Over three years ago, TD Ameritrade, the custodian of your investments, announced that it was being acquired by Charles Schwab. Finally, the day draws nigh when Schwab will retire the TD name, and your TD-green statements will turn Schwab-blue. The transition will be complete over Labor Day weekend.
When we founded Great Oak, we chose TD as your custodian due to its low costs and superior technology. Fortunately, Schwab recognizes those qualities and will continue the good work begun at TD on your behalf.
Not much will change. Visually, your statements and the Schwab website will look different (though most of you don’t use the TD website, as our client portal is much more robust). If you do use the TD website (AdvisorClient.com), you’ll need to set up a new login and password for the Schwab site. We will provide more info about that over the coming months. Operationally, you’ll have new account numbers. Other than that, except in rare instances (and we’ll let you know individually), there’s nothing else you’ll need to do. It’ll be business as usual.
Schwab has a great learning center here: https://welcome.schwab.com/alliance. Of all the questions it answers, we believe the following answers will be the most popular:
• All account history/statements for the last 10 years will carry over.
• All account contributions/withdrawals will NOT be disrupted.
• Paperless statement permission will remain in force.
• You will receive two statements for the month of September: one from TD Ameritrade (showing a zero-dollar balance and no positions) and one from Schwab illustrating the change in account number.
• This will be the only year you will receive two sets of tax documents: one from TD Ameritrade & one from Schwab per account.
• Schwab will be issuing new checkbooks. Please shred your existing ones after 8/15 to be safe.
• All but a handful of you will notice zero changes except a different color statement and website.
We will continue to send out notifications as things progress based on the timeline below:
• 90 days before your transition weekend you will receive personalized information and calls to action in AdvisorClient. This is for anyone that uses the TD Ameritrade Website. Again, our portal is much more robust.
• 60 days prior to the transition, you will receive an Account Notification letter from Schwab, letting you know your account will transfer over Labor Day weekend. There is no action required from you for your accounts to transition. If you have any questions on materials you receive, you can always call us to review.
• 28 days before your transition weekend you will be prompted in AdvisorClient to create your new Schwab Alliance login credentials. If your AdvisorClient credentials qualify, you’ll be given the option to retain your existing user ID or create a new one.
• Approximately 3 – 4 weeks prior to the transition, you will receive a Key Information packet in the mail from Schwab, which will include your new Schwab account number and other important details about the transition.
• Transition weekend (Labor Day Weekend): you will no longer have access to AdvisorClient beginning at 8:30pm ET on Friday, September 1.
• Beginning on Tuesday, September 5, you will have access to your accounts in Schwab Alliance.
As always, please call us if you have any questions. Stay tuned for further updates.
Cheers,
John, Bill, Mark & Melanie