Account in Your Name?

[Call_Me_Op]

I have heard that you should always ensure that your brokerage account is "in your name." Is there a clearer (or more explicit) definition of what this means?

[Call_Me_Op]

Dumb question perhaps?

[tainted-meat]

I think it's a great question. I just don't have the answer you may be looking for. Good luck!

[gd]

Whose name were you planning on using, and why?

[Robin]

I've not heard this before. Could it be that some account protections are different for accounts that are people versus entities? Just a wild guess.

[RobG]

I have heard that you should always ensure that your brokerage account is "in your name." Is there a clearer (or more explicit) definition of what this means?

I guess you could put it in my name. I'm not sure what you are thinking...

[Epsilon Delta]

I have heard that you should always ensure that your brokerage account is "in your name." Is there a clearer (or more explicit) definition of what this means?

Possibly you heard an echo of the difference between holding in "street name" and "direct"?
Try this page from the SEC.

http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/holdsec.htm

[sscritic]

Possibly you heard an echo of the difference between holding in "street name" and "direct"?
Try this page from the SEC.

http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/holdsec.htm

This doesn't sound like an echo:

The security is registered in your name

Or maybe that is an echo.
in your name in your name in your name in your name

[nisiprius]

Hmmm... I was under the impression that my Vanguard Brokerage Services account is in "my name" but that everything within it is held "in street name."

When you buy a security, whether through your broker or from the company itself, you can ask to have the actual stock or bond certificates sent to you. You may have to pay a nominal fee for the added expense of issuing a paper certificate.

I could have sworn I read somewhere that brokerages discontinued the practice of supplying physical stock certificates a few years ago. Nope, I guess not. But Schwab charges $50 for the certificate and is about to start charging $500. Does the SEC consider that to be "nominal?" Sure--they're charging you a nominal egg.*

*Pun. Read it aloud. Think New England accent.

[celia]

Retirement accounts (IRAs, 401ks, 457s) are in individuals' names although legally there is a custodian for the account, eg, Vanguard. A retirement account can't be held jointly by a couple; each individual needs to have a separate account. Most other accounts (Savings, investments, treasury Direct) can be held by individuals, trusts, companies, organizations. Is this what you are referring to?

The titling of the account doesn't have anything to do with what IS IN the account. An account can hold individual stocks or not.

[Call_Me_Op]

To clarify, this question stems from something I heard on a radio show. The host, a financial advisor, repeatedly warns to make sure your account is "in your name" and if you cut a check, make sure it is "made out to the John Doe account", where John Doe is your name. I am just trying to understand what the advisor might mean by this. As far nas I know, my brokerage account has a number and that number is connected to my name. I think the advisor is warning not to make out a check to another person directly (???)

[JamesSFO]

To clarify, this question stems from something I heard on a radio show. The host, a financial advisor, repeatedly warns to make sure your account is "in your name" and if you cut a check, make sure it is "made out to the John Doe account", where John Doe is your name. I am just trying to understand what the advisor might mean by this. As far nas I know, my brokerage account has a number and that number is connected to my name. I think the advisor is warning not to make out a check to another person directly (???)

Perhaps he is warning people off of financial advisors that just collect money and hold it in some kind of merged trust account. E.g. "Don't make the check out to 'You Can Trust Us With Your Money LLC'" because that is not traceable to you and there is a higher likelihood of shenanigans.