[Rollover IRA]

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Tanise1980
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[Rollover IRA]

Post by Tanise1980 »

After quitting my first job, I established a rollover IRA with American Funds in 2012 and made no additions to it since then. At my second job the 401k was managed by Fidelity. I left the company this year but my 401k is still at job #2. My 3rd jobs 401k is managed by fidelity. What is the best way to move the money from AF to fidelity?What should I do with the 401k from job 2?
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retired@50
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Re: ROLLOVER IRA

Post by retired@50 »

The normal routine, when moving accounts, is to call the destination firm, Fidelity, in this case.

Does Job 3 have a 401k plan hotline phone number?
You could call and confirm that you're allowed to combine both the Rollover IRA and the 401k from Job 2 into the 401k account at Job 3.

Presuming the 401k plan has decent fund choices at Job 3, that would probably be the easiest to manage.

Regards,
If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. -George Orwell
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jeffyscott
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Re: ROLLOVER IRA

Post by jeffyscott »

If you can't or don't want to move the money into your current 401K, you can move it into an IRA at Fidelity, you should be able to easily do a transfer of the IRA from American Funds to Fidelity online: https://www.fidelity.com/retirement-ira/ira-transfer
You can do the transfer in-kind, keeping the money invested during the process.

You could also rollover the second job 401K to the same Fidelity IRA, if you wish to. Since it is at Fidelity, you can probably do that rollover in-kind, as well.

In a few states (including some big ones like CA, IIRC) a 401K has better protection than an IRA. There may also be more protection if the IRA funds are from a rollover, so may want to keep rolled funds segragated from any regular IRA funds. In this case, both would be rolled, so seems like co-mingling should be okay :?: .
LeslieSmiley
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Re: ROLLOVER IRA

Post by LeslieSmiley »

Transfer in kind so you won’t be out of the market, assuming that’s what you want, that is, not being out of the market.

401k has better bankruptcy protection

If you retire at 55, you can withdraw your 401k without incurring penalty but you can only withdraw IRA without penalty starting at age 59.5

So, consider the above and pick what suits your situation and liking.
placeholder
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Re: ROLLOVER IRA

Post by placeholder »

It's not at all certain that a 401k would be able to do an in kind rollover.
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jeffyscott
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Re: ROLLOVER IRA

Post by jeffyscott »

placeholder wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 1:30 amIt's not at all certain that a 401k would be able to do an in kind rollover.
I think when it is the same custodian, it is likely to be possible to do a rollover from 401K to IRA in-kind.

For a recent rollover, T. Rowe Price was able to do this with no problem at all. Did a direct, in-kind, rollover from an employer account at T. Rowe to an IRA at T. Rowe (which was quick and relatively easy...as easy as getting a rollover check and opening a new IRA account would've been). If there had already been an IRA at T. Rowe, could have rolled in-kind to that existing account even more easily, as it would not require opening the new account.


(The funds were actually destined for Schwab and Schwab had told me an in-kind rollover directly to Schwab from the employer account held at T. Rowe was even possible, but it would require the current custodian's co-operation. When T. Rowe Price seemed unable to confirm or deny that they would help arrange this, did the rollover there and that was shortly followed by a direct, in-kind transfer of the IRA to Schwab.)
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oldcomputerguy
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Re: ROLLOVER IRA

Post by oldcomputerguy »

jeffyscott wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 8:29 am
placeholder wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 1:30 amIt's not at all certain that a 401k would be able to do an in kind rollover.
I think when it is the same custodian, it is likely to be possible to do a rollover from 401K to IRA in-kind.
When I punched out in 2017, I did a roll-over of my Fidelity-hosted workplace 401k to a traditional IRA also at Fidelity. The only problem they had with moving things in kind was that one of the funds (as I recall, an S&P 500 fund) was institutional-class in the 401k, and it could not be moved in kind to a traditional IRA, so they had to take that fund to cash and re-invest in the IRA as the "Advantage" class. Nowadays, all the Fidelity funds are what used to be called "institutional" class, so that would not be a problem today.
There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way. (Christopher Morley)
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Re: ROLLOVER IRA

Post by placeholder »

jeffyscott wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 8:29 am
placeholder wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 1:30 amIt's not at all certain that a 401k would be able to do an in kind rollover.
I think when it is the same custodian, it is likely to be possible to do a rollover from 401K to IRA in-kind.

For a recent rollover, T. Rowe Price was able to do this with no problem at all. Did a direct, in-kind, rollover from an employer account at T. Rowe to an IRA at T. Rowe
But that's going from a 401k to ira not the other way and workplace plans often have strict rules on how rollovers are accomplished.
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