The Rollover

     At almost 66 years old, I decided to perform a rollover of my 401k retirement savings into an IRA at my discount brokerage account. According to the plan rules set-up by my former employer for the 401k, I would have to do this by age 69 1/2 anyway. My reasons for doing this were many, I didn't like the limited choices offered by the old plan, the customer service was sketchy, the website was clunky, and I wanted to derisk my portfolio by putting a substantial amount into federally insured CD's. I will still hold some stocks, mutual funds and ETF's in my rollover account but having guaranteed income without any loss of principle is attractive to me at my age. When it comes to customer service, my broker, TD Ameritrade, really impresses me. They answer the phone 24/7 and are knowledgeable and helpful. Sometimes in life, things happen during non-business hours that need attention immediately so it's good to know they have my back. Most employers contract-out the administration of their retirement plans to the lowest cost contractor. Your calls for assistance are often directed to third world countries. The people who answer the phone are trained to speak English and read the plan rules from a manual. They often have several companies to service thus several manuals to refer to. This can be confusing to them when trying to read and understand all the complex rules regarding rollovers and nuances of each particular plan. I also have trouble understanding some of these folks because I have poor hearing and they have heavy accents. What I have learned is that they can often give wrong advice which can cause major problems when trying to perform a rollover according to IRS rules. The last thing I need is a very large tax liability because someone in Malaysia or India gave me a bum steer. Over the years, I have challenged their instructions when what they were telling me really just didn't make sense or differed from what I read in the same manual they have. My advice is to question them if something just doesn't seem right. Plan participants of any age can elect to rollover into an IRA. My only warning is to check the rollover account for fees which can eat into your returns.  Anyone who is not happy with their current plan should consider the rollover option. The receiving firm should be able to walk you through the steps to complete the transaction.