dgordon

When I asked about upgrading my Dad's everything counts account to citigold, I was told that it would have to be a whole new account - I think because of the brokerage component.

dolmar

Might want to call 800 number. I know people who have downgrade and upgrade back to Citigold without opening new accounts or having there account number changed on there checking account. If you father has a brokerage account linked to his everything counts account then that account might need to be changed.

Not sure about there current accounts but my Citigold Checking account which is over 15 years old is only 8 numbers. My brokerage account is same last 4 numbers of my checking account number + 2 numbers and a letter infront of the other 4 numbers. My overdraft line of credit on my checking account is same number as my checking account number. And my margin account on my brokerage account is the same number as my brokerage account.

So maybe Citigold requires the brokerage account to be somehow coded to Checking account to beable to sweep all cash in and out of each other.

kiam

Why don't they have something like Men & company or whatever that we, men, can take advantage of from being a CitiGold member?

dgordon

At this point my Dad does not have a brokerage account, but we are wanting to transfer stuff over. I will call Citigold. Thank you.

dgordon

Thank you for your good guidance. Indeed, his account can be upgrading to Citigold without applying for a whole new account and a new number. He has direct deposit with his social security and I really didn't want to mess with that. I took care of the process at the branch today after a phone call to citigold saying that it can be done. Thanks again.

dolmar

Anyone catch the press release from B of A about the new lower online stock trades maybe Citibank will match there new online stock trading prices.

Link for new pricing

if Citibank matched the pricing that would give all Citigold customers $5 online stock trades.

miAAflyer

Is it only IRA or does Citistreet 401(k) count towards 100K total?

dgordon

All retirement money in any form counts. Brokerage money counts. I think a home equity loan counts in some way ??? So, IRA, Keogh, 401K, stocks, bonds, all count (and of course, cash).

dolmar

401K dont count towards balance requirements you can goto Citibank web page

It says very clearly that only IRA and certain Keogh count towards Citigold balance requirement.

kiam

When you rollover 401k to a financial institute, which in this case CitiBank, isn't it converted to IRA by default (this has been what I always understood all along)? I was also told when I opened my citigold account a year ago that if I rollover my 401K, it will be considered part of my total balance requirements.

I actually plan to do this in May next year !!! If it is not counted, then I will be screwed and have to become a non-citigold...

dolmar

Look at the exceptions is says very clearly 401K are excluded towards the Citigold balance requirement. It is in small print under #3.

Not sure info about rollering over or converting 401K to IRA. But if you end up holding it as a 401K then it wont count. If it gets converted to normal IRA it should count.

kiam

This is what CitiGold replied. They said pretty clear that 401k account will be converted to IRA....

--------------
Dear KIAM


Thank you for your message regarding the rolling over of your 401K to a Citibank IRA. You were informed correctly the first time. Your CitiGold IRA is considered toward meeting the $100,000.00. In regards to the type of account it will go into a Rollover IRA. Below is more information regarding 401k rollovers.

The first thing you would need to do is complete any closing forms required by your 401k administrator.

To have your money requested as transfer by Citibank, you would need to complete our IRA Transfer and Direct Rollover Form. Usually 401k companies would prefer to have their client complete closing paperwork which would then generate a check to be sent to you, however they will make the check payable to whomever you designate. In this instance, you would direct them to make the check payable to:

Citibank N.A.
FBO (for the benefit of) your name and either SS# or your Rollover IRA IMMA #.

Sincerely,
............................................

dolmar

I dont know what the point of posting the email back here was. It stated the same thing I told you. If you hold it as a Citibank IRA it will count towards your Citigold balance requirement. I asked my Citibank advisory what benfits if any are there to converting a 401K into IRA.

The main benfit of having your assets in a 401K vs IRA is 401K get discounts on trades and management fees which is why Citibank does not count thoses assets towards CitiGold Balance requirement. Not all companies have agreements with Citigroup to have 401K with them. Alot of company will match contributions you make to your 401K plan while they will not match them into your IRA. 401K are allowed to invest in almost any type of investment while IRA are limited in the types of investments they are allowed to hold.

401K is actively managed retirement account while an IRA is a self managed account. If the company you work for has an agreement with Citigroup for a 401K it can be warped into your Citigold statement but will not count towards the balance requirement.

If you want a self directed retirement plan then converting it to an IRA might not be a bad deal. If you are going to actively manage your account and do a lot of stock sales or want a large selection of no load mutual funds then Citibank IRA is not right place to hold it. Citibank for the most part sells mostly Class A and Class B mutual funds. And there stock trades are not cheap either unless you have over $5MM in assets which if you cant make there balance requirements without converting your 401K to IRA it does not sound like you will. So your stock trades will be set at $24.99 which is on the high end for online brokerage houses considering Bank of America now charges $5.00 for stock trades when you have $100K or more in assets with them.

kiam

The point I was trying to make, didn't realize it wasn't clear, is that those who wish to rollover their 401k account (their accounts are not initially CitiGroup 401k account based) to their CitiGold have no choice but to accept that it will be converted to IRA type, and therefore, it is counted towards the min balance requirement. No one on here (even yourself) was certain how it is counted and what type of account it stays as after the rollover....so I posted the email to reconfirm that after the rollover, it got converted to IRA.

That's all....

dolmar

No Citigroup has 401K for a lot of larger companys. Even if your orginal 401K was not with Citigroup they might have an agreement for a 401K anyways. He told me a lot of the large unions jobs have agreements with 4-5 companys to handle there 401K for there members. Citigroup has Solo 401K even if your company does not has an agreement for a company sponsored 401K with Citigroup. The only way for it to count towards your Citigold balance requirement is for it to be converted over to an plain IRA. That is the point I was trying to make. The term "Rolling Over" means nothing more than convert.

You can "Roller Over" any type of tax deffered program into another. You choose to ask Citibank how you could qualify for Citigold and it seems the only choice you had was to "Roller Over" you 401K into a product that did qualify towards your balance requirement which might not be the smartest move in the longrun. You had alot of other choices if you wanted to move your 401K to Citibank except they would have not qualify towards your balance requirement.