How to do backdoor Roth on fidelity?

[Rotish]

Just funded my traditional Ira, went to convert and got this message

“There are no shares available to be converted from this account at this time. If you have questions, please call us at 1-800-544-6666.“

I don’t remember having to buy equities in my traditional account In years past, but am I mistaken or shouldn’t I just be able to transfer the cash.

[DMFA]

You have to wait five business days to move money out of the account. This is a Fidelity thing. Check back in a week after putting it on there before doing your conversion. The "amount available to withdraw" will finally not be zero.

[DMFA]

I made a step-by-step guide for this, actually. Here's the shot from that page.

[spiritrider]

The reason for the hold (and only one xfer/day online) is because they do not want to be a hub for people moving money around. You can make an investment immediately without any holding period. As suggested by DMFA, you can probably do the Roth immediately by phone.

[GasFIRE]

If your initial funds come from your own taxable Fidelity account then it only takes a day for each step online, taxable >> tIRA >> RothIRA in two days. I’m guessing your initial funds came from a non-Fidelity account?

[DMFA]

GasFIRE wrote:

If your initial funds come from your own taxable Fidelity account then it only takes a day for each step online, taxable >> tIRA >> RothIRA in two days. I’m guessing your initial funds came from a non-Fidelity account?

Click to expand...

I didn't know that. That will make this much easier in 11 months for 2019.

[VagabondMD]

GasFIRE wrote:

If your initial funds come from your own taxable Fidelity account then it only takes a day for each step online, taxable >> tIRA >> RothIRA in two days. I’m guessing your initial funds came from a non-Fidelity account?

Click to expand...

That was my experience, too.

[Rotish]

Initial funds came from my fidelity checking account.

Just transferred from checking to the traditional this morning. It immediately said 5500 in settled cash available to trade in the IRA account. Maybe I’ll wait a business day before converting.

[DMFA]

Rotish wrote:

Initial funds came from my fidelity checking account.

Just transferred from checking to the traditional this morning. It immediately said 5500 in settled cash available to trade in the IRA account. Maybe I’ll wait a business day before converting.

Click to expand...

It's not the "settled cash" that counts; it's the "cash available to withdraw." Check back each business day.

[bikERdoc]

Going to piggy back off this thread.

Currently I have 2 rollover IRA accounts with Fidelity. One is at zero dollars, the other around 7200. I also have a Roth IRA account that's already set up.

I'm a little confused about the pro rata rule and if that would apply to the one rollover account with money in it. Do I need to move that money in order to do backdoor Roth? Can I use the zero account for placing cash before converting to Roth, or do I need to set up a Traditional IRA account (which I don't have yet).

Thanks in advance

[Rotish]

DMFA wrote:

Rotish wrote:

Initial funds came from my fidelity checking account.

Just transferred from checking to the traditional this morning. It immediately said 5500 in settled cash available to trade in the IRA account. Maybe I’ll wait a business day before converting.

Click to expand…

It’s not the “settled cash” that counts; it’s the “cash available to withdraw.” Check back each business day.

Click to expand...

Cash available to withdraw is 5,500 too, which is why I’m confused. Hopefully just a Sunday/Same day issue.

[GasFIRE]

Rotish wrote:

DMFA wrote:

Rotish wrote:

Initial funds came from my fidelity checking account.

Just transferred from checking to the traditional this morning. It immediately said 5500 in settled cash available to trade in the IRA account. Maybe I’ll wait a business day before converting.

Click to expand…

It’s not the “settled cash” that counts; it’s the “cash available to withdraw.” Check back each business day.

Click to expand…

Cash available to withdraw is 5,500 too, which is why I’m confused. Hopefully just a Sunday/Same day issue.

Click to expand...

It should be just a "Sunday" issue. For as long as I've been doing this, I would make the initial transfer on Jan 1, the next business day convert from the tIRA to the Roth, and could make investment transactions inside the Roth one business day later. It's hard to be patient when you have a good idea 

[DMFA]

bikERdoc wrote:

Going to piggy back off this thread.

Currently I have 2 rollover IRA accounts with Fidelity. One is at zero dollars, the other around 7200. I also have a Roth IRA account that’s already set up.

I’m a little confused about the pro rata rule and if that would apply to the one rollover account with money in it. Do I need to move that money in order to do backdoor Roth? Can I use the zero account for placing cash before converting to Roth, or do I need to set up a Traditional IRA account (which I don’t have yet).

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

Either. You just need to have $0 in all pretax IRAs on 12/31 of the year in which the conversion occurs...in this instance 12/31/2018. I think you should be able to use the rollover IRA for contributions; I think it's just a label and not a distinctly treated entity since EGTRRA in 2001.

As long as you convert an amount equal to your non-deductible contribution (usually $5,500/yr) and rollover the rest into a pretax qualified plan like 401(k) or 403(b), there should be no tax. I've seen it recommended to do the pretax rollover first just to make sure it actually works; I'm not sure that's really necessary, especially since there's a deadline for 2017 contributions and they need to be in before your taxes are done (though the conversions go on 2018's taxes due next year).

[Phoenixdown99]

Give it a few days. Mine always does the same thing.

[EJ at Dads Dollars and Debts]

I called the other day and they said wait 5 business days. Annoying as Vanguard does not do this.

I have a step by step tutorial coming up on my website this Saturday...so feel free to check it out.