401K advice

CR250Rider
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CR250Rider
Edited Date/Time 8/27/2015 10:50am
My wife has 3 401k's from 3 old jobs and one of them says she has to be un-enrolled.

I guess I need to find a financial advisor. I really know ZERO about this whole thing.
Any quick tips, and things to avoid?
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str8shooter 8/24/2015 4:23pm
8/24/2015 4:23pm
I gotta wonder what the hell's gonna happen now with the crash in China and how that is going to affect us?Blush
APLMAN99
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APLMAN99 8/24/2015 4:44pm
8/24/2015 4:44pm
CR250Rider wrote:
My wife has 3 401k's from 3 old jobs and one of them says she has to be un-enrolled. I guess I need to find a...
My wife has 3 401k's from 3 old jobs and one of them says she has to be un-enrolled.

I guess I need to find a financial advisor. I really know ZERO about this whole thing.
Any quick tips, and things to avoid?
Only generic advice I'd give is that if you don't need the money desperately, don't cash it out. Just go down to your local broker (or even banker) and have them roll it over for you. There are some rules to follow that will let you receive the check then have a certain amount of time to get it back into a qualified instrument, but it's easier to just never have it in your hands in the first place.
MR. X
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MR. X 8/24/2015 4:53pm
8/24/2015 4:53pm
I had something similar happen , i had a 401-k that i needed to do something with or cash it out. I went to financial guy and he rolled it into a roth IRA
CR250Rider
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CR250Rider 8/24/2015 4:59pm
8/24/2015 4:59pm
Ooo, I like the sound of the Roth IRA. Ya we don't want to cash-out and get clobbered with a huge penalty.

Do some roth's earn more interest than others? If they're based on stock values, are there some that have better stocks than others?

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byke
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byke 8/24/2015 5:36pm
8/24/2015 5:36pm
Right now I'd definitely rollover into an IRA and then move to a plan once this current panic is behind us.
SPYGUY
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SPYGUY 8/24/2015 5:58pm
8/24/2015 5:58pm
CR250Rider wrote:
Ooo, I like the sound of the Roth IRA. Ya we don't want to cash-out and get clobbered with a huge penalty. Do some roth's earn...
Ooo, I like the sound of the Roth IRA. Ya we don't want to cash-out and get clobbered with a huge penalty.

Do some roth's earn more interest than others? If they're based on stock values, are there some that have better stocks than others?
If you roll it over into a Roth IRA you'll pay the taxes on it now but be able to make tax free withdrawals later whereas a Tradtiional IRA rollover will continue to defer the taxes until you start taking withdrawals.

With an IRA you can invest in pretty much anything you want. If you open the IRA with a bank, you'll be limited to IRA types offered by that bank like a savings account, money market, CD, etc...

If you open it through an online broker like TD Ameritrade, you can buy stocks, mutual funds, ETF's, etc...

It's really up to you what you choose to do with it.

As far as financial advisors, be careful out there. Most aren't fiduciaries, meaning they aren't required to place your interests above their own. Fiduciaries do.
GuyB
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GuyB 8/24/2015 10:27pm
8/24/2015 10:27pm
Unless you need to do it immediately, I'd wait a bit for them to rebound. I'm no expert, but one of mine took about a $3K hit today.
IWreckALot
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IWreckALot 8/25/2015 5:02am
8/25/2015 5:02am
IRA's in general give you more investment opportunities. Usually 401k's limit where you can invest the money to a set of plans the 401k company offers. You can pick from stocks, bonds, CD's etc. . . in an IRA. Keep in mind though, there is a limit for how much you can invest into an IRA in a year which is somewhere in the $5,000 range. A 401K, you can invest up to $14,000ish a year. But if you're just rolling it over rather than adding funds, I don't think this comes into play.
IWreckALot
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IWreckALot 8/25/2015 5:03am
8/25/2015 5:03am
str8shooter wrote:
I gotta wonder what the hell's gonna happen now with the crash in China and how that is going to affect us?Blush
Depends on your age. Market slumps are good for guys that aren't going to retire any time soon. Lower stock prices means you buy more shares per dollar and slumps don't typically last very long. If you're getting close to retirement, like GuyB, you probably cringe with market slumps.
71Fish
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71Fish 8/25/2015 5:22am
8/25/2015 5:22am
Now is the perfect time to get in while prices are down. I'm sure I took a hit too (I don't check it daily) but there has never been a ten year period where the market didn't go up. If you're in for the long haul (retirement) don't stress over dips and rises.

