Should I roll over my 401k

[renferme]

Should I rollover my 401k ?? ; age 60.
401k in Vanguard.
Most of the money is in something called the "Fixed Fund" which , technically, is not a Vanguard fund, but is in my 401k. It's similar to a money market fund and used to be called the Guaranteed Income Fund,,,was renamed many years ago after funds like this one were hurt by the junk bond fiasco; the word Guaranteed was incorrect as it implied the fund was guaranteed by the good old US of A.
Anyway it's current yield is 4.4%, but Vanguard's prime mm fund's yield is 5.1%.
I could rollover and pick any Van. fund - more choices in other words, but there may be more costs/fees involved.
BTW, the reason most of the money is extremely conservatively invested is because I have other money in stocks using Ameritrade.
Back to my reference to Van Prime MM fund: it's yield right now is excellent, but
what about the future ?

 

[2B]

I don't see any reason not to roll it over ASAP. Since you are over 59 1/2, there isn't any reason to keep it in a lower earning account. Also, I'm a big proponent of getting all or most of your money on one statement.

 

[heyyou]

Most 401k plans have higher admin fees and low institutional fund fees. Vanguard has no admin fees and the lowest retail fund fees. A rollover IRA has many more fund choices than a 401k, didn't say better, just more.

My 401k had fund fees of .05 to .09 %. The admin fee was .7 %!!! With 50,000 participants, that is a lot of admin money. VG could have run it for just the fund fees.

 

[renferme]

bump, hoping for more respones.

 

[jazz4cash]

ok, I'll bite...........

Vanguard Prime MM always seems to be competitive. Vanguard is the low cost leader in terms of fees, so I think I would roll it over and stay with Vanguard. This assumes your plan administrator has set the plan up to permit rollovers. I would be very surprised if you are locked in. The only advantage I can think of for not rolling over is the loan provision in the 401k which is probably only reasonable in an emergency. I have done a rollover with some of my 401k funds which are managed by Fidelity. The mutual fund money can be rolled over 'in kind". My reason for doing so to get access to the IRA for dependent education expenses. I have also purchased other funds (not offered within the 401k) and individual stocks in the IRA. When I did this, I had the opposite problem from what you are describing...........Fidelity's MM fund was not very competitive at that time. When I log onto the Fidelity Website, it shows both 401k and IRA plan assets on the same webpage.

 

[yakers]

I would roll it over unless you want to change your AA or at least the financial instruments you hold. I think I have a somewhat similar situation. My retirement account has a sort of stable value fund which does exactly as it is supposed to, but right now CDs pay a bit more return. But I have been using this fund for 20+ years and expect to keep it for 20+ more and I have no desire to change how I am holding those funds.

 

[FinanceDude]

Roll it over ASAP. Most 401k plans have a lot of hidden fees. You said you are managing a large stock portfolio at Ameritrade?

I guess I believe that it is ok to take more risk with your taxable accounts, but you seem to be extreme, i.e. either money market or straight stock.

Perhaps one idea would be to keep 50% in the Vanguard MMF, and the other 50% into some large cap value or other funds at Vanguard. That way, you'll have some balance.

Good luck..........

 

[renferme]

Roll it over ASAP. Most 401k plans have a lot of hidden fees. You said you are managing a large stock portfolio at Ameritrade?

I guess I believe that it is ok to take more risk with your taxable accounts, but you seem to be extreme, i.e. either money market or straight stock.

Good luck..........

Not sure what you mean by "extreme" ?
And don't know what the "hidden" fees are ? I guess that's why they are hidden. Of course there are fees for each fund in the 401k, but I'd have them in an IRA also.
About 60% of my stuff is in the 401k.
20% in Ameritrade and Dodge&Cox
and 20% in CDs.
AA is about 72% non-stock and 28% stock - that's conservative for a 60 year old,
in my opinion.

 

[JohnP]

This past weekend USAToday had an article about 401k fees.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2006-11-10-mym-401-fees_x.htm

I understand that it makes good sense to hold onto a 401k as long as you're working and your employer is making a contribution. Once you retire (or quit) the conventional wisdom is to roll over your 401k to a low cost provider such as Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. I believe you may be surprised at the account performance.

I do not have a 401k - DW has a 403b which will be rolled over as soon as she completes this school year because the fees are awful.

JohnP

 

[astromeria]

I believe you may be surprised at the account performance.

I sher wuz--without new contributions every month, it grew a lot more slowly

 

[FinanceDude]

Not sure what you mean by "extreme" ?
And don't know what the "hidden" fees are ? I guess that's why they are hidden. Of course there are fees for each fund in the 401k, but I'd have them in an IRA also.
About 60% of my stuff is in the 401k.
20% in Ameritrade and Dodge&Cox
and 20% in CDs.
AA is about 72% non-stock and 28% stock - that's conservative for a 60 year old,
in my opinion.

Didn't know about Didge and Cox, thought you said stock and FI, no mutuals...........

It's like my wife's work. They have Fidelity, but an advisor charges them an admin fee of 75bp a year to do nothing, no offers of personal consults, no state of the market meetings, nothing.

And the assets are $45 million, that's an extra $300,000 a year on top of the expense ratios, wonder who pays that......oh yeah! YOU!!