. I’m guessing this is 2002, when I had < 8 years of investing experience. I no longer look at it like that, of course.

Won’t lie, this morning was a wake up call…
 
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I basically got the same letter from Vanguard. It wasn't just your company it was many/all company 401k accts. They were just selling off/ giving
up that segment of their business is the way I took it. When I got that letter, at that point I decided to transfer my funds from Vanguard to my Edward Jones acct. in order to simplify things as well as have control of where the funds actually are.
 
Checking nearly daily means that we are both connected to market moves and trends, but we would notice a change, as most notices are plastered across the log in as well as sent via snail mail.

By the way, checking every day is a great way to induce panic
- something to which we aren’t susceptible, but some folks who check often make a lot of mistakes in buying and selling too often, and based on anxiety.

Be careful about checking every day…
It's kind of a two edged sword or some other saying as you clearly indicate. If you are used to checking frequently, know more or less what the market is doing, the shock is can be ameliorated - used for the betterment - but yeah don't just check every year...........and make huge turns.

Either you are in charge of your portfolio or you aren't is something I use, the ground in between, not sure about that - squishy!
 
My wife has staunchly avoided any financial conversations regarding our retirement and had refused to discuss her plan with her employer. She leaves everything up to me. That all came to an end two weeks ago when her employer gave her some forms to sign and the subject of annuity came up. She had to learn what an annuity is and she didn't like the idea of them. She also didn't want to leave her money with her employer after she retires and since no one has retired yet at her employer, she asked if she could transfer the funds to an IRA.

I'm currently working with Schwab and planning to consolidate things there.
 
I experimented a lot in the 90’s. My first employer used Merrill Lynch. I moved funds daily. Market up, sell. Market down, buy. 100% learned this minimized my returns. I also had Fidelity select back then and checked hourly. I remember being on a ski trip and Dell got clipped and I felt bad—this isn’t rational I’m at Mt Tremblant I’m supposed to enjoy myself not worry about Dell!

My friend did that in his early/mid 20s, he made alot of money from it but crazy stress from the timing and attention involved.
 
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