Investor Help (NO Ihub questions)

[cintrix]

Yes! That is what you would have to do. Say we use that 17k carryover example. Next tax year you have a total of 27k in gains for that year. You take the 17k and use it against the 27k and only pay taxes on 10k. There is no 3k deduction because your bottom line of gains is over 3k. Take a look at the Sch D - look at lines 6 and 14. You enter the carryover amount after you calculate the gain/loss amount:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sd.pdf

[eastunder]

Ohh. Good find! That makes more sense to me.

Maybe I just misunderstood my guy?

Even what you posted said...

First, you'll use $3,000 of the loss to offset your ordinary income

,

and my guy probably said that exact same thing to me and I heard it as law for every year. LOL That would be just like me! Which is my mistake in interpretation. I apologize!

I am editing this last part because I'm an idiot. I went thru my taxes and- yep. Idiot still stands. Sorry Cintrix

[cintrix]

I don't think that is correct. I have never heard of that and if you can point me to a link that explains it I stand corrected. When you have a carryover it works the same way. You first calculate your gains/losses. Then you apply your carryover losses to the bottom line. Here is an example of how to apply a carryover - it does not say anywhere that you first apply 3k to ordinary income and then you figure what your gains/losses are:

An Example of Carrying Over Losses

Suppose the stock market has a bad year. You sell a stock or mutual fund and realize a $20,000 loss with no capital gains that year. First, you'll use $3,000 of the loss to offset your ordinary income. The remaining $17,000 will carry over to the following year.

Next year, if you have $5,000 of capital gains, you can use $5,000 of your remaining $17,000 loss carryover to offset it. You can use another $3,000 to deduct against ordinary income, which would leave you with $9,000.

The remaining $9,000 will then carry forward to the next tax year. Assuming that you had no capital gains in the following three years, you could use up the remaining $9,000 loss, $3,000 at a time, over those three years.
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/can-a-capital-loss-carryover-to-the-next-year-2388983

[eastunder]

I'm sorry, cintrix! I wasn't thinking first year of taking losses.

I was thinking, and talking, carryovers.

It is my experience that on a Carryover, they use the 3k deduction first and then use the remaining carryover losses against any gains.

For example- if you have 23K in carryovers, they deduct the 3k to use against income first, then what you really have is 20k in carryovers (23-3=20) to use against your gains for that year. Even if you have 23K in gains that year, you now have just 20k available because they took that standard deduction.. And you pay taxes.

So that's why I said they use it first. If I am correct, that 3k standard deduction line even comes before the carryover line when doing your taxes, no?

Then again - first year with new guys and never noticed this before so maybe my guys are messing with my head? Forgive me if I over spoke!

[cintrix]

Yes. But I am not sure what you are saying that the allowable loss goes first. You have to have a loss of 3k after gains and losses are calculated to deduct it.

[eastunder]

The 3k per year deduction or 'allowable loss' goes towards your personal income - and that occurs first, BUT then you can use the remaining losses, ALL of them- if you have them, against any gains you realized in the current year.

If you still have losses left after that usage (regardless of shortterm or longterm) you then carry those over into the next year and you repeat the same scenario. Use the first 3k against personal income... then use whatever you can against gains you may take in that year.

And if you are like me - you just have someone else do it for you. ;) But I call them every year to get carryover numbers before I tax harvest in 15 different accounts.

[cintrix]

Use this and change the date of the calendar to view upcoming splits:
https://finance.yahoo.com/calendar/splits/

[ottoman]

well, I still want the account, for a few reasons. Its just frustrating when you don't use that account frequently, and you log in, to discover some new frustration lol.

Just this morning, I logged into my Etrade accounts, to find I was charged the $38 in multiple accounts for stock CEI which recently did a reverse split. I forgot I had that stock, I bought it months ago (maybe 2021) But over the course of months, the reason I bought it (to make money) disappeared, so I should have sold it before any reverse split. it's a NYSE stock, so the corporate action does not appear on "the daily list" for OTC stocks, or the FINRA corporate-action webpage for Nasdaq stocks (which I check everyday)

[cintrix]

Or being that it is the end of year you could just liquidated the whole thing and use it as a tax deduction. Remember, even if the loss goes over 3k which is the allowable loss you can take for a year, you can carry over the loss each year. It may be a good time to just get rid of it and wash your hands clean. Unless you have some stocks in it that you still think there may be a chance of a rebound.

[ottoman]

I have plenty of old useless penny stocks in the Ally brokerage account. years ago it was Zecco Trading (the first, or one of the first zero-commission brokerage accounts). Then Zecco became Trade King, then Trade King became Ally Invest.

