In an effort to simplify my finances a bit, I decided to finally rollover my 401(k) from the job I was laid off from last year. I had put it off waiting for the old employer’s last annual match to hit this past February, and then put it off after my experience rolling over the last employer’s 401(k) in 2008. The last rollover required the old plan to send the check to me and for me to send in the check and other paperwork to Vanguard. Since I requested the rollover only a few days before Hurricane Ike came and knocked out power for nearly two weeks, this ended up being a very long process but one that ultimately saved me a loss of 9.1% since the power outage coincided with the beginning of the financial collapse.
Anyway, I finally called Vanguard to initiate the rollover today and was pleasantly surprised with how easy and quick the process was. Granted part of this was due to my old plan’s willingness to send the distribution directly to Vanguard, but the whole thing took less than 17 minutes. I simply called Vanguard and let them know I wanted to roll over balances in an old employer’s plan and provided them with the custodian name and phone number, and they conferenced in the old plan representative and provided them with the check payee name and forwarding instructions. This won’t even require any paperwork on my part. Super easy!
Like I’ve mentioned before, I am a fan of Vanguard’s funds because of their low expense ratios and the makeup of their life cycle fund I chose for my rollover IRA. As evidenced by my experience today, their customer service is excellent. I would highly recommend Vanguard.
Rollover IRAs are a great alternative to leaving balances in an old 401(k) and can result in more investment choices and potentially lower fees. Just make sure you request a direct rollover and not a cash distribution or the old plan will be required to withhold taxes from the amount.
