Footnote
Institutional Investor magazine announced BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research as one of the top global research firms from 2011-2018 based on surveys held throughout the year. The magazine creates rankings of the top research analysts in a wide variety of specializations, drawn from the choices of portfolio managers and other investment professionals at more than 1,000 firms. BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research is research produced by BofA Securities, Inc ("BofAS") and/or one or more of its affiliates. BofAS is a registered broker-dealer, Member
SIPC popup, and wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation. For more information about this award, go to
Institutional Investor popup. Rankings and recognition from Institutional Investor are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a current or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance results and such rankings should not be construed as an endorsement.
Footnote 2 $0 trades are only available with an individual or joint Merrill Edge Self-Directed brokerage account. When placing a trade, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (MLPF&S) determines whether you meet the balance or relationship requirements to qualify that trade for the $0 waiver. To determine the number of qualifying trades, MLPF&S adds the qualifying trades in your individual accounts and joint accounts. Commission fees apply when qualification requirements are not met, or when you exceed the number of qualifying trades a month. Brokerage fees associated with, but not limited to, margin transactions, option trading, special stock registration/gifting, account transfer and processing, research request and termination apply.
- Commissions are waived for 10 online stock or ETF trades each month on behalf of MLPF&S for Preferred Rewards Gold members.
- Commissions are waived for 30 online stock or ETF trades each month on behalf of MLPF&S for Preferred Rewards Platinum members.
- Commissions are waived for 100 online stock and ETF trades each month on behalf of MLPF&S for clients who meet either one of the following criteria:
- Members of Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors
- Client of Bank of America Private Bank
This offer does not apply to Business/Corporate Accounts, Investment Club Accounts, Partnership Accounts and certain fiduciary accounts held at MLPF&S. Other fees and restrictions may apply. Relationship requirements and pricing are subject to change and/or termination without advance notice. To learn more about the ways to qualify for $0 trades, call 888.637.3343. Preferred Rewards for Wealth Management clients (formerly known as Banking Rewards for Wealth Management), other than Bank of America Private Bank clients, do not receive Merrill Edge® Self-Directed commissions waivers.
You are eligible to enroll in the Preferred Rewards program if you have an active, eligible Bank of America® personal checking or Bank of America Advantage Banking account and maintain a three-month average combined balance in your qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts and/or your qualifying Merrill Edge® and Merrill Lynch® investment accounts of at least $20,000 for the Gold tier, $50,000 for the Platinum tier, or $100,000 for the Platinum Honors tier. The combined balance is calculated based on your average daily balance for a three calendar month period. Certain benefits are also available without enrolling in Preferred Rewards if you satisfy balance and other requirements.
Merrill Lynch Wealth Management clients with greater than $250,000 in assets with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch are not eligible for Preferred Rewards but have access to other benefits through Banking Rewards. Please speak with your Merrill Lynch financial advisor for details.
Footnote
Eligibility: Commissions are only waived for online stock and ETF trades conducted via an online investing and trading Merrill Edge Self-Directed Working Cash Management Account
® or Merrill Edge Self-Directed Business Investor Account.
Merrill Edge waives its commission fee for:
- 10 monthly online stock & ETF trades for Preferred Rewards for Business Gold tier clients
- 30 monthly online stock & ETF trades for Preferred Rewards for Business Platinum tier clients
- 100 monthly online stock & ETF trades for Preferred Rewards for Business Platinum Honors tier clients
For details about commissions, transaction fees and any other fees that may apply, call
888.637.3343 or visit
merrilledge.com/pricing. Certain account types are not eligible. Other restrictions may apply. Relationship requirements and pricing are subject to change and/or termination without advance notice. For full details about ways to qualify for $0 trades, call
888.MER.EDGE (888.637.3343).
The Preferred Rewards for Business program (formerly known as Business Advantage Relationship Rewards) is only available to Small Business, Merrill Small Business, and Bank of America Private Bank
® Small Business clients. Other categories of clients, such as those commonly referred to as Business Banking, Global Commercial Banking, Global Corporate Investment Banking, or Institutional clients are not eligible to participate in the program. Subject to certain exceptions, eligible business checking accounts generally are any Small Business checking account and the following Analyzed checking accounts: Full Analysis Business Checking or Analyzed Business Interest Checking. Clients in the eligible business categories may enroll in the program if you have an active, eligible Bank of America business checking account, and maintain a combined balance in any combination of your qualifying Bank of America
® business deposit accounts and/or your qualifying Merrill business investment accounts of at least $20,000 for the Gold tier, $50,000 for the Platinum tier, or $100,000 for the Platinum Honors tier. The combined balance is calculated based on either (i): your average daily balance for a three calendar month period, or (ii) your current combined balance, provided that you enroll at the time you open your first eligible business checking account and satisfy the balance requirement within thirty days of opening that account. Bank of America Private Bank
® Small Business clients are automatically enrolled in the program at the Platinum Honors tier as long as you maintain your Bank of America Private Bank
® relationship. Certain benefits may be available without enrolling in the program if you satisfy balance and other requirements. Program benefits subject to change.