I rarely trade in it, and only about $250 value in it because.............it sucks

So I'll keep it as it is.

[cintrix]

Can you transfer the entire account to Etrade or Schwab or do you have non transferable penny positions?

[ottoman]

well, Ally Invest has re-opened my brokerage account. Just a very impersonal email stating that my brokerage status was "open".

No explanation, no apology. I calculate I lost about $25 by having the account frozen for the past 2 days. No biggie, But hey, that's gas money.

I submitted a complaint to FINRA this morning, before my account was reopened lol. I wonder if Ally Invest received an immediate email from FINRA regarding my case. I had the reference number from my phone conversation (which I always record), and customer service person's name.

Anyway, I would still highly advise anyone reading this post to NOT open an Ally Invest account. It takes several attempts to log into the account on Web Browser (they are aiming for the Android APP-using customer, not your PC /Laptop using Dinosaur like me), so their web-browser interface is horrible now.

[cintrix]

I think that is definitely a good idea.

[ottoman]

thanks. I may wait and see what their response is, so that I can include the response in any complaint submission

[cintrix]

Absolutely file a complaint even if they correct what they did wrong. What if you needed to get into that account to sell something? Their customer service sounds as bad as Etrade's! You can file a complaint with the SEC too:
https://www.sec.gov/oiea/Complaint.html

[ottoman]

DO NOT, under ANY circumstances open an Ally Invest brokerage account. Very suspicious or incompetent or Sleazy business practices.

I just got off the phone with a customer service Rep,......... that was a fiasco. Ally invest took the liberty of closing out my account over the weekend. No heads up, no e-mail, no text, no phone, call no warning of any kind, I just discovered this morning that I can't place a trade. I was placing trades on Friday and suddenly this morning I can't. I can "log in" to see assets, but can't do anything with them.

So I finally get a hold of a customer service person ( apparently accidentally because the stupid phone prompts are all for automated information), and the guy needs to verify my identity. So he says he cannot send me an e-mail verification code, and he cannot send me a text. I asked how that is possible since their own website sent me an e-mail code just this morning to log in. He simply said he could not. I also have the ally invest app on my smartphone, but he couldn't verify me through that.
So he has to go down this list of questions, asking what addresses are associated with me, or what businesses I've worked for etc.

Finally gets me verified, puts me on hold for three to four minutes only to come back and says I have no idea why your account is closed it'll be three to four business days before we get a resolution. I guess I will be registering a complaint with FINRA because that's insane.

[cintrix]

Yep, you got it right! If you micro trade like I do where you buy multiple lots it could be a real pain. I will just use this account for now with what I have in it and see what happens. They are a thousand times better when it comes to customer service but their platform is not as good as Etrade's.

[ottoman]

Darn. I had not noticed that before, probably because I don't usually select which lot's of shares I'm selling.

So, schwab is basically telling you that after the trade officially is settled (2 business days), then it will show under positions, the correct lot which was sold. hmm

I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully there is a work-around for you. If it is a deal breaker, then that stinks.

I have noticed several brokers that have different areas of their website that are not real time information. That is so frustrating.

I have noticed that in vanguard, T Rowe Price, and others.

there will be an "overview" page (or landing page when you log in) which is NOT realtime (T Rowe price shows you all the information from the previous trading-day's close, which is useless).

[cintrix]

Found a pretty big flaw with Schwab that might affect whether or not I end up migrating all of my accounts to them. I absolutely love their customer service. But when I sold two different tickers this morning I found something here I don't like. I didn't sell all my shares of either of these stocks. I only sold partial and I choose which lot I wanted to sell. The problem is, that after you sell it, you can see the trade on their website and which lot was selected, but they don't show it in realtime for your positions. Your positions show that they sold it against FIFO and they said even though you picked the right lot it takes two days after the actual stock clears for the lot you chose to disappear. That's ridiculous. So if you choose lot selection you will not see the correct lots that are still available in your positions until two days later. With Etrade, you choose a lot and sell it, it updates in real time and that lot you choose no longer is visible.

[ottoman]

yes ha! It's why I mentioned it. I don't bother giving feedback anymore. The best feedback is when the company sees it's customers leaving in droves.

[cintrix]

Wow, that Vanguard response sounds like it could have come from etrade.

[ottoman]

Yes! I got a real person at Schwab quickly. He put me on hold for about 2 minutes, then came back with an explanation and resolution to the problem. They are very good with customer service.

lol, it's funny that now, Etrade is asking for your feedback about your money transfer out of Etrade. A bit late for that!