I'm not a financial advisor, but this is what Dave Ramsey has stated over and over.

I'm way ahead of where I was after the last big dip.
enketchum
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enketchum 8/25/2015 11:19pm
8/25/2015 11:19pm
Roth IRA is the only safe way. When you pay into a 401k some intern is investing your money into stocks.

Roth IRA lets you pay taxes on your income NOW and earn tax free interest and withdraw it at 59.5 without taxes. Tax rates are only go to go up and you will be paying on more money in the future if you don't go Roth. But interest rates suck the balls right now and IRAs are just CDs so you get the current market rate for CDs.

I don't play the stock market. I have STRS retirement and I let them take the hits for me (us).
APLMAN99
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APLMAN99 8/25/2015 11:56pm
8/25/2015 11:56pm
enketchum wrote:
Roth IRA is the only safe way. When you pay into a 401k some intern is investing your money into stocks. Roth IRA lets you pay...
Roth IRA is the only safe way. When you pay into a 401k some intern is investing your money into stocks.

Roth IRA lets you pay taxes on your income NOW and earn tax free interest and withdraw it at 59.5 without taxes. Tax rates are only go to go up and you will be paying on more money in the future if you don't go Roth. But interest rates suck the balls right now and IRAs are just CDs so you get the current market rate for CDs.

I don't play the stock market. I have STRS retirement and I let them take the hits for me (us).
IRAs are just CDs? Is this a common misconception?

IRAs can be just about anything, from a brokerage account invested 100% in stocks to purely interest based instruments.
Dirty Britches 8/26/2015 11:19am
8/26/2015 11:19am Edited Date/Time 8/26/2015 11:20am
So many geniuses here..haha...
2 main things - don't cash out, and you don't need a financial advisor.
Google is your friend.
Simply roll it over into a traditional IRA or Roth IRA, then just let it sit until you retire. It's an easy process and you can call T.Rowe Price (or whoever you pick) and they can guide you through it.
indy_maico
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indy_maico 8/26/2015 11:35am
8/26/2015 11:35am Edited Date/Time 8/26/2015 11:35am
I had a couple of 401K's that I had to roll over.

I opened an IRA account with Scottrade and rolled them over to that. You can then buy stocks or whatever for $7 per transactions and manage the account yourself.

Like GuyB says though, I took a big hit over the last month to the tune of about $5K. Just gonna let it ride; Nothing else to do!
chocolatethunder782 8/26/2015 2:42pm
8/26/2015 2:42pm Edited Date/Time 8/26/2015 2:43pm
I just started contributing 10% of my check to one this week. Moving up in the world!

ns503
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ns503 8/26/2015 2:49pm
8/26/2015 2:49pm Edited Date/Time 8/26/2015 2:49pm
GuyB wrote:
Unless you need to do it immediately, I'd wait a bit for them to rebound. I'm no expert, but one of mine took about a $3K...
Unless you need to do it immediately, I'd wait a bit for them to rebound. I'm no expert, but one of mine took about a $3K hit today.
I's too sceered to look - so I ain't gonna.

Glad I'm not right around the corner from retirement though, I'd likely be in a straightjacket if I had to cash out in the next few months.
yak651
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yak651 8/27/2015 10:50am
8/27/2015 10:50am
Would not recommend individual stocks if you are asking this question on a moto site...open an account at a reputable place like Vanguard and roll it into an IRA. Depending on the value of the accounts, they may offer advising of what type of funds to put the money in. If nothing else and you dont' want to put in the time to research put it in a target fund for the year you plan on retiring. Rolling into a ROTH IRA is an option but there will be fees involved.

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