457b and 401a Rollover

[Delawaredave5]

Helping friend. Has balances in 457b and 401a accounts with previous employer.

Are these "for sure" pretax monies that would rollover to Traditional IRA?

Or could they possibly have post tax Roth contributions - which would more advantageously rollover to Roth IRA ?

Who would be able to confirm these are pretax monies ?

Thanks !

 

[Gumby]

Doesn't your friend know whether that money was included in their AGI from when they were doing their taxes?

 

[Delawaredave5]

Don’t know. If they knew that, there wouldn’t be a question.

Fido finally confirmed the plan numbers are pretax accounts.

Thanks.

 

[Gumby]

I'm glad you got your answer. It seems impossible to me that a person wouldn't just know that about their own money, but I guess that's why they need your help in the first place.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I know this wasn't your question, but how old is your friend? If he or she is younger than 59.5, s/he can withdraw from the 457(b) free of penalties. (Not so with an IRA.)

 

[Delawaredave5]

I know this wasn't your question, but how old is your friend? If he or she is younger than 59.5, s/he can withdraw from the 457(b) free of penalties. (Not so with an IRA.)

Good information thanks. They are 30 and want to keep $ churning towards retirement.

 

[Walt34]

I know this wasn't your question, but how old is your friend? If he or she is younger than 59.5, s/he can withdraw from the 457(b) free of penalties. (Not so with an IRA.)

Good information thanks. They are 30 and want to keep $ churning towards retirement.

Ah, not so fast.

It depends on the plan documents and what is true of one 457 is not necessarily true of another. Have your friend verify with the plan administrator for his/her specific plan. While I could have made withdrawals from my 457 prior to age 59 1/2, I had to have had a "normal retirement" first.

Generally yes the 457 can be rolled over into an IRA but it would be best to check and verify first. Brother Murphy loves people who make assumptions about retirement plans!

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Ah, not so fast.

It depends on the plan documents and what is true of one 457 is not necessarily true of another.

True! I had no remote concept we were talking about a 30-year old here!

(I was going to reference the SPD as a start, but decided to wait and see what the response was.)