Hi,

I have ML 401(K) account, but wants to know if my 401(K) will be affected by the recent fall of the firm.

I currently have vest my 401(K) into five different investments; three with equity/stocks and two with bonds.

One of equity/stock is called 'ML Large Value CIT Tier 1" IVR Code: 14240

I have vested $880 total so far but my balance shows only $830 and want to know if it's because of ML stocks I'm vesting into.

Any advise? Should I switch to different stock option? Can I switch it now? Or do I have to stick to it until I move to different firm? Thanks!

There should be absolutely no problem with the safety of your 401(k) account being administered by ML. The name on the web site may someday change to Bank of America, but there really is no issue that would affect the value of the investments that they are administering. Of course, if you have actual ML stock in your portfolio, or the mutual funds you mention have ML stock, the value of those investmenst have already been affected. The fact that our invstement has lost $50 has to do with general market conditions and the performance of the funds you are investing with.

As for sticking with the 401(k) - you really have no option regarding who the plan administrator is - that's determined by the peoplel in your HR department who decided to contract with ML. You're stuck with ML as the administrator until either HR decides to contract with someone else, or you leave the firm.

You need to find out what investments are in each fund, normally they are spread over 100's of various investments.

So while they are ML handled, they are normally these funds are investments in many types of investments. The exact investments are what you want to look at.

But over all almost all funds are down, and you will often over the life of a fund ( 20 to 30 years often) see them go up and see them go down, worth 1000 today, 900 tomorrow, then 1200 the next month.
** not often that fast but over months.

For example funds that have some base on gold futures have gone though the roof ( but my guess is that will fall as it did in the 80's before long)

So you need to review the options you have, where these funds are invested, what their past history has been and make the best choice

How can I get a copy of my sale of 401k for taxes?

"Sale" of 401(k)? Do you mean you took a withdrawal of some (or all) orf yor 401(k) account? If so, the plan administrator will send you a form 1099-R that documents the amount of the withdrawal and provides a "reason code" that indicates whether the withdrawal is subject to a 10% early withdrawal penalty (on top of the regular income tax). If the withdrawal was made in 2012 you should have received that form 1099-R by the end of February 2013, so if you have not received it yet I suggest you contact the plan administartor and ask about it.