My husband passed away earlier this year at the age of 44. Since I am also not of retirement age, I am wondering what to do with his 401K. Can I put it into secured CD's or do I have to roll it over into an IRA? I need this money to be in a safe investment for my retirement.

Since you are the surviving spouse (I assume in USA) you can treat the 401K as if if were your own, and anything you could do with your own money you can do with that.

NORATOM19522:
You have the choices:
1. Treat it as your own by designating yourself as the account owner,
2. Treat it as your own by rolling over to your trad. IRA, or some eligible retirement plans, and
3. Treat yourself as the beneficiary. You must report the distribution as ordinary income on your tax return. The distribution is not subject to early withdrawal penalty of 10%.

My husband passed away and left a 401k, I am not sure if he had me listed as beneficiary so can you please tell me what steps I need to take.

Thank you

My husband passed away and left a 401k, I am not sure if he had me listed as beneficiary so can you please tell me what steps I need to take.

See: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/retirement/husband-deceased-but-not-sure-if-am-beneficiary-645318.html

My husband just recently passed away too. I autimatically became the benificiary because I was his wife. You need to get in contact with whom he has his 401 with. His job will be able to help you. That's how I got the information I needed. I hope this helps and God bless you.