[suanleo]

Hi had a 401k planwith previous employer and now seven years later I do not know how to go about getting it back or even what happen to it please help.

[ebaines]

Suggestions:

1. What you want to do is find out who the plan administrator is, and then contact them. It is typically an investment firm like Fidelity or an insurance company. Look around your house and see if you can find any old account statements - the administrator will be shown on it, along with a contact phone number.

2. Failing that, call the HR department at your old place of work and ask how to get in touch with the administrator. Or if you have any old friends who still work there, ask them who the admin is.

3. If the plan administrator thinks you have been "lost," in that they have been unable to contact you in all this time, they may have turned your assets over to the state that you lived in at the time. Every state has a program that requires "lost assets" like this to be turned over to them, and they all have programs in place to try to locate the rightful owners. Do a Google search on "unclaimed assets" and your state name - that should take you to your state's web site which in turn will allow you to see if there are any unclaimed assets in your name.

Hope this helps.

[ScottGem]

Your first step is to contact the previous employer. If the employer is no longer in business then you can contact the plan administrator. If you don't know who that is, then contact the IRS. They have to keep records of any retirement benefits due you.