Rollover
If you changed jobs you may seriously want to consider taking your retirement money with you. This is usually done by “Rolling Over” your plan from your past employer into a new or existing IRA or another qualified plan.
Rolling over your Qualified Plan to and IRA has many benefits. Your Qualified Plan may be a 401k, 403b, Profit Sharing Plan, Cash Balance Pension, ESOP or even a 457.
By Rolling Over your qualified plan to an IRA you can continue to have your plan grow on a tax deferred basis. By doing so you do not have to pay taxes on any of the plans gains or income until you start to withdraw money from the plan when you retire.
Another benefit of Rolling over your plan is access to a large variety of investments. At AmericasRetirementPlan.com we scour the universe of all mutual funds and ETF’s available and then using the criteria that best fits the clients we serve, select the appropriate Funds for the portfolios we create for you. You may also obtain ongoing investment management, selection, monitoring and re-balancing. This is important for your plan staying on track toward your financial goals. Through AmericasRetirementPlan.com after determining, selecting and implementing the best choices available, we continuously manage investments which are optimized to your portfolio and needs. This includes staying on top of domestic and international economic trends which may affect portfolios and positioning portfolios appropriately and accordingly as well as monitoring, re-balancing and asset allocation based on your goals.
Avoid costly mistakes such as making a cash distribution. Any distribution you want to continue to grow tax deferred should be made out to the custodian name – FBO or for the benefit of – your name. Since we use TD Ameritrade as the custodian an example might say “John Smith FBO TD Ameritrade. This assures continued growth as well as a degree of safety of your retirement money since the check or forwarded proceeds are not made out to you expressly.
Before doing a Rollover, ask yourself these questions:
- Do I plan on retiring before 59 ½ and does my plan allow for Early Retirement?
- If your answer above is yes, will you retire within the next two years?
- Do I have a loan on my 401k?
- Do I plan to go back to the company soon (within the next six months)?
If your answer to any question above is no then a Rollover is a most likely a good selection for you. If you answered Yes to question 1, but no to answer 2 then a Rollover is your best option.
If you want to have total access to your money and even if you answered yes to question 1 and 2 you still may better off performing a Rollover.
There are times when a Rollover is not the best intent of the funds. This would include if you can retire early and your plan allows retirement prior to age 59 ½, If you plan to go back to the company soon, if you have a loan in the company plan and the employer or their administrator allows for you to keep the loan or for certain hardship situations. Under many of the circumstances above your employer may still require you to take your money out of the plan as administrative costs may become prohibitive to them to keep you in the plan. Check with your employer’s Human Resources Department for this information.
Distributions from qualified plans may be subject to taxes and penalties. For more information on this see the SPECIAL TAX NOTICE.
Rolling over your past corporate retirement plan has many benefits as noted; Ongoing Tax Deferred growth, Control of your funds, Professional asset management, potentially lower fees, ongoing monitoring and reporting, access to retirement planning tools 24/7 help and access, and guidance as well as total access to your money. All this leads to complete peace of mind. Get started today!