Guides

Each guide answers one question, shows the arithmetic, and ends with a conditional conclusion you can apply to your own numbers.

Every figure below is quoted from the tax authority's or the regulator's own page, with the date we checked it. Where we could not confirm a number on an official page, the guide says so rather than estimating.

67 questions people ask before a rollover

Shorter pages, one question each, answered from the IRS, the Department of Labor, the securities regulators or, for the provider pages, the provider's own instructions. They are grouped by where you are in the move.

The accounts and the words

• How much of my 401(k) is actually mine if I leave my job?
• What does rolling over a 401(k) actually do with the money?
• What is an IRA, and is a rollover IRA a different kind of account?
• Does it change my taxes if a 401(k) goes into a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA?
• What's the real difference between a 401(k) and an IRA?
• Do I need to open a new rollover IRA, or can my old 401(k) go into the IRA I already have?
• Is a Roth 401(k) just a Roth IRA inside a workplace plan?
• Why does it matter whether an IRA move is called a rollover, a transfer, or a conversion?
• Can I keep contributing to my rollover IRA, or do I lose something if I do?

Leaving a job with money in the plan

• What happens to my 401(k) after I leave my job?
• Is it ever better to leave money in an old employer's 401(k)?
• Will my new employer's 401(k) take the money from my old one?
• Should I combine my old 401(k)s into one account?
• Can I roll my 401(k) into an IRA while I still work there?
• Can my old employer move a small 401(k) balance into an IRA without asking me?
• Can the Labor Department's lost-and-found tool tell me where my old 401(k) went?
• How do I find an old 401(k) from a job I left years ago?
• What do Capitalize and Beagle charge to find and move an old 401(k), and can I do it free?
• My old employer was bought by another company. Where did my 401(k) go?

Where the tax comes in

• How much more tax do I pay if I cash out my old 401(k) instead of rolling it over?
• When does rolling over a 401(k) end up costing me tax?
• If I roll my 401(k) into a Roth IRA, which part of the balance gets taxed?
• Does rolling a Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA restart the five-year clock?
• Can I send the after-tax part of my 401(k) to a Roth IRA and the pretax part to a traditional IRA?
• Will rolling my old 401(k) into an IRA make my backdoor Roth taxable?
• How much is the penalty for taking money out of a 401(k) before 59½, and what gets you out of it?
• I made nondeductible IRA contributions. What happens on Form 8606 if I roll my 401(k) into that IRA?
• Does my 401(k) plan allow a mega backdoor Roth, and what do I need to check?
• What happens if I move my SIMPLE IRA into a 401(k) or IRA during the two-year period?
• Will my state tax a 401(k) rollover or a Roth conversion?

Picking the account it goes to

• What will a rollover IRA cost me each year compared with my old 401(k)?
• Will I get better investment choices in an IRA than in my 401(k)?
• Is my money less protected from creditors after I roll a 401(k) into an IRA?
• How do I pick between rollover IRA providers when they all advertise no fees?
• Can I move money from an IRA back into a 401(k) at my new job?
• Can I roll my 401(k) into a gold IRA?
• What does a 0.50% expense ratio cost compared with 0.03% on a $100,000 rollover?
• Where on my 401(k) fee disclosure do I find what I'm actually paying?
• How much does each broker charge to transfer an IRA out or close it?
• Is a 1% IRA rollover match worth more than a lower expense ratio?
• How much more does a robo-advisor IRA cost each year than one you run yourself?
• How much does a financial advisor charge to handle a 401(k) rollover?
• What fees do I pay if my 401(k) rollover goes into an annuity?

Moving the money

• How do I get my old 401(k) sent directly to an IRA?
• How long does a 401(k) rollover take, start to finish?
• Who should a 401(k) rollover check be made out to?
• What should Form 1099-R and Form 5498 show after a direct rollover?
• Do my 401(k) investments move over as they are, or get sold first?
• How does a 401(k) rollover work at Fidelity?
• Where does my money go when a 401(k) rollover reaches Vanguard?
• What do I ask my old employer for when rolling a 401(k) into a Schwab IRA?
• If Empower runs my old 401(k), does the money have to go to an Empower IRA?
• Where do I start a rollover if my old 401(k) is with Principal, Voya, Gusto, or Ascensus?
• How do I roll my old 401(k) into a Robinhood IRA, and what does the match require?
• How do I roll a 401(k) into a SoFi IRA, and what does SoFi charge?
• What does Betterment do for me when I roll a 401(k) over, and what will I pay?
• How do I roll a 401(k) into an M1 IRA, and what does it cost on a small balance?

Age, loans, stock and other special cases

• Do I lose the rule of 55 if I roll my 401(k) into an IRA?
• What happens to an unpaid 401(k) loan when I leave my job?
• Can this year's RMD go into the IRA with the rest of my 401(k)?
• What happens to the tax break on company stock if I roll my 401(k) into an IRA?
• If I inherit a 401(k), can I roll it into my own IRA?
• If my employer goes bankrupt, is my 401(k) money safe?
• Can I roll a 403(b) or 457(b) into an IRA, and how is it different from a 401(k)?
• How is my first RMD calculated, and does rolling my 401(k) into an IRA change it?
• If I roll my TSP into an IRA, do I give up its low expense ratios?
• What does it cost to use my 401(k) to start a business through a ROBS?