My “aha!” moment with transfer in kind
Alright, so lemme tell you about this term I stumbled into headfirst this week – “transfer in kind.” Sounded fancy and complicated, like something only banks or lawyers whisper about. Naturally, I had to figure it out.
It started because I was poking around my investment account online. Wanted to maybe switch things up, maybe move some stocks to another place I was trying out. Saw this button, small print really, saying “Transfer in Kind.” My first thought? “Kind of what? Kindly? What does that even mean?” Nearly clicked “cash transfer” instead.
Decided to hit pause. Pulled out my phone, thumbed straight into a search bar: “what is transfer in kind.” Got a wall of text definitions that made my eyes glaze over instantly. Legal jargon. Financial mumbo jumbo. Started reading this one article, got about three sentences in before I felt like crying.
Thing is, I don’t like feeling stupid. So, I tried a different approach. Typed in “transfer in kind explained for dummies.” Okay, better! Found some examples. Someone wrote about moving actual shares from Broker A to Broker B without selling them. Just… handing them over? Like passing a physical box?
Paused right there. Wait. So, instead of selling my shares for cash at Broker A, then taking that cash and buying the same darn shares again at Broker B (and probably paying fees both times!), I could just… ask Broker A to send the shares themselves to Broker B? Literally transferring the ownership slip? What the heck! Why didn’t anyone just say that?
How it actually worked for me:
- I logged into my old brokerage account (the one sending the stocks).
- Dug around the menus again, found the “Transfer Assets OUT” section.
- Picked the option for “Transfer in Kind.” Felt like a secret menu.
- It asked me for the new broker’s details – their name, address, the account number I opened over there.
- Then, had to choose exactly which stocks I wanted to move. Selected mine.
- Clicked submit.
- Old broker confirmed they got it. Said it would take a few days.
- Waited… checked my old account daily. Saw the shares disappear one morning.
- Checked the new account… boom! There they were!
So basically, transfer in kind is just skipping the whole cash middleman stage. You move the actual thing you own (stock, bond, whatever) directly between accounts. The value stays the same because the thing itself hasn’t changed hands in a sale, it just changed its address book. Way cheaper on fees too, since no buying/selling happened.
Why do they make it sound like rocket science? Who knows! My big takeaway: it’s just moving your stuff without turning it into dollars first. Simple when you cut through the noise. Learned something useful without losing money on fees. Pretty good day. Now I gotta remember not to forget my coffee cup when transferring myself from the kitchen to my desk… that’s another kind of transfer I struggle with.