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Imagine an investor who has two accounts at the same broker. One is a living trust account and the other is an individual brokerage account. Now the investor wants to move money from one account to another without doing any written paper work. That is, the investor wants to do it all electronically. In addition to move money from one account to the other at the brokerage firm requires a written signature. The investor has a checking account at a bank and can electronically transfer money between the checking account and either brokerage account.

Suppose on Monday the investor starts a transfer from one brokerage account to the checking account. On Tuesday, the investor starts a transfer from the checking account to the other brokerage account. Can the investor count that the money from the first transfer will be there when the second transaction comes in?

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    The investor should ask their bank, but most likely the answer would be "no".
    – littleadv
    Commented Jan 22, 2022 at 8:30

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Suppose on Monday the investor starts a transfer from one brokerage account to the checking account. On Tuesday, the investor starts a transfer from the checking account to the other brokerage account. Can the investor count that the money from the first transfer will be there when the second transaction comes in?

You will have to ask the bank and the brokerage. But even if they say it will get there. It might not.

They could say that if you push the button before x time the money will transfer that "day". But of course if the money is in a mutual fund and the button is pushed after 4PM the shares won't be sold till the next day.

If the receiving institution had a glitch, they might not put the money into your account until late in the day.

If the money involved is more than the initial balance of the checking account, you will be best to see the funds get credited before kicking off the second transaction. In fact I wouldn't want to even draw down the checking account below a certain amount just in case something unexpected happens. You could also move some money temporarily from savings to checking to maintain a cushion in checking.

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It would be quite risky to just do it, blindly assuming that the money will arrive. It might work 19 out of 20 times but the 20th time you pay dearly.

Simply log on in the morning (after about 4am EST) of the second day to your account and check if the money is there. Typically it shows as ‘pending’, and that is good enough to move it onwards the same day. If it doesn’t show, keep checking, or wait for next day.

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