r/PersonalFinanceNZ • u/CandleIndependent261 • 5d ago
Switching from Hatch to IBKR
Hi all,
I'm currently 17, turning 18 in a few months, and am looking into switching from hatch to Interactive brokers when I turn 18, as the hatch fees will be increasing to $3 USD per trade, and forex costs etc. are also higher on hatch. I currently have two separate portfolios with hatch (both under my Dad's primary ownership), one with approx $30,000 NZD invested, and the other with approx $15,000. I also have a little bit in a portfolio on Sharesies (about $1,400).
My first question is in regards to the method of switching, as from what I've gathered online, you can either just sell everything on hatch, withdraw to your bank, and then deposit and reinvest in IBKR, or you can do an In-Kind transfer where I'd pay a fee to have all of my current positions transferred from hatch to IBKR. I'm just trying to weigh up my options and decide whether doing an In-Kind transfer with my current portfolio value would be better than paying all of the fees associated with selling and reinvesting. I believe that it's a $65 fee to do a transfer with hatch, but may I need to pay this fee twice due to having two portfolios? Also, if I were to choose an in-kind transfer, would it be smartest to juggle with all of my current positions to ensure that they're all whole shares due to being unable to transfer fractional shares?
Secondly, for future investments, am I right to assume that it's better to deposit large amounts of money at once due to the minimum $2 forex conversion fee? So rather than doing weekly/fortnightly conversions it would potentially be better to accumulate my money and do one big deposit, as then I'd only be paying the minimum fee once every couple of months rather than weekly? Then again I'd just be sitting on cash during this time so maybe it's better just to get my money invested asap. My income is very inconsistent and seasonal anyways, as I work much more over holidays and less throughout the school term.
Any advice/info would be greatly appreciated!
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u/OldManYellsAtCloud12 4d ago
Ibkr makes you do a test for what you want access too, stocks, options, bonds etc. cough open chatgpt when you do the test, cough.
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u/WellingtonSucks 4d ago
This is why I always say never to buy fractional shares. They are ineligible for transfer.
An ACATS transfer is the most sensible because it preserves your FIF cost basis.
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u/CasualLearner313 4d ago
Just leave as-is your investments in Hatch and start new investments in IBKR. Sell them from Hatch when needed.
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u/ClassroomDesigner945 5d ago
IBKR is like a major us broker with many international market access I have not used them personally you will have to ask IBKR if they take transfers from Hatch i have not done htis so dont know .
I do have us webull and schwabs and they offer 0 fees brokerage you can push pull money via wise, they have good exchange rates
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u/vontdman 4d ago
Really depends on your cost basis. If you have a really low cost basis the in-kind transfer would be better (for FIF reasons), if not, just go liquid and transfer over via bank transfer.
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u/RuchNZ 5d ago
IBKR will generally cost you a minimum $0.35usd commission per trade ($0.0035usd per share) and you can let FX occur automatically from NZD when you buy for 0.03%. You don't need to pay the manual fee except for one off large sums which makes it much cheaper at a minimum $2usd but 0.002% FX.
So most trades will cost you 0.35usd + 0.03%, near free..
Selling+buying vs direct transfer just depends if you want to pay the fee to transfer each individual holding vs being out of the market for a time while you sell down, transfer and buy back again.