# Reducing Withdrawals from Mutual Fund Companies



## Pecos (Mar 17, 2020)

I have to take my RMD as determined by the size of my IRA's last December so that withdrawal is a fixed amount each month for all of 2020.

But in order to reduce our selling on the way down, we are reducing our withdrawals from our Roth IRA's and her traditional IRA.

You would think that this would be a simple change that can be done on their secure webpages, but oh no, they have to make it difficult and hopelessly confusing. The worst so far was Dodge & Cox where we still have to mail in a form after spending a half hour on the phone. Vanguard and Fidelity were a little better, but still way more difficult than it should be. Their security gauntlet alone takes 15 minutes after you manage to actually get someone on the phone.

And if you want to change the bank where your money gets deposited, well my friend, stand by for more frustration and additional forms to be mailed in.

Sorry for venting, but you folks are "Handy." I assume that I am not the only one encountering this.


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## Don M. (Mar 17, 2020)

I've had good luck with American Funds.  I've made a few changes, over the years, as markets run up/down, and I've been able to do so on the Web-site, within minutes, with NO human intervention....phone calls, etc.  Most recently, I moved the bulk of my IRA into far safer funds, about 3 weeks ago, and the process only took a few minutes, and was implemented/verified about 30 minutes later.  

I suspect that some fund companies have concerns about "hacking" etc., which probably leads to excessive security measures, but there should be a balance between security and customer accessibility.  If their data network is being properly managed, a customer should not have to go to extreme measures to conduct business.


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## fmdog44 (Mar 18, 2020)

I made a lot of money with the Dodge & Cox Stock Fund but when the market fell in 2008 it imploded. This was when mutual funds were averaging very handsome returns unlike today they all look like mini-gainers.


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 18, 2020)

I transferred my funds from Vanguard to Schwab. Schwab.com is *so* user friendly as opposed to how confusing and cumbersome Vanguard's online distribution process is. Besides that I couldn't imagine my sometimes impatient son trying to deal with the nonsense on Vanguard.com if he needed to handle business for me. I'm so happy I made the switch.  We were also able to arrange for him to have his own log in for my account. Schwab reminds me that it's time to take my RMD and tells how much based upon what's in the account.  The RMD form can be printed out from the computer or they'll mail it if requested. I chose to upload the completed form to their website via the messaging section rather than deal with snail mail. I never used Dodge and Cox so I can't begin to compare.


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## mathjak107 (Mar 18, 2020)

OneEyedDiva said:


> I transferred my funds from Vanguard to Schwab. Schwab.com is *so* user friendly as opposed to how confusing and cumbersome Vanguard's online distribution process is. I'm so happy I made the switch. Schwab reminds me that it's time to take my RMD and tells how much based upon what's in the account.  The RMD form can be printed out from the computer or they'll mail it if requested. I chose to upload the completed form to their website via the messaging section rather than deal with snail mail. I never used Dodge and Cox so I can't begin to compare.


I have found just about any brokerage better than vanguard in policies and customer service..they have seen the last of me .....I only gave them 10% of my business thankfully and fidelity 90% .

now I use fidelity for 90% and chase and Citibank for 10%


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 18, 2020)

mathjak107 said:


> I have found just about any brokerage better than vanguard in policies and customer service..they have seen the last of me .....I only gave them 10% of my business thankfully and fidelity 90% .
> 
> now I use fidelity for 90% and chase and Citibank for 10%


Speaking of Citibank, I got my $425 bonus and am in the process of moving my money back to Chase and closing the Citi savings. I prefer to use them only for my credit card. I did find out however, that I had more luck using the chat feature rather than trying to get through by phone.


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## mathjak107 (Mar 19, 2020)

citi is one of the few paying a decent rate of interest  on new accounts if you take advantage of the bigger bonus dollars ... we are getting over 1% plus 1100 dollars for opening the accounts .

atm's have been out of money here lately as people fear local banks closing .... chase announced they are closing 20% of all locations ... capital one is shutting down by us too ....this is where being dependent on atm's with on line accounts can suck ...  we had to go to a few atm's yesterday to find one with money left in it .


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 19, 2020)

mathjak107 said:


> citi is one of the few paying a decent rate of interest  on new accounts if you take advantage of the bigger bonus dollars ... we are getting over 1% plus 1100 dollars for opening the accounts .
> 
> atm's have been out of money here lately as people fear local banks closing .... chase announced they are closing 20% of all locations ... capital one is shutting down by us too ....this is where being dependent on atm's with on line accounts can suck ...  we had to go to a few atm's yesterday to find one with money left in it .


I hadn't heard about the Chase closings. Wonder if they'll close the one closest to me. I don't like that one anyway and with online banking rarely have to go there. I can count the time's I used an ATM over the decades on one hand. I put a few hundred in the bank yesterday...maybe I should have held on to it.  But I have enough cash here because I rarely use cash for anything. I'd better make my son aware of the possible shortages because he uses ATMs frequently.


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## mathjak107 (Mar 19, 2020)

here you go

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020...-its-bank-branches-to-combat-coronavirus.html

https://www.bizjournals.com/washing...ne-is-closing-dozens-of-branches-andsome.html


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## OneEyedDiva (Mar 19, 2020)

mathjak107 said:


> here you go
> 
> https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020...-its-bank-branches-to-combat-coronavirus.html
> 
> https://www.bizjournals.com/washing...ne-is-closing-dozens-of-branches-andsome.html


Thank you.


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