# LIRA



## Tucker96 (Feb 7, 2018)

Hi;
I have a LIRA right now. I'm 56 and have it in an ED Jones acct. The fees are killing me. Can I self direct?


----------



## GreatLaker (Mar 23, 2014)

Tucker96 said:


> Hi;
> I have a LIRA right now. I'm 56 and have it in an ED Jones acct. The fees are killing me. Can I self direct?


Can you? For sure. I have two LIRAs at a discount broker. Most if not all discount brokers allow LIRAs. One of mine came directly from a pension commuted value. The other one was transferred in from a full service broker. You just need to go to a broker or bank, open a self directed account with their discount broker and have them complete the forms to do a registered transfer. You will have the option to transfer in kind (i.e. move the existing securities from EJ to the new account) or in cash (i.e. your new broker will tell EJ to sell existing securities and transfer the funds in cash), which you will then invest at the new broker. Since you don't like EJ, transferring in cash probably makes sense.

Should you? Are you an experienced investor? Have you managed that much money before? It is your pension money, and you don't want to take excessive risk or screw it up.

Another caution. Check with EJ to determine if there are any deferred sales charges on your existing holdings. If so you need to evaluate the cost of the sales charges vs. potential increased returns from self managing it.

The broker you have, the broker you get.


----------



## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

GreatLaker said:


> Since you don't like EJ, transferring in cash probably makes sense. [ ... ] determine if there are any deferred sales charges on your existing holdings.


My instinct is that transferring in kind to a fully self directed brokerage is the best bet. The complicating factor will be whether the destination broker is able to handle the investment vehicle or not, and that is a question for the destination broker.

As for DSCs and other overheads, if you can transfer all at once, in kind, that will be your best bet. Then you can take your time converting the investments a bit at a time as you go, to minimize DSCs or trailing commissions, rather than having to take the DSC hit all at once. Generally DSCs only last for 3 years or 5 years or something and may allow redemption of some % per year. Working through those hoops in a self-directed brokerage is likely less hassle than doing it at EJ and only transferring a bit at a time to the new home.

If the investment vehicle cannot be transferred in-kind, then you're going to have to work with EJ to discover how much can be converted to cash without DSCs and what DSCs remain on the investments, on what schedule. You might find it optimal in this case to convert some portion to cash at EJ, move that to the new brokerage, and convert another block next year, move that, and so forth.


----------



## Tucker96 (Feb 7, 2018)

GreatLaker said:


> Can you? For sure. I have two LIRAs at a discount broker. Most if not all discount brokers allow LIRAs. One of mine came directly from a pension commuted value. The other one was transferred in from a full service broker. You just need to go to a broker or bank, open a self directed account with their discount broker and have them complete the forms to do a registered transfer. You will have the option to transfer in kind (i.e. move the existing securities from EJ to the new account) or in cash (i.e. your new broker will tell EJ to sell existing securities and transfer the funds in cash), which you will then invest at the new broker. Since you don't like EJ, transferring in cash probably makes sense.
> 
> Should you? Are you an experienced investor? Have you managed that much money before? It is your pension money, and you don't want to take excessive risk or screw it up.
> 
> ...


I'm an experienced trader, not investor. It's also a Federal Lira. So, with that comes complications..I do appreciate the answers.


----------



## Tucker96 (Feb 7, 2018)

I'm an experienced trader, not investor. It's also a Federal Lira. So, with that comes complications..I do appreciate the answers..
There are a lot of e-trade or bank investment vehicles out there.
I use Rbc, although I think they a little light in information.
I can pay a monthly fee and trade from that.


----------



## GreatLaker (Mar 23, 2014)

Tucker96 said:


> ...It's also a Federal Lira. So, with that comes complications..


Could you elaborate on that please?

I have an Ontario LIRA. I also have another LIRA from a federally regulated company. Is that what you mean by a Federal LIRA?

My bank would not allow me to put the funds from the federally regulated company pension into my existing Ontario LIRA. Other that I am not aware of any complications. Am I missing something?

Thanks!


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

I am wondering about the complications as well.

Both of my pension payouts were Ontario ... which meant that both could be put into the same LIRA (one to open and the second to avoid having multiple small LIRAs). I recall when the first one was opened that the discount broker rep asked if it was a federally or provincially regulated, where the account had to be set to one or the other.

I suppose one could consider needing a separate LIRA for the proceeds form a provincially and federally regulated pension is a complication (i.e. two accounts instead of one) but that's not much of a complication.



Cheers


----------

