Breaking Up 2

It’s been almost 4 months since I began account transfers to Fidelity.

I began on March 3 with a $500 deposit to open a joint cash management account. I also ordered and soon received a stack of free checks. (For the benefit of Gen Z and some Millenial readers, checks are little pieces of paper that grandparents use instead of cash). Next came the money market account transfer from an existing firm, which I call our disaster fund.  I established an IRA account at Fidelity and began transfers of  my IRA from the old firm. Then began monthly transfers of excess funds from our local bank's checking account. That account pays about .04% interest, versus nearly 4% at Fidelity. This change alone will put about an extra $1k in our pocket each year. At today's rates of course.  Next was setting up and testing billpay at Fidelity. All worked smoothly except it insists on snail-mailing a check for my CITI Mastercard. Fidelity reps have been unable to explain this to me.  I applied for and received a Fidelity VISA rewards card that pays 2% on all purchases. This card will replace the CITI Mastercard. I wonder if this was Fidelity’s plan by refusing to electronically pay the CITI card. Next came transferring my wife's IRA. This had to be done in several steps due to the old firms policies. Last week for the first time I paid all the monthly bills via Fidelity Billpay. Yesterday I changed 5 autopaid bills to Fidelity from our local bank. That chore took most of a rainy Toledo afternoon.  I need to make a stop at our local bank to downgrade our checking account to one that does not require a minimum monthly deposit in order to remain fee free.  Our final chore is transferring the direct deposit of our Social Security benefits and IRA distributions. That will be a job for the next rainy afternoon.

We will still have 2 dinky pension checks deposited to our local bank for ATM withdrawals and other conveniences.

Breaking up really is hard to do, still, having things consolidated will make life easier for my wife and/or my kids after my human card is revoked. 

One final thought. I count my money a couple times each year. In the past I had to visit 8 or more websites to pull the numbers together. Now I just click on Fidelity’s “Full View” button and everything magically appears. Easypeazy.

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