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Brokers and accounts

Feedback and ideasStarted by @turbo1 reply

Founding memberIdea makerBug hunter

It is confusing to have accounts in one place, and brokers in another.

An investing account is just an account type. Currently it is completely separated and should be created as a "broker".

But a broker is the institution where the account is held. Not the account itself.

A person can have two separate accounts in the same broker.

Furthermore, accounts have a "retirement" type. A retirement account most of the time is also held at a broker and is actually a investment account, but with tax advantages.

For me is a bit confusing so my suggestion is to have all accounts at the same place. The difference is the account type.

1 reply

  1. Staff

    Thanks for this. It’s a fair thing to stumble on, so let me explain the thinking behind it.

    In Turbobulls, a “broker” isn’t the institution. It’s one investment account: it holds positions and its own cash, in one currency. The accounts in Wallet are where money is spent and kept: current, savings, cards, loans. We keep the two apart because they work differently. An investment account is about holdings, prices and returns; a cash account is about spending, categories and a budget. Mixing them would make both harder to read.

    So two accounts at the same institution are simply two brokers in Turbobulls. Name them the way you think of them, for example “IBKR Taxable” and “IBKR Pension”, and they’ll read exactly as you expect. A retirement account that holds investments belongs on the broker side too; the Retirement type in Wallet is for a pension account that only holds cash.

    You’re right that “broker” can be a confusing word for certain situations, though. That’s useful to hear, and we’ll keep it in mind.

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