VG customer service

[Tangler]

Been on hold for 1 hour 6 min. simple question: Does my solo 401k accept after tax contributions.
Conflicting info online.
Seems like vanguard is just getting worse and worse in terms of customer service.
https://www.mysolo401k.net/vanguard-...ted-solo-401k/

[CordMcNally]

Unfortunately, this is an ongoing issue for nearly every company and every industry. A few things I've found helpful are to hope you don't ever need help or get sick.

[Tangler]

hung up at 1hour 15 min with no answer

[GasFIRE]

Been on hold for 1 hour 6 min. simple question: Does my solo 401k accept after tax contributions.
Conflicting info online.
Seems like vanguard is just getting worse and worse in terms of customer service.
https://www.mysolo401k.net/vanguard-...ted-solo-401k/

mysolo401k sets up your plan to accept voluntary after-tax contributions, VG (and all of the other mainstream providers of individual 401k plans) do not. Why were you trying to contact VG CSR?

[VagabondMD]

Unfortunately, this is an ongoing issue for nearly every company and every industry. A few things I've found helpful are to hope you don't ever need help or get sick.

The pandemic has accelerated the deterioration in service across all industries (healthcare, airline/travel, restaurant, mail, etc.). We have a new saying in our household when confronted with this: "Everything sucks." It is a bit fatalistic, but it quickly reminds us that this is the world that we now live in.

One of our favorites was when we were taking my wife's car in for routine service about a year ago. There was a sign at the service desk that read: Because of COVID, we are no longer washing cars after service. Like what the heck does COVID have to do with washing a car, other than possibly using it as an excuse to lay off the dude who washed the cars?

Re: Vanguard customer service, its reputation is obviously not the greatest, but trying to get any question answered from anyone in the 4 business days between Christmas and New Year's Day, amidst a huge Omnicron spike is probably going to be quite a challenge.

[Tim]

Unfortunately, this is an ongoing issue for nearly every company and every industry. A few things I've found helpful are to hope you don't ever need help or get sick.

Never ever had that problem with Fidelity all the way back to preceding the internet. Try calling Fidelity and see if they answer the phone.
Maybe they just recognize my phone, I doubt that very much.
Open for others experience.

[VagabondMD]

Never ever had that problem with Fidelity all the way back to preceding the internet. Try calling Fidelity and see if they answer the phone.
Maybe they just recognize my phone, I doubt that very much.
Open for others experience.

Uh, last week, Fidelity was down at the market open. I had a small "fun trade" to make and could not the trade in for over an hour. The whining and bitcing on Twitter was only outdone by the deafening silence on the part of Fidelity. Of course, there was no way to get through to customer service, by phone, chat, smoke signal, or carrier pigeon.

[Tim]

Uh, last week, Fidelity was down at the market open. I had a small "fun trade" to make and could not the trade in for over an hour. The whining and bitcing on Twitter was only outdone by the deafening silence on the part of Fidelity. Of course, there was no way to get through to customer service, by phone, chat, smoke signal, or carrier pigeon.

Good example. No system is immune from occasional system wide problems. I have encountered several myself over decades. One hour must have been frustrating. Hopefully the price movement went your way! Curious, did you try the FAST phone system? I would suspect that was down as well.
I would have drove 5 minutes and walked in and raised the roof and the brick and mortar would have been helpless too.
Your hour for a major system outage is better than 1:15 minutes to answer the phone only.

Both are better than the flight cancellations of the airlines and trying to reach a ticket agent.

[Hatton]

I have accounts with Fidelity and Vanguard. Mostly Vanguard for the last 10 years. I have never had a problem with them. I had to call about a month ago about something the phone was almost immediately answered. Probably a year end thing.

[Tangler]

Yes, end of year problem. First world problem. Still doing better than I deserve.

[Craigslist]

Ive been on hold with Merril Lynch for 1 hour for the past 2 days + on the 24th before hanging up because no one picks up. Its not just a VG thing.

[Tangler]

Ive been on hold with Merril Lynch for 1 hour for the past 2 days + on the 24th before hanging up because no one picks up. Its not just a VG thing.

Good to know. will avoid in future.

[Tangler]

mysolo401k sets up your plan to accept voluntary after-tax contributions, VG (and all of the other mainstream providers of individual 401k plans) do not. Why were you trying to contact VG CSR?

Thanks, yes.

Well, I was basically trying to inquire about the possibility of doing a mega backdoor Roth. I was talking to my accountant this AM and he said I should ask them. I was foolish for calling this time of year.

They do not offer this option but it looks like Fidelity might offer the ability to do it with a solo 401k but it is not totally straight forward and will require calling them.

Do you do a mega backdoor Roth with your solo 401k? If so what vender/company?

Guess the lesson from this post: do not call VG, Fidelity, etc. between dec 15-Jan1. Makes sense. Probably a lot of end of year planning.

I did learn something that saved me a lot of taxes.

Apparently if you pay your MA state income tax from an S-corp you can still make the SALT deduction on your federal income tax.

Obviously double check all this with a CPA and be careful, but according to my CPA if your business pays your MA state tax directly then you get the federal deduction but not if you pay it from your personal account.

This is expiring at the end of 2021. We paid all my state tax by direct deposit from the business today.

This will mean the part i overpaid (by paying quarterly prior to now) will be refunded later and I can take the deduction.

This is a MA specific deal and I owe my CPA a cold (or warm) beverage. Thanks Joe!!!

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/ma...nd-to-2472608/

https://mysolo401k.net/mycommunity/f...oth-solo-401k/

[billy]

Due to recent life events, I've had to call multiple financial institutions the past 2 weeks. All of them had hold times over 45 minutes. vanguard, fidelity, voya, amex, bank of america, chase, SS office, etc

W vanguard customer service, had one bad experience last year, one good one a week ago (although after a 45 min wait).

[Tangler]

Due to recent life events, I've had to call multiple financial institutions the past 2 weeks. All of them had hold times over 45 minutes. vanguard, fidelity, voya, amex, bank of america, chase, SS office, etc

W vanguard customer service, had one bad experience last year, one good one a week ago (although after a 45 min wait).

Hang in there boss.