Wellington Admiral shares reverted to Investor

[PinotGris]

We are both retired long time, stable income. AA 60:40 equity:bond. We live in MA, 24% bracket.
Wellington in taxable account recently lost Admiral status. I have been reinvesting distributions into VTSAX AND SP 500 and diluting funds via TLH that were misplaced such as Wellington. There is 40k in it now mostly because of the market and it was recently recharectised down. (VG never informed me.)
Should I worry? Should I try and add to it to bring it up to par for Admiral status?
Should i gift the appreciated shares?
Not do anything?
Thank you.

[livesoft]

All those things would be OK to do.

[Wiggums]

You plan looks fine to me. The institutional expense ratio is quite reasonable. No need to get back to admiral status.

[Mike Scott]

The admiral share minimum for Wellington is 50K. I would decide to either get rid of it completely or keep it at 50K if you want to stay in. It sounds like you have been trying to get out of it slowly? It's not the most tax efficient fund in a taxable account. You could move back into it in a tax advantaged account.

[jeffyscott]

The ER is 0.25% vs. 0.17% for Admiral, for $40K that's comes to $100 vs. $68 per year. I probably wouldn't change my plans over $32 per year, but you could compare the tax costs of selling all of it vs. the $32 per year difference.

Do you have or want Wellington in tax deferred or are you just bailing on it completely? If you plan to leave completely and you think the manager adds no value, then you might compare the tax cost of selling all to the difference between the $100 per year and whatever the cost of the funds you are moving to is, rather than comparing to the Admiral cost.

[PinotGris]

The ER is 0.25% vs. 0.17% for Admiral, for $40K that's comes to $100 vs. $68 per year. I probably wouldn't change my plans over $32 per year, but you could compare the tax costs of selling all of it vs. the $32 per year difference.

Do you have or want Wellington in tax deferred or are you just bailing on it completely? If you plan to leave completely and you think the manager adds no value, then you might compare the tax cost of selling all to the difference between the $100 per year and whatever the cost of the funds you are moving to is, rather than comparing to the Admiral cost.

As i said in my post, Wellington was improperly placed in the taxable account and have held it for many years with very low cost basis. It would have been ok in IRA. Since getting good advice from Bogleheads (thank you all) i realized how tax inefficient it is. I dont want to deal with cap gains, so i liquidate the holding when i have enough tax losses. While i loathe to give it up completely I know it is a tax burden.
Possibly i will do nothing or gift it or reinvest the dividends or add to it when the market is right. More likely do nothing.

[tibbitts]

You plan looks fine to me. The institutional expense ratio is quite reasonable. No need to get back to admiral status.

You meant "investor" expense ratio?

[feh]

Looks like maybe Vanguard is searching for nickels and dimes in the couch...last week they switched my VFSUX for VFSTX after being below the $100K minimum for several years.

[Cheez-It Guy]

If the minimum is really a minimum, then this is expected behavior. They did not sell it and create a taxable event for you. If you want admiral expenses again and you like the investment, then top it up and convert.

[jeffyscott]

The ER is 0.25% vs. 0.17% for Admiral, for $40K that's comes to $100 vs. $68 per year. I probably wouldn't change my plans over $32 per year, but you could compare the tax costs of selling all of it vs. the $32 per year difference.

Do you have or want Wellington in tax deferred or are you just bailing on it completely? If you plan to leave completely and you think the manager adds no value, then you might compare the tax cost of selling all to the difference between the $100 per year and whatever the cost of the funds you are moving to is, rather than comparing to the Admiral cost.

As i said in my post, Wellington was improperly placed in the taxable account and have held it for many years with very low cost basis. It would have been ok in IRA. Since getting good advice from Bogleheads (thank you all) i realized how tax inefficient it is. I dont want to deal with cap gains, so i liquidate the holding when i have enough tax losses. While i loathe to give it up completely I know it is a tax burden.
Possibly i will do nothing or gift it or reinvest the dividends or add to it when the market is right. More likely do nothing.

Sorry I wasn't clear. I understood your post, but thought perhaps you also held it in tax deferred or were migrating it there by offsetting exchanges.

I wasn't sure if you intended to keep the fund but elsewhere, not in taxable and thought that could affect how you might view the ER vs. tax cost.

[CenTexan]

They (Vanguard) did this to me with Wellesley last week. They did send a letter a month ago saying it would happen soon if I didn't get the balance up. What's bothersome is the drop under $50k was because of the drop in value of the Wellesley shares. Oh, well - just a little more motivation to get out of it, I guess.

[PinotGris]

Looks like maybe Vanguard is searching for nickels and dimes in the couch...last week they switched my VFSUX for VFSTX after being below the $100K minimum for several years.

Asked the rep why they switched my shares to investor. He said around this time they assess all accounts. My Wellington has remained in the 40’s for a long time. At one time, before the NEWvanguard, I was told as a Flagship customer ALL our accounts will be Admiral. I don’t know i might have just dreamt it.

[feh]

Looks like maybe Vanguard is searching for nickels and dimes in the couch...last week they switched my VFSUX for VFSTX after being below the $100K minimum for several years.

Asked the rep why they switched my shares to investor. He said around this time they assess all accounts. My Wellington has remained in the 40’s for a long time. At one time, before the NEWvanguard, I was told as a Flagship customer ALL our accounts will be Admiral. I don’t know i might have just dreamt it.

I'm just one data point, but I'd been short of the $100K minimum by about $99K for at least 4 years. They didn't care until last week.

[tibbitts]

Looks like maybe Vanguard is searching for nickels and dimes in the couch...last week they switched my VFSUX for VFSTX after being below the $100K minimum for several years.

Asked the rep why they switched my shares to investor. He said around this time they assess all accounts. My Wellington has remained in the 40’s for a long time. At one time, before the NEWvanguard, I was told as a Flagship customer ALL our accounts will be Admiral. I don’t know i might have just dreamt it.

You might have been told that but it was never the case for anyone I know of. What you may have been told was that all your accounts - taxable, tIRA, Roth, etc. - would all be included in your Flagship status?