What is the IRA transfer process?

To get started with your transfer, click on Transfer Money at the top of your Ellevest dashboard, select

"Account Transfer In", and then select IRA.

You tell us your IRA type (Traditional, Roth, or SEP IRA), your current IRA provider (also known as the custodian), your account number, and estimated account balance — then we take care of the rest.

It's important that you provide us with the correct IRA type, so that we can accurately work with your IRA provider to transfer your current IRA to the right Ellevest IRA! If you currently have a Roth IRA, your assets will be transferred to an Ellevest Roth IRA. If you currently have a Traditional IRA, your assets will be transferred to an Ellevest Traditional IRA.

If you currently have a SEP IRA, your assets can be transferred to either an Ellevest SEP IRA or an Ellevest traditional IRA. If you are eligible to contribute to a SEP IRA, we recommend that you transfer to a SEP IRA. If you are no longer eligible to contribute to a SEP IRA, we recommend that you transfer to a traditional IRA.

We don’t yet offer the ability to convert a Traditional to a Roth (or vice versa).

We start by recommending an investment portfolio so that you can see how we plan to invest the transferred funds. After you have given us approval through e-sign, we begin the transfer. You'll notice that the IRA you are transferring will have a balance of $0 on your dashboard, and your Ellevest balance will show a pending transfer of that exact amount.

If your current IRA provider supports electronic transfers (we’ll let you know if they don’t!), then we'll coordinate the transfer directly with them. So, in most situations, you will not need to speak with them or initiate a sale of the assets in the account. Once your current IRA provider sells your investments, they'll transfer the cash proceeds to us. We'll purchase the recommended ETFs for your Ellevest IRA when we receive the funds. There are no taxes or Ellevest fees associated with this process. However, your current IRA provider may charge you fees during the process of selling your investments and transferring your funds to Ellevest. We recommend asking your current provider for details on any fees you may incur while transferring your IRA.

If your current IRA provider doesn’t support electronic transfers, then we’ll let you know right after you e-sign and send you an email summarizing your next steps.

We don’t offer partial transfers, so it's important that you don’t make any additional contributions to your outside IRA after you have initiated the transfer.