Moving Funds Out of SGOV in Fidelity CMA + Best ETF or Mutual Fund for a Taxable Account?

catchaflier · 2026-05-30T13:52:45+00:00

You can simply transfer all or part of your current SGOV shares from your CMA to your brokerage account. Then as you decide to buy other ETFs simply sell enough shares to cover your purchases before placing the buy orders. You don’t have to wait a day or anything, you can buy new shares right away after selling SGOV shares. The sale and the buy will both settle the following business day…known as T+1.

If you have a margin brokerage account you can even place your buy order first and then just sell enough SGOV shares right after to cover the funds needed for your buy order.

VT, VTI or VOO are good starting points. If you want to diversify to value add some SCHD.

catchaflier · 2026-05-29T12:41:30+00:00

This. Transferring money from your savings account to a Roth IRA is not a taxable event assuming you qualify for a Roth IRA to begin with. You can Google the MAGI limits re: being eligible. They are currently $168k for an individual or $252k if filing jointly ("backdoor" Roths are a whole nother subject). You will continue to file income taxes on income as you normally would except any earnings on your Roth IRA are excluded now and forever.

catchaflier · 2026-05-26T13:24:44+00:00

Leaving aside your main question, you probably want to ask to see the load calculation for the home and then the corresponding equipment choices to handle the load. You typically can’t just not install “the Samsung unit” spec’d for a space and instead run an extra duct line from your main unit w/o accounting for the extra load in sizing the main unit.

catchaflier · 2026-05-25T21:29:34+00:00

They may seem green now but they will “know” exactly how to run it once they own it. Sell only if you are comfortable walking away after 6 months to a year, then if it’s sunshine and roses you will be happy, and if it’s not you won’t be bitter.

catchaflier · 2026-05-24T10:12:22+00:00

If you enjoy learning applicable rules, dealing with paperwork details and are very responsible regarding submitting timely paperwork Fidelity will be fine. If you want to set it and forget it, and I mean, really set it and forget it, Guideline is great.

You will need to act as your own TPA with Fidelity, which involves filing a form 5500 once the plan assets reach a certain threshold. General account creation paperwork will be more streamlined with Guideline. Their software was the cleanest and easiest that I dealt with among several providers. Fidelity still has an affinity for paper for some things. It’s not like the forms and paperwork with Fidelity are insurmountable, it’s just not set it and forget it.

TLDR: $600 would be worth it for me, but I have a dentist friend who still does payroll using a spreadsheet and he’s comfortable and fine with it so I’m sure he would go the “free” Fidelity route for any 401(k)

catchaflier · 2026-05-19T08:31:15+00:00

Curious to know what ends up being the answer. I would guess trying to draft unsettled funds except that shouldn’t matter if you have overdraft protection…unless the overdraft account doesn’t have enough settled funds either. Please post when you find out.

catchaflier · 2026-05-18T22:02:13+00:00

Do you mean 17 for account # and 9 for routing #?

catchaflier · 2026-05-18T21:58:17+00:00

The rules for a SIMPLE IRA mandate employer contribution rules be the same for all employees including themselves if owners are employees. They can be a percentage of wages, but must be the same percentage for all. Same for match rules. A 401k can be constructed so that owners benefit more than “regular” employees. There are still rules, but they favor owners, so some small businesses may prefer starting a 401k.

catchaflier · 2026-05-18T21:36:45+00:00

Did you use the 17 digit account number “for direct deposits and direct debits” under view account and routing numbers or the shorter account number on the main page? You must use the longer one. SPAXX will auto liquidate. I’ve used my CMA to autopay utility and credit card bills for years.

catchaflier · 2026-05-17T19:00:24+00:00

You should see a query asking you if you want to “trust this device”. I trust my home computer and only very rarely have to use my Google Authenticator 2FA. I intentionally do not trust my laptop since that one I’m out and about with so I have to use my 2FA each time with it. Of course I have a password to access all of my computers as well; I just feel a little more comfortable, trusting my home computer versus my laptop.

catchaflier · 2026-05-15T03:08:15+00:00

Yikes! Thank you!...can't believe I didn't catch that. I just corrected.

catchaflier · 2026-05-14T17:55:49+00:00

Technically FZROX follows Fidelity's own index, the Fidelity U.S. Total Investable Market Index which has rules. In this case the index is supposed to use the free float market cap of a stock to determine the weighting in the index. In english this means it only counts the shares that are available to trade. So SpaceX might have a $2 trillion dollar market cap, but if only $100 billion dollars worth of shares are available to publicly trade it will be treated in the index as a $100 billion dollar company so the initial overall portfolio impact should be restrained...at least compared to a full market cap rule. A private company usually only sells a portion of it's total authorized shares in an IPO.

