I have recently retired and have no idea how to start the process to rollover my 401K, etc. I spoke with a CFP and he wanted 1.25% to manage my money. I've decided to do the homework so that I can maintain control, and save the expense.
Is there a basic primer I can read? Should I go to my credit union for help? I have assets in two different 401Ks, two retirement accounts, a Roth IRA and cash totallying around $400,000. What do I do first?
Hi Suzanne,
Congratulations! I'm relatively new here and still working on getting to the last day of work!! You are making a great choice to manage your own money--that 1.25% adds up over decades.
When I first decided to take charge of my money, I was mostly in funds due to various retirement accounts, and read a few general personal finance books. The one I felt helped me most with understanding the basics involving funds was The Wealthy Barber. It covers all aspects of personal finance, but is an easy read to understanding diversification and rebalancing. There are many other books and many websites, but this is a good primer in my opinion.
I also starting reading periodicals- Money, Kiplingers and Smart Money, which gave me insight to stocks in addition to funds, and lots of helpful advice for personal finance. I don't even pay for Money--it's always available for frequent flier points and I use up the points in inactive accounts for the subscription. These magazines also have many articles for free on line.
Over the past dozen years I have shifted more of my money into dividend stocks and a smaller portion is in funds, but I feel fund investing was a good place to start, since you need to spend alot of time researching and managing a stock portfolio. For many people, they only invest in funds, so you will get some good advice on this site from people who are doing well with funds.
Consolidating your accounts with one or two brokerage houses would definitely a good idea, it is much easier to have one or two accounts than several. My recommendations are Fidelity and TrowePrice, but there are many others that work well -just keep reading this site... And when you have a couple hundred thousand in their accounts, they discount or forgive trading fees, give you access to many services and have their own advisors, who will give you advice for free--just make sure you vet their advice on your own.
Finally, I don't recommend asking the credit union for help, my experience with 2 credit unions is that they are not the best financial advisors!!
Good Luck to you!