Roll over to IRA

[Born2glf]

Hi I am getting ready to retire in a few months and will have a lump sum of around 400000.00 to roll over. I was looking at T Rowe Price but have seen good things about Vanguard and Fidelity. Just wondering what your alls thoughts are on these three and is the a big difference.
Thanks
Mike G

[bUU]

My brother uses T Rowe Price and seems to like them. I'm partial to Fidelity because they have a strong presence in my home town and so I benefit from that in a way that someone in Iowa (for example) wouldn't. I also have a Vanguard account but I don't even think of Fidelity and Vanguard as the same thing: I consider my Vanguard account a worthy receptacle for my Vanguard funds; Fidelity is my brokerage. As I move toward having more index funds than managed funds, I might put more money into Vanguard, but perhaps not, since Fidelity's Spartan funds are doing a good job filling that void for me. But the superior service I've received from Fidelity, as compared to the good but not great service I've received from Vanguard, convinces me that Fidelity is where I want to do most of my investing, especially those things that are more retirement-related.

[REWahoo]

All three are good but if you are looking for the lowest expense ratio (costs do matter) I would rate them in the order of Vanguard, Fidelity and T Rowe Price. If you have a need for face-to-face contact or don't feel comfortable doing most of your activity online, I'd reverse those ratings.

[Midpack]

I've had good experience with Vanguard, Fidelity & Schwab, and we've done several rollover IRAs with Vanguard (from a Schwab 401k among other sources). I don't have direct experience with T Rowe Price but they seem to be well regarded.

To looking at expense ratios and whether or not you want face-to-face contact as REW mentions, I would always advise that you decide what you want to invest the money in as a significant factor in your decision before you do the rollover. Individual stocks, mutual funds (active, index/passive), ETFs, etc. Each of the firms have different strengths.

Just for example when my holdings were individual stocks and active stock funds I was with Fidelity. When I moved entirely to index funds, I moved all my holdings to Vanguard.

Best of luck, though it would be hard to go far wrong with any of the firms you're considering...

[Animorph]

I think it depends on what funds you want to invest in. Each company has a different lineup of no transaction fee mutual funds and no commission ETF's, and different commisions if you're into individual stocks. As others have already said, you can also keep accounts at multiple companies. I have done so to avoid transaction fees, fund minimums, and fund third party closures or unavailability.

You can get many Vanguard funds from Fidelity, but frequently with a transaction fee (only when you buy, so that may not be a big problem.) So a direct account at Vanguard might be nice to save a few bucks.

[GrayHare]

After one too many errors of TRP, I moved elsewhere. I like Fidelity's site and Vanguard's customer service, but YMMV.

[ERhoosier]

I've had good experience with Vanguard for >20yrs. No experience with TRP.

[Born2glf]

Thanks everyone that has replied it's always good to hear other people's thoughts

[scrabbler1]

Already a Fidelity client, when I ERed in 2008 I did a direct rollover of the 401(k) to a Fidelity IRA. It keeps things simple and I like the vast selection of funds to pick from.