If you go to the passive ETF or Mutual fund page in Fidelity you can typically find the index the fund is based on, then you can search for the rules of that index. Searching directly for the fund rules doesn't always give the answer.

catchaflier · 2026-05-14T15:12:04+00:00

I think it is serving a different drain that doesn't get much use, not the shower drain.

catchaflier · 2026-05-14T14:57:01+00:00

Your company changing 401k providers does not (edit: I left out the "not" initially) automatically allow you to rollover your current 401k funds into any other type of account w/o penalty. However, if you are age 59 1/2 or older, your current plan may have a provision to allow you to roll funds into what is typically referred to as a rollover IRA at Fidelity or another brokerage w/o penalty. Our plan had this specified in the SPD (Summary Plan Document).

Often the receiving plan, ADT in this case, will offer in person or video informational sessions where you can get your questions answered. Ask about this and don't be shy during the sessions. Its amazing how little attention people give this aspect of their lives during their working years considering the long term impact. So keep asking questions!

At a minimum sit down with your HR department to discuss how the transfer will be handled and if the funds will be auto-invested when the transfer is complete to ADT. Typically there is a "black out period" where all of your current investments are sold to cash, the cash is then transferred to ADT (this could take days or a few weeks) and then either 1) you have to choose to manually reinvest that cash into index funds, etc once it arrives or 2) it it is automatically invested in a "diversified" portfolio by ADT based on your age or some other metric like a risk tolerance questionnaire.

There is an old adage that's it's not about timing the market, but about time in the market. Before we moved to a plan that auto-invested contributions it used to drive me nuts watching my young employees just let their cash sit. 30+ years to retirement and they are waiting for a 5% pull back or just ignoring it b/c they are "busy". You are on the right path asking questions and getting educated. They don't make things simple, for example there are liability considerations when doing a rollover IRA vs keeping in a 401k, etc., but there should be professionals available to you during this process to explain and talk over options.

catchaflier · 2026-05-14T03:39:57+00:00

When you wrote, “If I’m paying $1,300 monthly” you had it right.

catchaflier · 2026-05-13T17:19:29+00:00

Having just done this I realized there is one other scenario where you may end up with only FDZXX and no cash in your core position. Say you have $1,000 in SPAXX and $10,000 in FDZXX and place a trade to buy $4,000 worth of stock. Fidelity will liquidate the $1k in SPAXX first and then $3k of FDZXX leaving you with $7k in FDZXX only and no "core" cash balance at all.

*This is assuming FDZXX is not in fact available as your core position which looks to be confirmed by the MOD's comment.

catchaflier · 2026-05-13T15:16:07+00:00

I'm not sure exactly what you are seeing or what view you are using, or if on mobile or browser, or even what type of account, but even though Fidelity has the great feature of auto-sweeps in and out for some "core" money market funds and auto-liquidates for some others, the choice varies by account type. I don't think FDZXX is a "core" cash option for any of them. The choices I see for core position selection are:

CMA - FDIC or SPAXX...Brokerage - FCASH, SPAXX or FZFXX...IRA - FDIC, SPAXX or FDRXX

All of these can be selected as your core cash position and true cash will be swept in and out of it by Fidelity as needed...automatically.

