Vanguard POA

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Topic Author
Wilderness Librarian
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Vanguard POA

Post by Wilderness Librarian »

Do I need separate Power of Attorney form for individual account or inherited IRA?
Topic Author
Wilderness Librarian
Posts: 350
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2018 8:50 pm
Location: Idaho

Re: Vanguard POA

Post by Wilderness Librarian »

Same question for TIAA GSRA account
stan1
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Re: Vanguard POA

Post by stan1 »

Are you asking if you need a POA on Vanguard's form in addition to the one your attorney gave you as part of an estate plan?

Answer is yes, you need the POA on Vanguard's form and approved by them in addition to the one your attorney gave you.

Reference this long thread on finding out your POA is useless.
viewtopic.php?t=379848
gotoparks
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Re: Vanguard POA

Post by gotoparks »

I don't know if Vanguard has a POA. They have what is called full agent authority. It is a specific form that needs to be signed and notarized.
cas
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Re: Vanguard POA

Post by cas »

Vanguard has 5 levels of what they call "agent authorization". To see a listing of the various powers associated with each option:

-Log in to your Vanguard account.

-Either type "agent authorization" into the search and then click on the "Add or Remove Access to Your Account" link or go to https://personal.vanguard.com/us/litera ... nput=L005A and click "Complete Online". (You won't really be completing it online. You'll be stopping once you get to the page with useful information.)

-After you click "Complete Online," consent to the Electronic Delivery and click Continue

-On the page that comes up, right under the "What type of account access would you like to grant or receive?" question, there is a red box that says "Compare Levels of Access". Click on that.

-A chart showing 5 levels of agent authorization and a specific list of tasks they allow will pop up.

Which of those sets of tasks are you interested in your agent having?

My understanding is that, once upon a time, what a general durable POA could do was jump start your agent into getting the "Agent Authorization for an Incapacitated Person" level of agent authorization.

But that may not be Vanguard's current policy.
cas
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Re: Vanguard POA

Post by cas »

On the TIAA question:

I had (and eventually needed to use) POA power for a relative's TIAA 403(b), which included one of the TIAA Traditional flavors (although not GRSA). My recollection is that TIAA had their own form, granting me specific powers, that my relative signed while he was still mentally competent. My very vague recollection is that, at that time, the customer service rep said another option was to fill out a different form and attach a general durable POA document, which would then need to be approved by the legal department. But that was a while ago and things may have changed.
RationalWalk
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Re: Vanguard POA

Post by RationalWalk »

Regarding TIAA, a few years back I submitted my attorney-prepared POA to them and believed it was accepted, though I don't recall receiving anything in writing confirming this. Recently, I met with my TIAA representative on another matter and took the opportunity to ask him what was on record regarding my POA. He checked and found no record of my attorney-drafted POA. The problem in dealing with these financial institutions is that you never know for sure what will happen when the occasion materializes. If my Agent were to contact TIAA with the expectation that they had Power of Attorney to manage my assets, they'd be likely to discover that no such authority exists. This is a great concern of mine regarding my accounts at TIAA, Vanguard, and everywhere else.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Vanguard POA

Post by ResearchMed »

RationalWalk wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 11:24 am Regarding TIAA, a few years back I submitted my attorney-prepared POA to them and believed it was accepted, though I don't recall receiving anything in writing confirming this. Recently, I met with my TIAA representative on another matter and took the opportunity to ask him what was on record regarding my POA. He checked and found no record of my attorney-drafted POA. The problem in dealing with these financial institutions is that you never know for sure what will happen when the occasion materializes. If my Agent were to contact TIAA with the expectation that they had Power of Attorney to manage my assets, they'd be likely to discover that no such authority exists. This is a great concern of mine regarding my accounts at TIAA, Vanguard, and everywhere else.

If one has a Durable POA (DPOA), that should be effective from the start and then continue in effect through any incapacitation.

Therefore, one *should* be able to call and get information/etc., "as the agent" at any time, to double check the paperwork is in force.
If you aren't allowed access, with a DPOA on file, then there is already a problem. So try to take care of it before any incapacitation...

I would suggest occasionally utilizing the DPOA. I'd guess there is some record of "access". This *might* (?) make it less likely that the DPOA simply gets left behind in some system upgrade and never thought about again for years or such... until it's really *needed*.

RM
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