VANGAURG ACCOUNT

It depends on what the account at Vanguard was invested in. Some HOAs keep CD accounts or money market accounts to get an interest rate not available at a local bank. But if the HOA was investing in the market, that may be in violation of their bylaws.

Having been down this road; it's really tough to do this with Vanguard. They're just not set up to accommodate HOA and HOA-type institutions; they're much more interested in personal investors and institutional retirement plans. I love Vanguard personally, but these kinds of accounts really confuse them.

I would recommend that you move to Fidelity; they're much better equipped to handle this type of account. We set up an account with Fidelity and they have several advantages over Vanguard:

(1) A sweep checking account that's FDIC insured (often required by by-laws), this is not something Vanguard offers
(2) Access to all of the same brokered CDs that Vanguard has
(3) Easier access to U.S. Treasury auctions
(4) Much easier time of forwarding statements to people who need them such as building management
(5) Access to third parties who have an account with Fidelity (which may or may not be useful; you can provide them an SSN of a current account holder and that person can have "read-only" access to the account)
(6) In larger cities they almost always have branches that can help you fix problems if you really have any, which is often helpful when setting up the accounts

I found this setup very useful in light of the other options--CDARs seems very inflexible and have a lot of fees; traditional brokerages are generally out to separate you from your money; and individuals banks are fine until the balances exceed $250K--but it does require a little bit of knowledge of what you're doing. Nonetheless, we've managed to set up our accounts to order call-protected CDs from a number of banks in amounts that ensure that the entire balance is FDIC-protected at all times.

I found it a little difficult initially to set up the account; in my state we had to register as an unincorporated business even though we are treated as a corporation. Any competent HOA lawyer barred in your state should be able to tell you what you need to do in about 5 minutes. Once I knew that, it was fairly easy to get set up.

I'm happy to offer more information if it's necessary.