Footnote
J.D. Power 2018 Certified Contact Center Program
SM recognition is based on successful completion of an evaluation and exceeding a customer satisfaction benchmark through a survey of recent servicing interactions. For more information, visit
J.D. Power popup. The ranking or ratings shown here may not be representative of all client experiences because they reflect an average or sampling of the client experiences. These rankings or ratings are not indicative of any future performance or investment outcome. Participation in this survey was paid for by Merrill Lynch.
Merrill Edge was one of 14 brokers evaluated in the
Barron's 2019 Best Online Broker Survey, February 22, 2019. Barron's evaluated firms in — the trading platform, usability, mobile, research, education, news, information, international offerings and retirement/divided-related services—to rate the firms. Merrill Edge earned an overall score of 28 out of a possible 50. All costs assume customer has a minimum of $100,000 in assets with broker. Occasional Trader: six stock and two options trades per month. Assumes customer qualifies for 100 $0 stock trades per month through Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors. If not, occasional fee is $70.60 per month. Learn more at
Who Are 2019's Best Online Brokers? popup Barron's is a trademark of Dow Jones & Co., L.P. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission of Barron's. Rankings and recognition from Barron's are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a current or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance results and such rankings should not be construed as an endorsement.
Merrill Edge Self-Directed was ranked 5 out of 10 online brokers by Kiplinger's Personal Finance's "Best Online Brokers," survey August 2019. To be included, firms had to offer online trading of stocks, ETFs, funds and individual bonds. Results based on ratings in the following categories: commissions and fees, investment choices, mobile app, tools, research, advisory services and user experience.
Learn more at Kiplinger's Personal Finance popup, August 2019 © 2019 The Kiplinger Washington Editors. Used under License. Merrill provides access to research from BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research, CFRA (powered by S&P Global), Morningstar and others. Rankings and recognition from Kiplinger's are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a current or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance results and such rankings should not be construed as an endorsement.
The fee is not charged when transferring to another internal account.
Footnote 8 The Chief Investment Office (CIO) develops the investment strategies for Merrill Guided Investing and Merrill Guided Investing with Advisor, including providing its recommendations of ETFs, mutual funds and related asset allocations. Managed Account Advisors LLC (MAA), Merrill Lynch's affiliate, is the overlay portfolio manager responsible for implementing the Merrill Guided Investing strategies for client accounts, including facilitating the purchase & sale of ETFs in client accounts and updating account asset allocations when the CIO's recommendations change while also implementing any applicable individual client or firm restriction(s).
Footnote
When you purchase securities, you may pay for the securities in full, or if your account has been established as a margin account with the margin lending program, you may borrow part of the purchase price from Merrill Lynch. If you choose to borrow funds for your purchase, Merrill Lynch's collateral for the loan will be the securities purchased, other assets in your margin account, and your assets in any other accounts at Merrill Lynch. If the securities in your margin account decline in value, so does the value of the collateral supporting your loan, and, as a result, we can take action, such as to issue a margin call and/or sell securities in any of your accounts held with us, in order to maintain the required equity in your account. If your account has a Visa
® card and/or checks, you may also create a margin debit if your withdrawals (by Visa card, checks, preauthorized debits, FTS or other transfers) exceed the sum of any available free credit balances plus available money account balances (such as bank deposit balances or money market funds). Please refer to your account documents for more information.
Before opening a margin account, you should carefully review the terms governing margin loans. For Individual Investor Accounts, these terms are contained in the Margin Lending Program Client Agreement. For all other accounts, the terms are in your account agreement and disclosures. It is important that you fully understand the risks involved in using margin. These risks including the following:
- You can lose more funds than you deposit in the margin account. A decline in the value of securities that are purchased on margin may require you to provide additional funds to us to avoid the forced sale of those securities or other securities in your account(s).
- We can force the sale of securities in your account(s). If the equity in your account falls below the maintenance margin requirements or Merrill Lynch's higher "house" requirements, we can sell the securities in any of your accounts held by us to cover the margin deficiency. You also will be responsible for any shortfall in the account after such as sale.
- We can sell your securities without contacting you. Some investors mistakenly believe that they must be contacted for a margin call to be valid, and that securities in their accounts cannot be liquidated to meet the call unless they are contacted first. This is not the case. We will attempt to notify you of margin calls, but we are not required to do so. Even if we have contacted you and provided a specific date by which you can meet a margin call, we can still take necessary steps to protect our financial interests, including immediately selling the securities without notice to you.
- You are not entitled to choose which securities in your account(s) are liquidated or sold to meet a margin call. Because the securities are collateral for the margin loan, we have the right to decide which security to sell in order to protect our interests.
- We can increase our "house" maintenance margin requirements at any time and are not required to provide you advance written notice. These changes in our policy may take effect immediately and may result in the issuance of a maintenance margin call. Your failure to satisfy the call may cause us to liquidate or sell securities in your account(s).
