Merrill Lynch Assets Under Management (AUM)
Merrill Lynch is a wealth manager owned by Bank of America. With offices all around the world, the broker
attracts more than just American investors. It has a large client base and over 39,000 employees. The
following numbers reveal the sheer size of the broker-dealer:
| Merrill Lynch client assets |
$2.9 trillion |
| Merrill Lynch number of customers |
2+ million |
| Financial advisors |
19,238 |
| Merrill Edge client assets |
$353 billion |
| Merrill Lynch number of customers |
3.5 million |
Merrill Lynch’s massive asset base generates enormous revenue for the company every quarter—typically over four billion dollars. This in turn produces a net profit in the hundreds of millions.
With 19,000+ investment advisors and several billion dollars in revenue annually, each Merrill Lynch advisor produces around a million dollars in revenue on average every year.
Merrill Lynch is a large brokerage house by AUM.
However, it is not as impressive when comparing total assets under management to
Charles Schwab, who has
7.58 trillion in AUM and over 34.1 million customers.
Free Charles Schwab Account
Open Schwab Account
Merrill Edge Overview
Investors who want to start building a nest egg for retirement should check out the IRAs available at Merrill Edge. With good educational tools and professional investment advice, this broker has a lot to offer retirement savers.
Individual Retirement Accounts
Merrill Edge offers Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, Rollover, SEP, and SIMPLE Traditional, accounts. The
Traditional IRA is ideal for customers who plan to be in a lower tax bracket during retirement. The
Roth is the opposite of that. The Rollover IRA is perfect for savers who have old 403(b) and 401(k) plans that they would like to consolidate into one IRA. The SEP and SIMPLE varieties are designed for self-employed person and small businesses.
An IRA with the broker carries no annual fee. There is also no fee to setup the account, and there is no low balance fee, either. Closing out or transferring a Merrill Edge IRA does carry a $49.95 charge. Statements are in electronic format by default. Paper statements are $5 each.
IRA Education
Investors will find a wealth of investment education on the Merrill Edge website, much of it relevant to retirement planning. Videos and webinars cover a variety of topics, such as how not to outlive a retirement account, utilizing Social Security with a personal retirement account, and retirement for Millennials. Articles discuss several topics, including the number of retirement accounts you should have, when to start taking Social Security, the advantages and disadvantages of converting a Traditional IRA to a Roth, and IRA distributions.
The broker also has good articles on estate planning. These address important issues, such as passing IRA assets to heirs, giving children an early inheritance, creating a trust, and multigenerational IRAs. There is also an estate planning checklist on the Merrill Edge site.
IRA Tools
Several good retirement calculators are available on the broker's website. First, there is an IRA selector tool. This handy device leads users step-by-step through a questionnaire to help decide whether a Roth or a Traditional would be a better choice. There is also a required minimum distribution calculator. The tool asks for several pieces of information, such as account balance, date of birth, and expected rate of return. It then calculates the amount that is required under IRS guidelines to be withdrawn from the account.
Another calculator looks at the results of converting a 401(k) plan to an IRA. Users input data such as account balance, federal tax on early withdrawals, and state income tax rate. The tool then shows the results of converting to an IRA, such as total taxes paid and the remaining balance, and compares the results to simply taking a lump sum payment.
A cash distribution calculator determines the penalty for taking an early withdrawal from an IRA. The tool shows a pie chart of the resulting account value. Also shown is a graph of the results of not taking the early withdrawal.
The Merrill Edge Retirement Evaluator analyzes an IRA account and any regular payments to it.
Funds
Merrill Edge customers can trade over 3,900 mutual funds. Over 800 of these are no-load, no-transaction-fee products. Mutual funds that aren't transaction free cost $19.95 per transaction.
Target date mutual funds are available with the broker. These products were created for retirement savers. Each fund has a certain date, such as 2040, that is the target date. This is the time when retirement is expected to begin. The fund automatically becomes less risky as the target date approaches by selling equities and buying bonds.
Comparison
E*Trade offers ten different IRA types, more than Merrill Edge's five.
Firstrade has more mutual funds
than Merrill Edge, offering over 10,000 funds in total. It charges $0 to buy or sell any fund.
Webull IRAs come with no on-going fees
like Merrill Edge and MUCH lower pricing: $0 on ALL investment products.
Merrill Edge Recap
Merrill Edge has great tools and educational materials for IRAs. Customers who want paper statements, lower commissions, or a larger selection of funds would do
better elsewhere.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
|