If you withdraw funds from the Vanguard, beware. A new screen, confusing and hindering (to me)

[question everything]

I have been withdrawing RMDs for myself and for my spouse for seven years, or so. Ever since the first turned 70 1/2.

I am familiar with the steps: I select the fund, than select sell from the transaction menu. A new screen opens telling me how much of the RMD I have already taken and how much more I need to take by the end of the year.

The next steps are directing the funds: check, or electronic banking, and then how much tax to withhold, if at all. Federal and State.

Final step is to review everything and then to submit. And an email confirming all of this comes immediately.

Today it was different. Different screen without the choices, just selecting SELL. I though that just hitting sell would generate all the additional information. Noooo. Yes, an email came telling me about the completed transaction. It did alert that no tax was withheld and... no word about how I would get the funds.

So I called and, thankfully got a live person pretty quickly. First thing he cancelled the first transaction and then guided me on the next steps how to get to my familiar page.

Why do they do this to senior people???

[Joinfortmill]

1. Vanguard is more challenging in some ways since John Bogle died. Glad it worked out.

Even though he had left, it seems to me it wasn't until after he died that things got a bit more difficult. I still hang in there, though.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. It must be an industry security measure

Several institutions have upgraded. I consider some retrograde. Once is unrecognizable to me. One doesn't work very well. I had to email one of them. They put out videos. Who has 10 hours to digest this stuff? What worked no longer works. ETrade got bought by Morgan Stanley a year ago. They called it a merger. It was Etrade from Morgan Stanley. Now in Sept it will be Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. I don't have an account. I have a lineage. It has provenance, going back 30 years. From one to another buyout, a merger, another buyout. I closed eTrade once, only to have another account bought by eTrade! Then there was Harris Bank. It sold off a division too. At one point 2 accounts merged. These are pretty small accounts, But what a headache!

And fees. New fees coming. How will they paralyze me now? I've thought of going with a local Schwab office. THere are few so I'm lucky one is local. Bring it all under one roof. Then learn new software! For weeks or months!

So I know what you mean!

Vanguard is bringing everything under VBS, Vanguard Brokerage Services. How do they plan to go from mutual funds to Broker? New fees surely.

[GoodRaisin]

3. The low fees are supposed to be a major selling point for investing with Vanguard.

I wouldn’t think they would be getting away from their mutual fund business. Perhaps they are just adding brokerage services. All my investments are in Vanguard index funds so I hope they aren’t contemplating making any major changes.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Vanguard Brokerage goes back 30 years or more

Originally they partnered with a broker in Richmond VA. I'm surprised to see all accounts asked to convert to be under the VBS umbrella name. I doubt they would attach fees to their index funds or their other mutual funds, though a few have redemption fees here or there.

[at140]

5. you can pre-arrange RMD withdrawals. After that you have to do nothing.

You can have Vanguard compute RMD and set dates and amounts of withdrawals.
I have 100% of RMD cashed out in last week of December. This way my RMD money remains in IRA for the whole year almost. The money coming out goes to my bank account already linked. All this happens automatically. I do not have to fart around with Vanguard screens which change frequently.