I responded to Vanguard last year. One of their many pop-up requests for feedback, to "make their online experience better". I finally answered, with what I thought were obvious short comings in their website trading platform (like positions/balances not showing real-time data), or confusing webpage layouts

Their response was to simply defend their platform layout, rather than take any criticism under advisement.

oh well, best of luck, trading with your new Schwab account!!

[cintrix]

omg wow! But the bottom line is that you probably called Schwab and got someone to speak with immediately (complete impossibility with Etrade) and they were able to rectify it. I am getting my account up and running with Schwab. My first transfer has been completed and I have another one in the works. I have yet to make a trade with them, but I have picked up the phone and called them a few times, tried their online chat, and contacted them via online customer service messages - absolutely NO PROBLEMS. It is like night and day if you have to compare Schwab with Etrade regarding their customer service.
But here's a very funny thing. After placing the first transfer and receiving notice from Etrade that it went through they sent this line in the email: If you haven't already told us why you made this transfer, we'd love to hear from you at the number above. Your feedback could help us do better.
OMG really Etrade? I (and hundreds of other customers) have been telling you for two years! You don't like customers who only trade stocks - because you don't charge commission anymore you treat these customers like trash.

[ottoman]

Good Morning,

So, one somewhat slight problem I encountered with Schwab today, so I thought I would share it with you. (honestly, I have never encountered this issue before).

This morning, I logged into my Schwab account, and I noticed that a few of my accounts, (I have several), had a negative cash balance.

I determined that it was a stock I bought yesterday in all of my accounts. It is a NASDAQ stock, ( symbol HAPP). It went through a 1-20 reverse stock split (effective today), and I decided to buy 1 share yesterday, because any fractional shares would be rounded up to 1 share.

So for fun, I would buy 1 share at $0.18, and end up with 1 share worth $3.60, for each account. PROBLEM.......... Schwab charged me $50 commission for each transaction for each account.

I just called them. Yes........it was a "glitch". The stock was listed as a "unlisted Foreign ordinary" stock (whatever that means), so therefore the $50 fee.

The fees are being reversed. So all is well that ends well, but I would NOT have noticed it, if it weren't for the fact that a few of the accounts had less than $50 cash, and therefore went into a negative balance (which I noticed)

[ottoman]

Yes, Etrade has commission-free trading, However......not for OTC stocks.



That is the same for TD Ameritrade, and Schwab. They are commission-free, but charge for OTC stocks.

Fidelity has no commissions for any stock, including OTC stocks

[Toofuzzy]

Doesn't e trade have free trading like most everyone else ?

Toofuzzy

[cintrix]

OMG, why don't you call them? lmao - that is if you have no life and don't mind giving up a few hours of your day to them! I think it is apparent that Etrade is not the brokerage it once was. I am all setup on Schwab - created an account and put in for a partial transfer to get my feet wet and try it out. I will report my findings! I can already say that I had to call them while setting up the account because I had a question and a real person who was qualified connected with me within a minute and helped me out without them having to transfer me to someone else - the way Etrade does. So far, happy customer!

[ottoman]

Etrade again: so yesterday, I initiated several inter-account transfers of stock. I wanted shares of a stock in multiple accounts. Sometimes will buy all the shares in one account, and transfer shares from one Etrade account to another......to save Commission.

I initiated several transfers, and they did not all go through. This happened 2 weeks ago also. Their online webpage does not show "pending" transactions on the transfer page, so......I have to assume 1) their transfer page never shows accurate, timely information, or 2) Someone at Etrade simply ignored and cancelled my transfer requests.

Damn I really hate this company

[ottoman]

I think Fidelity, Schwab or TD Ameritrade would be good for you.

I like Fidelity because......there is no commissions, even for OTC stocks, also no mandatory corporate-action fees.

Schwab has no Corporate-action fees, but charges $6.95 for OTC stocks.

TD Ameritrade charges $6.95 for OTC stocks AND $38 corporate-action fee for non-high frequency traders.

But for you, any of the above would be great. No minimum balance to open an account, you could just throw $10 in each one, and play with the platforms. Get a feel for it.

Good luck!

[cintrix]

Yeah, so there is no actual email to use for them. The only paper trail they allow is the online customer service and you know for yourself half the time it is unavailable - I respond to an old inquiry and get the message to them that way.

