rollover 401k to IRA

Rollover 401k to IRA?

What do I need to figure out before I decide on initiating a rollover 401k to IRA?

There are many factors involved before deciding on rolling over your 401k into an IRA.

4 Things To Know Before You Rollover 401k to IRA

1. What are the fees involved in keeping the 401k plan or rolling it over to an IRA? You need to make sure you are not going to be paying an exorbitant amount of fees with your new retirement accounts.

2. What matters more to me? The ability to have many more investment options and the ability to use a financial advisor to guide me on how to invest and how much to save, or would I rather be more limited to my investments in the 401k plan and pay less fees but have to manage everything myself?

3. Do I need to consolidate my assets together and be able to have a retirement account to make IRA contributions to? Remember, many times a 401k rollover to an IRA is not a reversible thing and if you do not know all of the facts you could be hurting yourself.

“4.Would it be better to roll my old 401k plan into my new employers 401k account?”

This is beneficial if you think you may want to use the 401k money you have to buy a house or maybe just use it to pay down some of your debt. Many 401k plans offer 401k loans and right now the interest rate is very low, and keep in mind the interest if only paid to yourself. If you cannot pay back the loan you will pay taxes on the money and probably a penalty, however if you do pay it back you have only paid interest to yourself and will not have any tax consequences. On the other hand, if you initiate a 401k rollover into an IRA, you cannot take a loan from an IRA account and will have to make a withdrawal.

The ability to take loans is a great beneficial factor in consolidating your 401k assets into your current plan, however if you do not need the money, more than likely the IRA, with the ability to provide more investment options, will be your best long term retirement strategy. Related Tools: 401k calculator

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