moving all funds to Vanguard versus keeping at separate institutions

[GastroMastro]

I am in the process of rolling over 403(b) accounts into my current employers 401(k). currently funds are at Prudential, TIAA, and Vanguard. Is it unwise to move all funds into one institution? I would love the simplicity of having a master account. do people keep funds separate for cybersecurity and to reduce institutional risk, or is htis just being paranoid?

[bovie]

It’s both.

Go where the lowest expenses and best funds are.

[CordMcNally]

Probably more paranoid than anything. The institutional risk will be infinitesimally small. Do you keep money in multiple different bank accounts because of cyber risks?

[Larry Ragman]

I once achieved the goal of having all of my deferred, Roth, and taxable accounts at Vanguard. It was very convenient since Vanguard made tracking everything together easy, and of course the low cost index funds are great. But lately Vanguard has been making it harder to keep all the tracking centralized. First they outsourced my variable annuity, then my deferred compensation accounts.

Anyway, if you can get them all together it is useful, but not required. It would be easiest and most accurate to just put the accounts into good funds managed at good prices and use one of the tracking programs (Mint, Personal Capital, etc.) to check AA, performance or whatever. I should say that is not what I do. Instead, I insert a manual tracking fund to mirror the performance of my nonVanguard funds. (You can also actually pull in the data from other funds directly, but I found those links to be fragile.)

[Bellescamp]

I had everything at vanguard. Work switched custodians so now 2 sites
i wish it was still all at VG for simplicity
I’m was not worried about risk at being with one custodian

[Tim]

All accounts at Fidelity. The plus is, both my wife , two children and brother (all of which have their own accounts as well) come to me for questions. Makes life so much easier. “Let me take a look.”
Fidelity also has a “Group” function that I find useful with drill down. Set up a name, and pick the accounts and you slice and dice as you wish. Dad, mom, son, daughter, brother or any group of accounts you wish (needed since the total by default includes everything). Note, a spouse’s accounts are added as an outside account.
I don’t know if Fidelity would actually let you link a non-Fidelity account. That would solve some data issues.

Employer accounts of require a separate logon because your SS# is not on the account and you won’t get the consolidation benefits.

[molar roller]

I've gotten lazy about it, but I used to move funds to different brokerages to take advantage of bonuses.
Started a few years ago when Fidelity was offering 50k miles for $100K deposit, and did it a few times since.
Usually DCA at Vanguard,once a year shop for the best offer, and move the accumulated funds there in kind. No fees, and was a good way to pick up a few thousand dollars.

Best offers now are at CitiWealth and Ally - up to $5000/3000 for up $2M transferred, but better percentages for amounts under that.
Fidelity offers $X,000 for every $X,000,000 (not a public offer, have to inquire).
It's usually per SSN, so depending on the size of portfolio, and x2 in 2-player game, can be a nice chunk of change.
I've found that these can be somewhat negotiable as well.

The only requirement is to keep funds there for 9-12 mos. No other fees. Some brokerages can't custody certain funds, so best to ask before.

It's a bit of a hassle to collect 1099s at tax time, but well worth the effort.

[molar roller]

Update: I let my Fidelity rep (with whom I've never spoken before) know that I am likely considering Citi.
Bonus was doubled to $10k/$5M, per SSN.
In my experience, most brokerages are willing to negotiate.

[GastroMastro]

Update: I let my Fidelity rep (with whom I've never spoken before) know that I am likely considering Citi.
Bonus was doubled to $10k/$5M, per SSN.
In my experience, most brokerages are willing to negotiate.

nice work, but $10k for 5 million in funds? that does not seem super high. is it a one-time bonus, annual bonus?

[bovie]

nice work, but $10k for 5 million in funds? that does not seem super high. is it a one-time bonus, annual bonus?

One-time.

Better than the $300 or whatever they normally give LOL.

[molar roller]

nice work, but $10k for 5 million in funds? that does not seem super high. is it a one-time bonus, annual bonus?

one time.
But this is really money for nothing. Have to keep funds somewhere. Fidelity, TD Am, Vanguard - doesn't matter. No requirement to use any paid services or incur any fees.
You can move it back and forth if you like and get the bonus more annually.