I'm doing some research from former posts on this board. I know a few of you love Schwab. I was thinking about Ameritrade because I have used them over the years and never had a problem, but from what I read they were taken over by Schwab and they will completely migrate by the second half of 2023 to Schwab platform - that is probably why they are phasing out some of your old features you mentioned you can't find.
I want to use one of the major brokers - no small scale brokers for me - learned my lesson on them - do not trust them no matter how many like them.
I'm thinking about doing a partial transfer to get my feet wet and see if I like the new one or not. I'm hoping by doing that I can still keep the etrade platform for awhile.
Just need to decide which broker to try.

[ottoman]

Wow Cintrix. that really is just hard to imagine. It's bad enough you have to wait on hold forever, only to get an epic attitude like that. He was even rude to the other Etrade customer service person. That dude needs to be fired asap.


I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience!!

Glad I almost never use them anymore. Jeez. I suppose you could try emailing Etrade, and ask about why mandatory reorg fees are not reimbursed anymore. At least that would create a "paper trail" correspondence........in case you need to refer back to it at some point.

I know you like the Etrade platform, but I hope you find another online broker which is more.........user friendly

Wow, Morgan Stanley really destroyed things.

[cintrix]

So Etrade strikes again! I decided to call them to discuss this reorg fee that they are no longer crediting me. Got a very nice rep on the phone but to tell you the truth as nice as she was, she really didn't have an answer. All I wanted to know is what constitutes active trader. She's looking at my account saying I have no idea why you aren't considered active trader - it looks like you make well above the amount of trades.
But here's the thing with this lame company. Now, when you call them, you first have to talk to a rep that really is just screening the calls and is not qualified to do anything - this happens every time. You tell the problem and then after awhile they say "I need to transfer you."
So this girl tells me she will have to transfer me to someone in Active Trader dept. She promised me she would explain the situation and then put me through to them. She puts me on hold and comes back and says she will transfer me to so and so. She merges the call and says this is so and so from the _____ dept. She apparently said the dept wrong and he had an attitude with her and is rude to her while I am on the line.
Then she gets off and I start telling him that I want to know why I am no longer active trader and why I am not getting reimbursed for the reorg fee. This jerk tells me that that fee is never reimbursed. It is a mandatory fee and no one EVER has been credited for it. They don't do this!
Well, I can tell you that I rarely get pissed off at customer service reps since they are just reading a script, but this guy was so blatantly rude and condescending telling me I didn't know what I was talking about and if I could show proof of it then he'd believe me.
So I said I will show proof give me a second to find it on the site. He says to me "I'm not waiting, I have thousands of other calls coming in." And I said "What? YOu mean you don't want me to prove you wrong?"
I lost it so big time with this guy that I can't believe it but I called him a Piece of Chit (but used the real word) and I hung up on him. He by far was the worst rep I ever came across. Had an attitude from the second he got on.
The only thing I was able to get out of this guy was that even though I make a lot of trades those are not what they consider active trader anymore - they want options and future trades so they make money off of you.

[cintrix]

Welcome to the US of Apps! I can't imagine how anyone can function nowadays without a smart phone. I know of one or two dinosaurs who still don't have one.

[ottoman]

After trying 3 different browsers unsuccessfully, I was able to transfer funds using the newly-downloaded "app" for my smartphone.

Boy does Ally Invest suck.

Completely disregards it's customers who use "old school" dinosaur computers.

How old fashioned!!

[ottoman]

I am downloading the "app" for Ally invest, because their website simply does not work anymore.

No ability to withdraw or deposit funds. Their company must be located in North Korea now 🙄

[cintrix]

Ah, ok! lmao Good luck, I hope it gets fixed!

[ottoman]

lol. Actually, I have had this broker for a long time (since about 2007 ish)

It first was Zecco.com (first commission-free online broker to my recollection).

Zecco turned into Tradeking

Then Tradeking turned into Ally Invest. It has been the same turd all along, with a different name.

[cintrix]

Another broker for you, Otto? You are addicted!

[ottoman]

Do NOT, under any circumstances, EVER, open an account with Ally Invest. Useless. I've been trying to log in and DEPOSIT money for the last 20 minutes.

I can log in, but constantly (not just today), there are issues with the website. I thought it was Firefox, but Microsoft Edge doesn't work either.

They won't even take your money?? lol.

Maybe Ally Invest is concentrating on the "app" platform, and neglecting the web-based platform. Either way it is Walrus Diarrhea !!

[ottoman]

everyone

[cintrix]

That's a great point. And on Fidelity and Schwab not charging, is that for everyone or just active traders?

[ottoman]

Well, neither Fidelity nor Schwab charge for mandatory reorganizations, and they are both commission free (for "big board") stocks.

