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meg101364 · Sep 11, 2007, 04:58 AM

Hi,
I'm meg101364 and I want to know if I can cash out my 401-k. I am leaving a job and going to another and they do not have 401-k. I could use the money for some bills and put the rest in a IRA. Can I do this?

ebaines · Sep 11, 2007, 10:28 AM

Assuming you are under 59-1/2 years of age, you can not take a pay-out from your 401(k) without paying a 10% penalty plus income taxes on the amount you withdraw. Unless you are in dire straits, do not take a distributions from the 401(k)!

Since your new employer does not offer a 401(k) plan,you have 2 choices:

1. Do nothing. Your existing 401(k) stays with your old employer's plan. You'll continue to receive quarterly statements, and while you won't be adding any new money to the account your existing balances will continue to appreciate. However, most plans have a provision that if your balance is less than some threshold amount (typically $5K) they will not let you keep your 401(k) active after you leave.

2. After you leave the old job, you can perform a direct roll-over from the old 401(k) into a new roll-over IRA account that you set up. This is very easy to do - most investment firms like Fidelity, Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, Schwab, etc can do all the necessary paperwork - all you need to do is decide which firm to go with and how you want the funds invested. You don't need to contact your old 401(k) plan administrator at all. I've done this twice in the past 2 years and it's painless. The only words of caution are to make sure that the new account is a Rollover IRA (this money can not be simply added into an existing traditional IRA you may already have - it'll have to be a new account), and make sure that the money is transferred directly from the old 401(k) right to the new account - that is, you do not want have a check made out to you, or you stand the risk of penalties and income taxes being due.

My advice is to take your time on this. Unless the admin of your current 401(k) requires you to move the money out, right away, take a month or two to research various investment firms for your rollover IRA and to decide which funds you want to roll into.