- You are not entitled to an extension of time on a margin call. While an extension of time to meet margin requirements may be available to you under certain conditions, you do not have a right to the extension.
If you have any questions or concerns about margin and the margin lending program, please contact your Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor or the Merrill Edge Advisory Center.™
Clients enrolled in Preferred Rewards receive a discount off the Merrill Guided Investing program's annual asset-based fee of 0.45%, and the Merrill Guided Investing with an Advisor and Merrill Edge Advisory Account programs' annual asset-based fee of 0.85% for any of their accounts enrolled in the respective advisory programs. Preferred Rewards-enrolled clients receive a discount of 0.05% off of the annual rate for the Gold tier, 0.10% for the Platinum tier, or 0.15% for the Platinum Honors tier based on their Preferred Rewards tier effective at the time the applicable advisory program fee is calculated. Bank of America Private Bank clients will also receive a discount of 0.15% off of the annual rate. It may take up to 30 calendar days for changes to your Preferred Rewards status or tier to be associated with and effective for your accounts in the advisory programs. This fee is charged monthly in advance. In addition to the annual program fee, the expenses of the investments will vary based on the specific funds within each portfolio. Actual fund expenses will vary; please refer to each fund's prospectus. Sales of ETFs are subject to a transaction fee of between $0.01 and $0.03 per $1,000 of principal. There are costs associated with owning ETFs and mutual funds. To learn more about pricing, visit
our Pricing page.
Preferred Rewards for Wealth Management clients (formerly known as Banking Rewards for Wealth Management), other than Bank of America Private Bank clients, do not receive the Merrill Guided Investing fee discount.
The NextGen Plan is a Section 529 plan administered by the Finance Authority of Maine. Before you invest in the NextGen plan, request a NextGen College Investing Plan Program Description from us and read it carefully. The Program Description contains more complete information, including investment objectives, charges, expenses and risks of investing in the NextGen plan, which you should carefully consider before investing. You also should consider whether your home state or your designated beneficiary's home state offers any state tax or other benefits that are only available for investments in such state's 529 plan. Section 529 plans are not guaranteed by any state or federal agency. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated is the program manager, underwriter and distributor.
Equity securities sold through Merrill Edge self-directed investing are subject to stock market fluctuations that occur in response to economic and business developments.
Options Trades: Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Certain requirements must be met to trade options. Before engaging in the purchase or sale of options, investors should understand the nature of and extent of their rights and obligations and be aware of the risks involved in investing with options. Prior to buying or selling an option, clients must receive the options disclosure document "Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options (PDF)." Call the Investment Center at 877.653.4732 for a copy. A separate client agreement is needed. Multi-leg option orders are charged one base commission per order, plus a per contract charge.
Mutual Funds: While no-load funds do not assess sales charges, fund shares are subject to management fees and certain other expenses. Redemption fees may also apply. Merrill Lynch receives remuneration from participating fund companies. In addition to receiving dealer concessions and asset-based sales charges and/or services fees in connection with clients' purchasing and holding mutual fund shares, Merrill Lynch and its affiliates provide other services for which they may receive additional compensation from funds or their affiliates. This compensation is generally disclosed in a fund's prospectus which is available from an
Investment Center representative and in the
Guide to Mutual Fund Investing (PDF). For specific mutual fund family compensation information, please contact the Investment Center.
Fund shares may be redeemed directly with the Fund without payment of the Merrill Lynch Short-Term Redemption fee. Additional transfer fees may apply.
Many Load Funds offer various sales charge discounts or waivers depending on the terms of the prospectus and/or statement of additional information. You should consult a fund's prospectus and/or statement of additional information to determine whether you may qualify for a discount or waiver. Notify an Investment Center representative if you believe you qualify for any of these discounts or waivers. Call the Investment Center at 877.653.4732 for assistance.
Mutual fund share prices fluctuate in accordance with market and economic conditions and it's possible to lose money by investing in mutual funds.
Fixed Income: Fixed income orders contain order information on Agency Discounts/Notes/Bonds, Certificates of Deposit, Corporate Bonds, Municipal Bonds and Treasury Bond investment vehicles.
Exchange Traded Funds are subject to risks similar to those of stocks. Investment returns may fluctuate and are subject to market volatility, so that an investor's shares, when redeemed or sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
A Brokered Certificate of Deposit is different than a bank Certificate of Deposit. It is sold for a bank by a broker while a Certificate of Deposit can be purchased directly from a bank. Brokered CDs may offer higher rates of return, but their value may fluctuate with changing interest rates. Banking products are provided by Bank of America, N.A. and affiliated banks. Members FDIC and wholly owned subsidiaries of Bank of America Corporation.
DRS Eligible refers to securities held electronically at transfer agent (Direct Registration System). Non-DRS Eligible security fee is equal to amount charged to Merrill Edge by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.
The offering of cash rewards, free trades, waiver of fees (including account fees), and/or any other thing of value may not be used as an inducement to sell any kind of insurance, including life insurance or annuities.
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