Comments on: Where to Roll Over My 401k

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:54:09 +0000

Unless you have NO savings at all, I would never advise you to take money out of the 401k because of the penalties and taxes that you have to pay. Remember that on top of the 10% penalty, the amount of money you take out is considered income, and may even push you to a higher tax bracket than you normally would be.

However, if you take the money out, I would just take enough to pay off your obligations and not more. In other words, take as little as you need and learn to cut down your spending drastically to cope.

Finally, note that when you roll over a 401k (assuming it’s not a Roth 401k), it needs to be rolled over to a TRADITIONAL IRA (not Roth).

By: Need advice

Need advice — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:47:18 +0000

I got laid off last month. Should I roll my 401K over to a Roth IRA and then take out the money. This to pay of my car/credit card have some money for mortgage and maybe put $5000 in individual stocks? My other option is to sell my house and keep my Roth IRA intact.

By: Roger

Roger — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:11:34 +0000

I personally believe in finding a financial advisor, i guess when i was young i was told that you dont go to a doctor to get your car fixed, and i guess my retirement and financial planning is more important to me then a cheap servicing fee. But that is just my opinion. The way I look at it i am willing to pay 1% to a advisor when it is his profession, alot of my friends try to do it themselves, but i always say..i would rather pay 1% more in fee to a professional advisor then have cheap fees and loss more. I feel a advisor protects me from losing to much on the downside, and also helps me on the upside to gain more of the profits. just my take on it, i stick with a advisor.

By: Len Fox

Len Fox — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:28:34 +0000

I think that buying an index fund is fine for passive investing. Passive investing reulted in a 40% loss for “passive” investors in 2008. You would now need to make 65% to recover. I used to be a passive investor during the dot.com crash and vowed that never again would I take more time taking out the trash than I did managing my most critical assets. I learned how to use market timing techniques and made money last year.

There are groups of advisors in an organization called NAAIM. National Association of Active Investment Managers. Don’tt be passive. If you don’t have the tools to manage hire a professional that does. You may have to pay them more than a index fund but you will have someone that gets up every morning and thinks about where your money has to be to safely make money that day and every day. Even in Bear markets.

By: No Debt Plan

No Debt Plan — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:08:17 +0000

If Warren Buffet is happy with index returns, shouldn’t we all be?

Our stuff is with Vanguard.

By: Dividend Growth Investor

Dividend Growth Investor — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:57:40 +0000

I have heard that Fidelity is cheapest to open an IRA in terms of fees. But of course it all depends on what you want to invest your funds into. If you want to purchase individual stocks, you might want to open an acocunt at Zecco or sharebuilder. If you want to have mutual funds instead, then go for fidelity.

By: Joseph @ Debit versus Credit

Joseph @ Debit versus Credit — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:36:52 +0000

I love Vanguard and based on that list I would probably go with them. You do know that you can invest in more than just index funds with them of course, right? You’ve got access to stocks, bonds, funds… even options! Like I said if it was me I would go with them.

Otherwise T Rowe price is a good option as well.

By: IRA CD Rates

IRA CD Rates — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:30:45 +0000

David,

I’m hurt. That is what we do. :O)

Actually our niche is CDs so at this point not a good option for you, given your age.

Our broker/dealer uses a lot of Charles Schwab’s products.

Honestly, since we mainly deal with CDs, I don’t check on most of the other things. Our company plan goes through Fidelity. There fees same high.

Good luck.

By: marci

marci — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:09:59 +0000

If you are already agressive with the Roth and the investments, it doesn’t hurt to have a conservative side to the three legged stool. I like vanguard. I like Van Kampen.

Thru my Edward Jones account, I have the option of splitting up my IRA into various components… part are in conservative funds, but some is in very agressive funds. I like being able to have that flexibility to move things around within the traditional IRA.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:40:03 +0000

david: Thanks for the suggestion! I will definitely check it out!

Bill Davis: Hmm $1 million might be a little too much for me right now but $10.95 isn’t bad I guess since I probably won’t treat that often with this account.

ETFs a good idea. I will look into it once I switch over and have access to stocks/funds/ETFs etc.