[jxwhgb]

Hi,
I have a 401K from a previous employer that has been sitting idle for a few years. I have a couple of questions:
1. How do I get control of any of the investments in this 401K? Does the plan administrator have to liquidate the investments and send me the proceeds?
2. If I wanted to leave one or more of the funds that the 401K money is invested in alone (the money continues to reside there), can I do that or would I have to liquidate and then buy back into the same fund again from a new account of some sort?
3. I don't want to withdraw any of the money, just get control over it so that I can move some (or all if I have to) into some different investment vehicles. What can I roll it into? I have a 401K now through my new employer.

Thank you very much in advance-

[biggsie]

I am retired now anddo not have that much in 401K -- so I decided to leave it alone

How to Get a 401k From a Previous Employment | eHow.com

Rollover Your 401k

Hope these help you do the right thing -- Good Luck

[ebaines]

The way you get "control" of the investment is to roll your old 401(k) into a rollover IRA account. Do some research on the various offerings by investment houses such as Fidelity, Schwab, T.Rowe Price, Vanguard, etc - they all offer many excellent investment choices and in my experience excellent customer service. When you decide which investment house to use, take advantage of their direct rollover plans - you basically fill out an application and then they take care of contacting your old 401(k) plan administrator directly and getting the money moved over. This avoids having to have the old plan send you a check for you to reinvest - if you went that route there are some very unforgiving rules as to how quickly you have to move the money on to the new IRA to avoid a penalty. So save yourself some headache and do a direct rollover, managed by your new rollover IRA plan.

When you do the rollover you will have to move all the money out of the 401(k) - they won't let you leave a part of it behind. So if you like some of the specific funds you have with your 401(k), find an investment house that offers the same ones.

One last note - you MAY be able to roll your old 401(k) into your new 401(k) plan at your new job. If you're interested ask your new 401(k) plan administrator whether this option is available. In general I would not recommend it, since as noted above you typically can find better investment choices with more flexibility through an IRA, but if you would feel more comfortable having all your retirement accounts in one place, it's certainly worth checking out.

[ScottGem]

Ebaines gave good alternatives but its not the only one. Even though you are no longer an employee, you have the SAME rights to manage your money in the former 401K as a current employee. You can transfer money between the funds offered by the plan subject to the same conditions applied to active employees. So you haven't lost any of the control over your money that you had when employed by the company.

However, it would be easier to roll the account over into your current plan so you can manage your funds together. Or if you want full control over how the money is invested, then roll it over into a personal IRA.