I explained how to create one or more Interactive Brokers sub-accounts in a previous article.
Except that if, like me, you already own ETFs or other stocks, you’re going to want to make transfers from your main IBKR account to the newly created sub-accounts. This, in order to have a clean setup with each ETF in its place.
My organization into IBKR sub-accounts
For my part, I’m going to structure this with two groups:
- “ETFs” sub-account: to store my VT ETF and my old VWRL ETFs (I thought I was limited by a US estate law, but actually I’m not, so I’m no longer investing in this VWRL ETF). And you see two lines in the screenshot below, because I had bought two of them on a specific stock market (AEB, Amsterdam stock exchange), and the others on the Swiss market (EBS, Swiss stock exchange).
- “Shares” sub-account: to store my last 2-3 value investing stocks until I sell them all when they recover (I’m hiding them in the screenshot to comply with the Daubasses paid newsletter). Ah, and also my 3 shares of Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett’s company), bought just to keep an eye on how it evolves in the future (pure investor curiosity).
Transferring ETFs (or stocks) between IBKR sub-accounts
To make everything transparent in the screenshots, I wanted to show you how I transfer my Berkshire Hathaway shares from my “ETFs” sub-account to my “Stocks” sub-account. You’ll see this part in French, because I clicked too fast and it was already… done :)
I will also put another screenshot of one of my Daubasses stock, so you see the same screenshot in English:
Choose the position(s) you wish to transfer (here, for example, I choose my Berkshire Hathaway shares)
Result: well-organized IBKR sub-accounts
And here’s how it looks in my “IBKR Mobile” app:
And ditto, I can choose to view only my IBKR 'Stocks' sub-account which now contains only my equities
FAQ: ETFs transfer
Can I transfer ETFs or shares between two different IBKR accounts?
Yes, you can, but this is different from an “internal” transfer between two sub-accounts that are under the same Master Interactive Brokers account that belongs to you.
To make a transfer between two different Interactive Brokers accounts (with different logins), you need to make a transfer request on the IB Client Portal.
Can I rename an IBKR sub-account?
Yes, via your IB account settings. You’ll find my screenshots in this article to do this.
Why do I get an error saying I can’t transfer this type of stock to my other sub-account?
I wanted to transfer some of my value stocks from countries other than Switzerland or the US (my usual holdings). One example was stocks from France and Germany, where their transfers were blocked…
In fact, I simply had to modify this in: Client Portal > Settings > Trading > Trading permissions > Stocks (Modify) > Add France and Germany. And it’s done!
Conclusion
The ideal for a Mustachian investor is of course to have only 1-3 ETFs. But the reality may be different, for a variety of reasons.
So this Interactive Brokers sub-account feature comes in handy for organizing your holdings (ETFs, stocks, bonds, other). And it’s easy to use.
It also lets you run reports (on performance, for example) for just one sub-account, or for all your sub-accounts on a consolidated basis.
And you, do you use this feature?