I am looking seriously at having my own RIA firm (I am currently an IAR using an RIA and have concluded that this is rather silly; I “hung” my 6, 7, and 63 about one year ago). The RIA I use right now uses TDAmeritrade as their custodian. I have found that whenever I do a fairly sophisticated IRA transaction involving such actions as account titling on beneficiary IRAs, having the money move thru a trust and using the oldest DOB for RMD, and or other transactions involving IRA and QRP money, the transaction gets debated for a long period of time. I find myself explaining to my RIA why something needs to be done who then attempts to explain to TD at which point the transaction gets referred to the TD legal department for “review” which often takes 1-2 months before resolution.

The conclusion I have come to is that TD does not understand the nuances of qualified money (nor does my RIA, but that is why I am considering becoming my own RIA). SO my question is, who does?

I am looking long and hard at Pershing (BNY-Mellon), Schwab, and Fidelity for RIA service.

Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions would be more than welcome.