[thrive_headline_focus title=”Rolling Over Your 401(k) to an IRA” orientation=”left”]
Changing jobs or retiring are two life events that provide opportunities to roll over your 401(k) to an IRA . If retiring, many 401(k) plan sponsors allow you to keep your 401(k) savings in their company plan. However, there are good reasons to consider a roll over of 401(k) assets to an IRA .
The first is to gain better control over your investment portfolio, once the assets are within the IRA. Company sponsored 401(k) plans may have limited investment options and restrictive trading and exchange policies. IRAs generally provide a broader range of investment options and more flexibility.
The second reason is the potential to obtain better guidance in adjusting the asset allocation to a more appropriate level that takes into account your own individual goals and risk tolerance. Although 401(k) plans may offer appropriate investments and some educational information about those options, 401k plan sponsors do not usually make available truly personalized advice to plan participants.
Regardless, there are mistakes that you need to avoid in the process of rolling over your 401(k). To avoid those mistakes, it is important to be able to recognize them. (Click here to receive the Top Mistakes in 401(k) Rollovers fact sheet.)
What are your 401(k) rollover options?
If you are changing jobs, you may have the option to roll over your existing 401(k) into your new employer’s 401(k) plan – be sure to verify that your new employer plan accepts rollovers. Regardless, you always have the option to roll over to an IRA that you can manage. And for the reasons noted above, rolling over to your own IRA may provide you with a better result .
It should be noted that one reason to keep your retirement assets in your 401(k) plan is that costs are often, but not always, lower in 401(k)s. However, without an appropriate investment plan, lower costs may not bear fruit.
In general it is a good idea to get advice from a Financial Planner who is a fiduciary. You may think that your financial advisor is obligated to do what is best for you, the client. However, not all are not obligated to act in your best interest (whereas a fiduciary would be), and may advise higher fee products, or proprietary products sold by the firm he or she represents or products that do the job.
In April 2016 the Department of Labor rolled out a new regulation that is to take effect in 2017 mandating that all investment professionals working with retirement plan participants and IRA owners shall adhere to a fiduciary standard for all retirement accounts for which they provide investment advice. For purposes of the DOL rule, retirement accounts include 401(k)s, IRAs, and Roth IRAs among others. The Department of Labor estimates that the investing public would save $4 billion a year with the new fiduciary rule. As you might expect, the fiduciary rule is opposed by affected Wall Street interests that are seeking to water it down or eliminate it entirely.
The Trump administration issued an executive order on February 3, 2017 to review the rule. While the Trump administration would like to roll it back, the industry is moving ahead with implementation, potentially regardless of possible regulatory about faces. Hence the future of the rule is unclear at this time.
[pullquote align=”left”] you always have the option to roll over to an IRA that you can manage [/pullquote]
Of course, whether or not this regulation takes effect in 2017, you can still benefit from working with a fiduciary advisor. If the advisor you are working with is not working to a fiduciary standard – i.e., with your best interests in mind, seek out someone who is. It’s important: after all you are dealing with your money and your future standard of living in retirement.
In the current regulatory environment, fee-only Financial Planners at Registered Investment Advisor firms usually serve as fiduciaries, and are required to always act in your best interests – they must avoid conflicts of interest, and cannot steer plans and IRA owners to investments based on their own, rather than their clients’ financial interests. In contrast, brokers, insurance agents and certain other investment professionals only have a responsibility to recommend securities that are “suitable.”
Making sure that the investment professional you are working with is acting in your best interest may help you invest your retirement funds more appropriately. Note that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not promulgated similar regulations for non-retirement investment accounts so if you are not dealing with a fiduciary advisor, you run the same risk of potentially higher costs or merely suitable investments. In fact if you have an IRA and a brokerage account with your financial advisor, he or she may end up being a fiduciary on one account and not a fiduciary on the other account. How is that for confusing?
A previous version of this post has appeared in the Colonial Times.