Abbvie is one of my favorite stocks. The way I invest in Abbvie is a bit different than most other stocks in my portfolio. Specifically, I invest directly with Abbvie through their transfer agent, as distinct from a discount broker. This form of investing is called Direct Reinvestment Plans or DRIPs, and it’s one of my favorite methods to grow my dividend portfolio. However, recently, I published my Dividend Income Report for December 2018. In prepping for that report, I noticed that the shares of Abbvie in my transfer agent was gone! What gives? Well, let’s dive in to find out.
Old Transfer Agent – Computershare
The previous agent for Abbvie was Computershare. I still use Computershare for other stocks. But with Computershare, I can invest directly with stocks so long as the stock uses Computershare as its transfer agent.
Well, when I logged onto my account in December, I noticed that the shares in Computershare were gone. Apparently, my shares were transferred to a new transfer agent. I was less than pleased.
I like Computershare for a number of reasons. First, it allows me to invest in stocks directly. Before, prior to this blog, I had Computershare but got rid of it because it was difficult to keep track of my cost basis. Additionally, filing my taxes proved to be a nightmare and I just didn’t want to deal with the issue.
Now, Computershare is a partner with Turbotax and that is a huge deal to me! All I have to do is upload the data into Turbotax and then I am done. A win-win solution. That is not the case with the new transfer agent.
New Transfer Agent – EQ Shareowner Services
All my shares were transferred to EQ Shareowner Services. When I called them, it appears that the transfer was effective December 17, 2018. I later got a notice in the mail from Abbvie about the transfer. If there was a prior notice, I missed it.
I don’t know much about EQ, other than they were previously known as Wells Fargo Shareowner Services. For more information or to check out their FAQ, visit here.
Part of the reason why I’m not a fan of EQ Shareowner Services is that they are NOT a TurboTax partner. Therefore, doing my taxes will be less than ideal and I would rather not have to deal with them. So, I’ve decided to move my shares out of EQ Shareowner Services into my other main brokerage that tracks my dividend portfolio.
The Solution – M1 Finance
Thankfully M1 Finance is around. Last year, I did an M1 Finance review and I’ve nothing but good things to say about the company ever since. I’m now able to invest with zero commissions (much like investing in a DRIP) and I get other awesome benefits like dynamic re-balancing as well.
I listed at least 10 reasons why M1 Finance is a good brokerage to invest with. I recommend them, especially for beginners. But, I do recognize that it’s not the right brokerage for everyone as it too has its limitations. So, check out my M1 Finance review above to learn more about the company.
Conclusion
It’s never fun logging into your account and ALL of your shares are gone. Thankfully, I didn’t panic, but rather I just figured it out. I haven’t completed the transfer as of yet because I am waiting for my first statement from EQ Shareowner services to be able to do so. I’ll sleep much better at night once all my funds are in a place that I can trust.
What are your thoughts on this post? I haven’t forgotten that I still need to update my goals for the year. That post will like come towards the end of the month. In any case, please let know your thoughts by commenting below.
Yeee its annoying when you as a customer is sold to another company as just like that. Same feeling should hit you in case of M&A as if your being sold as an employee as a person. Some sort of modern day slave trading 😀 But if you look at it this is almost true as we are partly “slaves” of our companies we work in and services good we use 🙂 We get attached to them emotionally hence leaving them makes us a bit uncomfortable and when we are sold as customer employee we get that sour taste of betrayal. Then we vote with our feet, like you did 🙂 Thank good we are living in free sociality were we could chose your employer or services. Poor Chinese if you thing they are not or at least to less extend. That what you losing comunist regime. Sure for the state its way better to have control on your workforce and services, but for people’s not. I guess the comment went waaaay beyond its post topic 😀 but lucky you that you can just pick up your stuff and leave 😉
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It’s annoying but not the end of the world. I just need to adjust accordingly, which is something I plan to do.
what are the advantages of using computer share? I looked into it a few years ago. Since, I get dividend reinvestment with my brokerage I did not feel the need. Why not close the account?
I didn’t close the account for a number of reasons. For starters, my main broker is M1 Finance. While I love using M1 Finance, they are not perfect. It’s difficult to have my dividends reinvested in the same company that paid the dividends using M1 Finance. Instead, M1 Finance practices dynamic rebalancing where any funds (included reinvested dividends) are applied to the most underweight of stocks. Not a bad thing, but not the drip investing that I look forward to when I purchase through Computershare. I didn’t close my account because I have other stocks with Computershare. I could get those stocks for free using M1 Finance (and I do have them free with Computershare) but I wouldn’t’ get the true dividend reinvesting that I like. In all honesty, there has been debate/talk about whether DRIP investing is outdated given today’s access to the stock market and the prevalence of discount brokers and information. But, it’s kind of nice to know that I can still invest in a company directly through its transfer agent without using a broker. There’s just something cool about that, but in any case, if it aint broke, why fix it, right?
I’m sure that was quite a shock initially when logging in and all of your shares were gone; that’s a bummer that the new transfer agent isn’t as easy to work with. That reminds me a little of when your mortgage gets sold to a new servicing company–we had that happen once and the new company was a nightmare to deal with.
I’ve never used a transfer agent such as ComputerShare to buy shares, I have always used one of the discount brokers. When I first started investing even those didn’t exist and I had to call my broker to process trades!
DivvyDad recently posted…Dividend Income Report :: December 2018
Yea, I think they used to be more popular back in the day, but given the advent of discount brokers, transfer agents are not as popular in my opinion. But it’s still a viable way to invest for some investors.
How bizarre – I would never ever imagine that could happen! Glad you got to the bottom of it – hopefully the last time you ever have to deal with that!
Cheers, Frankie
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Hopefully, but these kinds of things apparently are prevalent. I also recently found out that my mortgage company is being bought out. Not the end of the world, but kind of annoying.
How do we access our account information on EQ ? I just logged into computershare and discovered this news.
Once you log on, there should be a number under Abbvie shares. Call that number and you should be good. That’s the number for EQ. They will then confirm your shares are with them and will walk you through the process.
I’ve encountered this situation before and while the transfer is seamless (per se), there may be benefits (or disadvantages) with the new agent as you point out. As a point of reference, Wells sold their entire transfer agent business to Equiniti (deal closed February 2018). The customer interface remained the same though they are not currently a TurboTax partner. Another item to watch with DRIPs is occasionally the terms change. Computershare implemented a reinvestment fee on CVX a couple of years ago so I moved the shares to Schwab.
The two issues I have with M1 are (besides the reinvestment going directly to more shares in the paying company): 1) dividends are credited to your account in a timely manner but I generally experience a 1-4 day delay in having them post, and 2) If one of your companies is acquired, you need to ensure the acquiring company is included in your pie – otherwise the shares will be sold.
Another option you could have used was to move your 30 shares to Schwab and use their Reinvestment feature (no-cost). They probably would have given you some free trades as well.
I have the same problems with M1 Finance. It’s good, but certainly not perfect. I did look at Schwab before and chose M1 Finance over it (although I don’t remember the reason), but I really like M1 Finance because it’s totally free.
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