(Schwab is $6.95 for OTC, where as Fidelity is free. )

And both of them have direct email "contact us" methods. Their phone hold times are not ridiculous either (as you and I discussed here some time ago)

There is just so much competition out there for online brokers now. and especially with crypto trading......and legalized online sports betting.......taking away from stock trading........ you would think brokers would be adding incentives (removing fees) not adding them.

[cintrix]

Wow, my guess is that once they got rid of commission they changed a lot of things. I remember APEX. Here's your answer:

TD Ameritrade Apex Account (2022)

TD Ameritrade APEX Has Been Discontinued

TD Ameritrade has discontinued its APEX account. Please use one of the alternative TD Ameritrade accounts or read TD Ameritrade Review.

https://www.brokerage-review.com/online-broker-reviews/ameritrade-apex-account-review.aspx

[ottoman]

That is insane. You are are massive active trader. This is what TD Ameritrade considered as an active trader (Their APEX account, which reimbursed the $38 reorg fee. But APEX apparently no longer exists).

Maybe TD Ameritrade got rid of their active-trader status too? I can't find APEX reference.

[cintrix]

Ok, so you opened up a can of worms here for me with Etrade! I decided to do a search on reorg charges in my account and I found out that of my four linked accounts, there were three charges in one and three charges in another and never a credit for any of them.
In the past, if you made 30 or more trades per quarter you were considered an active trader. I always got credited for these reorg fees.
So I contacted them via their website - and yes, they have online email turned off, but I replied to an old inquiry and was able to submit it.

I first received a reply stating that they reverse the charge for active traders but he check my account and I am not an active trader. I replied that I wanted to know what constitutes an active trader now? I got this answer: The requirements for Active Trader have changed. I am not able to provide the exact terms through secure message.
Just to give you an idea I counted how many trades so far this year I made:
Jan-193, Feb-142, March 215, April - 87, May-62, June-70, July=41, August-88, Sept-49 (as of this date).
The fact that they won't give a specific number as to what constitutes active trader status tells me this is a bunch of bs. It used to be clearly written in their TOS. Their answer is always "give us a call" but they clearly ignore the constant complaints about how difficult it is to get someone on the phone.

[cintrix]

I might have been wrong on the credit:

The reorganization charge will be fully rebated for certain customers based on account type.

https://us.etrade.com/what-we-offer/pricing-and-rates

[ottoman]

Also, did you try to email them by clicking on the last message that appears and hitting reply even if it has nothing to do with your issue now? It should work. I've done it.

No I didn't try that. I thought of that idea, and went looking through past etrade emails. but the emails (from Etrade) were not from customer service, but were from "notifications". Just automated "trade confirmation"-type stuff.

Another way to "email" them, is to upload a document. You could type a document (Microsoft word) and upload it to them. That seems crazy, to have to do that (instead of a simple email) but as we know.....Etrade stinks lol

[ottoman]

I forgot which broker (if it is only one) you are using now. Fidelity? Schwab?

For non OTC stock trading, they are pretty similar.

[cintrix]

Yes, but I think that they are not giving that credit to high balance accounts anymore. I could be wrong but I seem to remember seeing a reorg fee that didn't get credited and this was post Morgan Stanley. Because of the phone wait I didn't even call about it. I can't get over how bad they have gotten. I only have kept them because I like the trading platform and have been using it for years. It's also a pain to transfer accounts - I've done it in the past. I'm going to go on the site to see if they mention credits for certain accounts. Also, did you try to email them by clicking on the last message that appears and hitting reply even if it has nothing to do with your issue now? It should work. I've done it.

[ottoman]

well, I called this morning. A direct number to the corporate actions department. Actually got a person almost immediately. You have to go searching for direct numbers (found a Reddit post).

Anyway, As a courtesy, they will reimburse one of the $38 fees in each account. They are arguing that it was actually 2 separate corporate-actions, which is BS.

TD Ameritrade also charges a $38 fee for mandatory reorganizations, and they did NOT charge me twice for this. Nor have I ever seen (to my recollection) an attempt to charge twice for a (Reverse split followed by forward split) corporate action.

How long were you on hold?

Initially, last night I was on hold for about 15-20 minutes.

Also, before MS took over, when you got a reorg fee, you would always get a credit for it a day or two after it posts.

Yes, but that was only because I had XXX amount of money in Etrade at the time. So as a gratuity, they would refund all reorg fees. Since I hate hate and also hate Etrade, I pulled all money out except for a few dollars in each old account lol