Consolidate or not?

[maxer]

Not quite retired but may be forced to within a couple of years.

Question: Is it necessary or worthwhile to consolidate the 2 or 3 mutual fund family IRA's, Rollover IRA's, 401(k)s, etc and a discount brokerage Rollover IRA to one Fund family and one discount brokerage.

To be a bit more specific, transfer majority of American Century and Janus tax deferred IRA's, Rollover IRA's, 401(k)s to Vanguard and keep the discount brokerage Rollover IRA to try my hand at conservative investing.

Any comments or suggestions?

[samclem]

I've found it to be useful to consolidate at Vanguard. Fewer statements in the mail, and fewer passwords to remember. In addition, you'll qualify for Voyager status at $100K total assets, "Voyager Select" at $500K and "Flagship" at $1M, and consolidating accounts helps people attain these levels more rapidly. These come with some benefits (special account reps and services, etc).

There's virtually no increased risk from putting all your assets with Vanguard (or any other large, solid management company)

Still, I elected to put some money with Fidelity, because Vanguard didn't offer a special kind of account I needed (a solo 401K). So, sometimes it's tough to simplify.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Like Samclem, I moved almost everything to Vanguard (from Chas Schwab years ago after I gave up on individual stocks). It simplified my paperwork a lot and I have no complaints about performance.

I have a little in 401ks in Fidelity and Merrill Lynch left over from previous employers for reasons that no longer apply because I am too lazy.

[73ss454]

It took a while but I also now have everything at Vanguard except one CD with Pen Fed. I think I'll get another CD at Pen Fed tomorrow, I don't know how much longer we will see 6%.

It's nice having everything in one place.

[Achiever51]

Like the others who've responded, I too moved my 401k accounts to Vanguard to simplify recordkeeping and to consolidate for purposes of asset allocation. Aside from the lower costs -- a major plus, by the way -- I didn't have the range of investment opportunities with my 401k at my previous employer that I now have at VG. Nice to be able to check one site to get the picture of where I stand.