TawnyaWhy you need to roll over 401ks from old employers…
If you don’t roll over your 401k when you leave an employer, you leave money on the table.
Why? Because you don’t have control over what it’s invested in.
Also, it gets messy. If you have a 401k at multiple employers, keeping track and staying organized can become overwhelming.
Always do a DIRECT transfer rollover and do not cash out your 401k when you leave an employer or you will get taxed like crazy.
Open a personal IRA (either a Roth or Traditional), then give the bank/company your old account info to roll over your money into the personal account.
I personally use Schwab, but Fidelity, Vanguard, Merrill, etc. are all options too.
I would do this as soon as you leave a company so you can easily track down your account and roll it over.
Now you will have more control of the money and what it’s invested in.
I use an advisor at Schwab who helps pick the best mutual funds and makes sure my account is performing the best.
I do recommend talking to an advisor (it’s usually free) and deciding if that’s the best option for you. Their fee is about 1% which is very low considering you will generally get a higher returns when working with an advisor.
Just like I wouldn’t even try to work on my own car, I’m not going to try to invest on my own and pretend I know everything about investing and the stock market. Being able to go to a professional you can trust is important, as you should be making a higher return in the end.
Also make sure you ask an advisor or talk with a CPA before rolling over as different retirement accounts have different tax implications and you could be liable for owing taxes now, if the account is tax free later.
Just cover your bases, but overall, rolling over to a personal account is always the best call to be better organized and keep everything in one place.
Have you rolled over accounts before? Was it easy? Let me know.
