What To Do With Old 401(k) Plans??
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
When leaving a position at a company, you are not only leaving the company behind, you are leaving behind your old retirement plan. Rather than maintaining several different plans, it is often advisable to consolidate your plans to a single account. Doing so will make it easier to manage, will allow you to avoid paying multiple fees to multiple companies to manage multiple accounts, and will generally give you more investment options. It will also be beneficial to your estate plan, as it is much easier to track and change beneficiaries as necessary.
After deciding to rollover old plans, there is the decision of where to roll them to. The easiest solution may appear to be rolling the old retirement plan into the new plan. While this gives you the advantage of only maintaining one account, it may limit your investment options. Many employer’s plans only contain the option of a selection of mutual funds, whereas with an IRA you can choose exchange-traded funds, individual securities, mutual funds, even annuities.
The actual rollover process is relatively simple, you need only to instruct the company where you would like the account to be transfered to. With some companies you can complete the process over the phone or online, whereas others will mail paperwork that needs to be completed and returned to them.
Our team at the Magis Group would be more than happy to coordinate any rollovers and answer questions you might have. Feel free to contact our office anytime at (914) 366-4830 or email: nicole@magisgroupinc.com
