Roth IRA rollover question

[QuarterMillionMan]

Trade Station discontinued its crypto Roth IRA so I liquidated my cryptos into a cash balance of $7150 (opened the account w/$7000 in 2021, I think), so I made a small profit. Instead of getting equities w/Trade Station, I rather rollover the $7150 into my Merrill Roth IRA which has equities. My understanding is that I have 3 options;
1) direct transfer from Trade Station into Merrill (very complicated)
2) request a check from Trade Station and make it payable to Merrill for my benefit then deposit it (no 60 day clock) (seems easy enough)
3) request a check from Trade Station made payable to me but then the 60 day clock begins or face penalties & interests (seems easy but stressful w/the 60 day clock ticking away)

Are these my only options and are they correct above?

[Like2Plan]

Trade Station discontinued its crypto Roth IRA so I liquidated my cryptos into a cash balance of $7150 (opened the account w/$7000 in 2021, I think), so I made a small profit. Instead of getting equities w/Trade Station, I rather rollover the $7150 into my Merrill Roth IRA which has equities. My understanding is that I have 3 options;
1) direct transfer from Trade Station into Merrill (very complicated)
2) request a check from Trade Station and make it payable to Merrill for my benefit then deposit it (no 60 day clock) (seems easy enough)
3) request a check from Trade Station made payable to me but then the 60 day clock begins or face penalties & interests (seems easy but stressful w/the 60 day clock ticking away)

Are these my only options and are they correct above?

Can you contact Merrill and ask them to initiate the rollover? (They may even have an on-line form) I don't have any experience with Merrill, but I have done this with Fidelity. They don't ever seem to have any trouble transferring assets electronically in a very short time. The last time I did this was about a year ago--it was with some stock that had some fractional shares. The whole share were over in like 2 days. The fractional shares had to be liquidated and settled and then transferred--that took the longest and was about a week. My perception is this is the easiest way to do it. Yours should be a piece of cake because you are already in cash. I don't have any reason to believe Merrill would be any different than Fidelity.

[Like2Plan]

I found this link:

https://www.merrilledge.com/retirement/rollover-ira

1. open a merrill Roth ira (unless you already have one)
2. transfer your assets (says if you already have an account you can use the online transfer tool OR you can call.)
3. start investing

[QuarterMillionMan]

Thanks L2P, I'll try it. For some reason decades ago I did another rollover with different institutions and it was so difficult. I was leaning to try #2 having Trade Station write a check to Merrill in my beneft but if #1 is easier I'll do it. I already have a Merrill Roth IRA with equities and a balance of $39,000. With the rollover of $7150 it'll be $46,150. Thanks again I'll try it later.

[QuarterMillionMan]

So far it's a no-go on Merrill's website. One transfer method requires a routing number from a checking account. Another method can rollover stocks, from account Trade Station but when I try to choose to rollover into Merrill account it won't allow me to transfer and my Merrill account doesn't show up in the drop down field. I may have to try from Trade Station to Merrill.

[QuarterMillionMan]

[QuarterMillionMan]

I am logged into Merrill but "To Merrill" doesn't show up which should, hum. Any ideas?

[Like2Plan]

I am logged into Merrill but "To Merrill" doesn't show up which should, hum. Any ideas?

I would call Merill and ask for some help. One question for you-- is your trade station account a "Roth" IRA? Is there a Roth account option on the drop down menu?

The account type that is selected on your illustration above says "rollover IRA"--that has precise definition -- from a pretax employer 401k to a pretax IRA.

I wonder if that is why your Merrill Roth account is not being shown?

[QuarterMillionMan]

You are good. I didn't know "rollover IRA" had 2 meanings, one for A rollover Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is an account that allows for the transfer of assets from an old employer-sponsored retirement account to a traditional IRA and another meaning for transferring the funds between accounts. Yes my Trade Station account is also a Roth IRA. I haven't executed the transfer yet but I learned rollover can have different meanings. Thanks L2P.

[VanessaKruze]

Yeah, those options for moving your IRA money sound about right. In my own experience, sending a check straight to the new IRA place (option 2) is the easiest. You don't have to worry about that 60-day timer and getting fined like you would if the check was made out to you (option 3). Trying to move it directly (option 1) can be a big headache because of all the paperwork and trying to get the two companies to work together, so I'd skip that if you can.

Talking about making things easier, picking the right platform can really help with managing your investments, especially when you're doing stuff like IRA rollovers. I've tried a few different ones and this trading platform is my fav. It's easy to use and they've got great support when you need help.

[QuarterMillionMan]

VanessaKruze, I was leaning towards a check made payable to Merrill but according to Trade Station's FAQ, no can do. So I initiated an online direct transfer which will take 5 - 7 days

[QuarterMillionMan]

Rollover from Trade Station into Merrill pending of $7195, but can someone explain the transfer/adjustments of -$100 and -$210. Are those fees to rollover?

[disneysteve]

Rollover from Trade Station into Merrill pending of $7195, but can someone explain the transfer/adjustments of -$100 and -$210. Are those fees to rollover?

Your mistake was getting tied up with Merrill. I’m sure they’ll hit you with fees at every opportunity. Stick with companies like Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab to avoid that crap.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Yup Merrill's fees are ridiculously high. Originally, decades ago I had opened up the Roth IRA with Bank of America then some where along the way they merged with Merrill.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Also, if I knew I'd have to pay $310 in fees at Merrill, I would have kept the $7195 in Trade Station and bought equities at Trade Station. But I wanted to consolidate and not have so many different accounts. This all started when Trade Station decided to discontinue its crypto trading platform and I had to liquidate all of my cryptos.