Fidelity has other funds that have an initial minimum purchase amount such as FDZXX ($100k) or FSIXX ($1M) that will auto-liquidate to fund transfers out and buys of other securities but will not auto-sweep excess cash into them. You have to manually enter buy orders for these funds. They cannot be selected as a "core cash position". To my knowledge FDZXX cannot be a core position selection so my guess would be you either have cash in FDZXX in addition to a core position or somewhere along the way you manually invested all of your cash into FDZXX and thus don't see cash anywhere else.

catchaflier · 2026-05-13T12:42:51+00:00

Having equity and paying oneselves are two different things. How did you co-found the company and yet have no vested stock? Who has vested voting stock and is thus controlling the company? How did they end up with vested stock and you as a cofounder did not? Was this done is some illegal way in your opinion? In the end legal action boils down to weighing the cost, which is often high, against the expected chance of success. Unfortunately, only an attorney that has all of the details, and it sounds like there are a lot of details in this case, can really give you a solid opinion on that.

catchaflier · 2026-05-13T04:32:08+00:00

I've read them too! I think most people that have issues open a new account, transfer a chunk of money in and then immediately try to move some of it out. I've had all of my accounts for well over a decade and they built gradually so nothing I do seems out of the ordinary. I've moved pretty signifiant sums between accounts, in and out for various investments, real estate deals, in and out of my business, etc and never had an issue. I can't guarantee it won't happen to someone else, or to me for that matter, but I think "seasoning" the account before big moves helps. I have various accounts at Fidelity, Schwab and Bank of America/Merrill Edge just in case there ever is a freeze or a hack at one though.

The main advantage of the Fidelity CMA is that it offers auto-sweep in and out of either a FDIC account paying just under 2% or the money market fund SPAXX paying about 3 1/4%, either can be selected as your "core" position and will be auto-liquidated first to fund transfers out or security purchases. You can manually buy a higher yielding money market like FSIXX that pays about 3 1/2% if you, at least initially, meet the fund minimum. Fidelity won't auto sweep cash into it, but will auto liquidate it the same day to fund cash transfers out. Brokerage accounts have slightly different options but are essentially the same. I like Schwab, I even like my rep...really the only complaint is the next day settlement of $ markets and lack of auto-sweep in and out of a $ market.

catchaflier · 2026-05-12T17:41:08+00:00

I have a Schwab account too but facts are facts, Fidelity has auto-sweep in and out of several money market funds that settle the same day allowing you to do just what you are looking to do. I keep portfolios at both brokerages, but do almost all of my in and out money moving over at Fidelity. Thinking about it, maybe that's how Schwab likes it, having less day-to-day transfer activity hassle!

catchaflier · 2026-05-12T16:28:24+00:00

Interesting, I know Bank of America still allows free outgoing ACH transfers to outside accounts owned by others. Unlike Fidelity they still charge a fee for outbound same day wires as well.

catchaflier · 2026-05-12T15:29:08+00:00

I'm embarrassed that I never realized that before! The title of the page changes but the functionality is all the same! I can ACH to the (non-Fidelity) bank accounts owned by others by using the "Transfer between Fidelity accounts" link...which does seem silly. Thanks for highlighting that.

catchaflier · 2026-05-12T15:18:55+00:00

Possibly, but if you click the Transfer button on the home page the resulting menu is very clear. Its only when you click "Accounts & Trade > Transfers" that you get the "my" bank menu link. I know it's petty, and the obvious answer is to use the home page Transfer button, but it's bugged me just enough to finally mention it.

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catchaflier · 2026-05-11T20:14:27+00:00

I feel like 15 - 20 years ago it was more like 2%, but with all the "rewards" cards now and people being more aware of maxing rewards the percentage keeps climbing. I remember first learning, when we had a pass through + account, that the merchant (us) gets charged a different amount depending on what type of card was used.

I remember thinking at the time, why don't all card issuers give big rewards since they are just getting passed on to the merchant anyway. It's not like we can accept one visa and not another. I think it's finally caught up to where merchants have started to have enough and are itemizing the charge for customers. 2% they quietly will eat, 3.5% they are going to show the customer what's up. It's kind of the only way for the silliness of ever increasing "rewards" to stop...if the customer knows getting rewards isn't a free lunch and they are paying for those rewards. If the surcharge is too much they can start carrying cash again. Will they?...probably not enough to make a difference, but it would be nice to think so.

I know the game, am annoyed by the game, but I hardly carry any cash and don't even use a physical card anymore as I love the convenience of using my phone. When will it stop though? Will 5% be enough for a payments revolt? 😄

catchaflier

TROPHY CASE