Franklin Hugh Money

An Audio Series · Live Calls

The Transfer Desk: Live Calls

Ten phone calls, dramatized. On one side, a broker who knows the machine. On the other, a real person with a real problem and the wrong vocabulary — "move my money," "just send me the check," "combine everything." Each call takes one kind of transfer, rollover, or new account and plays it out the way it actually happens: the confusion, the catch, and the thing a good rep refuses to let you do.

Ten calls Listen in any order Education, not advice

Educational dramatizations. The callers, names, and firms are fictional; any resemblance to real people or companies is coincidental. This is financial education — not financial, tax, or legal advice.

A companion to The Transfer Desk essays — same machinery, dramatized as the calls where it actually gets used.

Moving an account

1 The Void: A Full Account Transfer, and the Day-Seven Panic A caller is certain his money vanished into the space between two firms. Nothing is lost. ~7 min 4 A Foot in Both Firms: A Partial Account Transfer Move some, keep some. A partial transfer moves exactly what you name — and nothing you don't. ~6 min 5 The Fund That Won't Travel: Non-ACAT and Proprietary Funds The transfer is stuck, so he reaches for the sell button. Don't. ~6 min

Moving retirement money

2 The Check With Your Name On It: A Direct 401(k) Rollover The easy-looking check is the expensive one. Why direct beats indirect, every time. ~7 min 6 The Sixty-Day Scramble: An Indirect Rollover Gone Wrong He already took the check. Now a clock he didn't know about is running. ~6 min 7 The Account You Can't Combine: Inherited IRAs The instinct is to tidy the inherited money into one account. It's exactly the wrong move. ~7 min 8 The Tax Bill You Chose: A Roth Conversion Everyone says Roth is better. Here's what "convert" actually costs. ~7 min

Opening & titling accounts

3 The Name That Isn't a Person: Funding a Living Trust The account isn't owned by a person. It's owned by a document. ~8 min 9 Whose Name Is On It: Opening Individual and Joint Accounts "Joint account" isn't one thing. It's a decision about what happens at death. ~7 min 10 The Company Is the Customer: Opening an Entity Account A business is a legal person without a face. It proves itself on paper. ~8 min