Best brokerage for solo 401k?

[wintermutt]

I keep my bond funds at Vanguard and my stock funds at Fidelity.  IMHO CS is considerably better at Fidelity, and this is even with enough money at Vanguard to be "Flagship". Actually have more money at Vanguard than Fidelity.  Vanguard has a bit of a socialist bent - I know that sounds weird, but it is the feeling they give me...Fidelity is more like "we respect you because you have big bucks" sort of a vibe. One example - Fidelity is reachable by phone by a nice guy most of the weekend. Not so at Vanguard. Am I paying more in fees for better security and service at Fidelity? Probably...Is it worth it? Not sure now, but when I am 93 years old like my mom, definitely.  Let me put it another way - Vanguard Flagship reminds me a little bit of the California DMV. Fidelity Private Client reminds me of going to an expensive gym.  https://thefinancebuff.com/vanguard-fidelity-large-account.html

[spiritrider]

GasFIRE wrote:

If you are logged in, the first link of this page lists ALL of your accounts ACH routing number and accounting numbers. Mine does include the info for my solo 401k account though I have never made a deposit by this method. There was another thread somewhere on this forum from someone who was able to make a direct deposit into their Fidelity 401k account but I’m not sure if it was for their solo Fidelity account or a non-prototype account in for a custom plan.

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Individuals have reported successfully using online bill pay and ACH EFTs working for Fildelity's investment only accounts used as part of a custom one-participant 401k plan. I have not heard of any reports of that working for a Fidelity SE 401k plan, but who knows?

[GasFIRE]

MPMD wrote:

GasFIRE wrote:

Does your bank or cash management account use BillPay? Fidelity Investments is already available as a standard payee. Add your account # and you a have one-click deposit without physically writing/mailing/dropping off a paper check.

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I am not sure that’s true for solo 401k. Last time I checked (2018) you have to send a check.

As others have said this should not be a barrier to entry. I do my solo 401k contribution once/year after making sure my tax stuff is right. It’s one check, once a year.

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I agree that the method of deposit should not be a barrier to entry. I actually just drop off any investment checks at a branch office since there's one 10 minutes from my home. For the benefit of those adamantly against check writing, I did find this on the Fidelity website: https://www.fidelity.com/cash-management/deposit-money/determine-routing-and-account-number .

If you are logged in, the first link of this page lists ALL of your accounts ACH routing number and accounting numbers. Mine does include the info for my solo 401k account though I have never made a deposit by this method. There was another thread somewhere on this forum from someone who was able to make a direct deposit into their Fidelity 401k account but I'm not sure if it was for their solo Fidelity account or a non-prototype account in for a custom plan.

[MPMD]

GasFIRE wrote:

Does your bank or cash management account use BillPay? Fidelity Investments is already available as a standard payee. Add your account # and you a have one-click deposit without physically writing/mailing/dropping off a paper check.

Click to expand...

I am not sure that's true for solo 401k. Last time I checked (2018) you have to send a check.

As others have said this should not be a barrier to entry. I do my solo 401k contribution once/year after making sure my tax stuff is right. It's one check, once a year.

[The White Coat Investor]

Marko-ER wrote:

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I have Vanguard. It’s fine for my needs. It doesn’t take rollovers and you can’t get Admiral fund ERs. Here’s my post on it. Maybe I should update it:

Where to Open Your Solo 401K

If I were starting today, eTrade would be pretty attractive to me. But I do like having it all at Vanguard.

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I also use Vanguard.  And FYI, I think they do offer Admiral shares (based on a change in ER) as of last month.

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Yes, they do now.

[southerndoc]

Marko-ER wrote:

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I have Vanguard. It’s fine for my needs. It doesn’t take rollovers and you can’t get Admiral fund ERs. Here’s my post on it. Maybe I should update it:

Where to Open Your Solo 401K

If I were starting today, eTrade would be pretty attractive to me. But I do like having it all at Vanguard.

Click to expand…

I also use Vanguard.  And FYI, I think they do offer Admiral shares (based on a change in ER) as of last month.

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Correct, Admiral shares are now the default shares in their Individual 401(k) now.  The $3,000 minimum investment has been waved for Individual 401(k)'s, but Admiral shares with higher minimums require the minimum amount stated.

[Marko-ER]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I have Vanguard. It’s fine for my needs. It doesn’t take rollovers and you can’t get Admiral fund ERs. Here’s my post on it. Maybe I should update it:

Where to Open Your Solo 401K

If I were starting today, eTrade would be pretty attractive to me. But I do like having it all at Vanguard.

Click to expand...

I also use Vanguard.  And FYI, I think they do offer Admiral shares (based on a change in ER) as of last month.

[GasFIRE]

Does your bank or cash management account use BillPay? Fidelity Investments is already available as a standard payee. Add your account # and you a have one-click deposit without physically writing/mailing/dropping off a paper check.

[Dilaudidopenia]

I use fidelity as I had rollovers from 403b/401a from residency.  Super easy.  You don't need to write checks.  You can open a cash account and transfer money to it from whatever bank account you use and then call them and give them a verbal order to make the contribution to the i401k for you.  Easy Peasy.

Just make sure to keel filling out the remittance forms and keep them for your records.

[jacoavlu]

sebBo13 wrote:

Can you give me a hypothetical situation in which this would really matter?

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any situation where you end up with pretax funds in an IRA

[sebBo13]

Checks are one of my pet peeves, I have managed to avoid writing one for years (mostly by having my wife do it ;-) No other rational reason.

I am trying to imagine how much easier my financial life would be by having several accounts with the same brokerage rather than having 4 or 5 different ones. On the other hand I already have at least 3 to deal with, so what complexity could a 4th one add ... in that case I would go with eTrade.

You mention that the inability of rollovers isn't a big deal until it is. Can you give me a hypothetical situation in which this would really matter? Other than gradually shifting my W2 income towards the 1099 I don't plan on making any job changes if that matters.

 

 

 

[jacoavlu]

Fidelity, no Roth contributions. Schwab same I believe.
Vanguard, won’t accept rollovers. Which isn’t a big deal until it is.
E*TRADE probably has the best.
I don’t know about TDA.

Why is sending a check a deal breaker? It’s not much more time than the 30 seconds I spent typing this. You need to keep records anyway.

[Peds]

sebBo13 wrote:

Forgive me for thinking someone who possibly recently went through this process may be willing to spend 30 seconds on responding.

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you are forgiven as you misread my tone. its the internet.

lucky for you, nothing has changed.

[sebBo13]

Yes I did. This thread it 2 years old and Admiral funds were not available at that time. It is not totally unreasonable to assume that things may have changed at Fidelity as well, in particular if they are as archaic as a mail-in check. Sure I could just call Fidelity are ask them directly if they still require this. Forgive me for thinking someone who possibly recently went through this process may be willing to spend 30 seconds on responding.

[Peds]

sebBo13 wrote:

Is there any good reason not to go with Vanguard?

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did you read the blog post? or this entire thread?