Help me choose my benefits for new job

[Ava]

I have several questions and decisions to make.

It involves health insurance and retirement accounts, plus HSA.

My 401k from last job is with TRowe Price.

They sent me an email today asking me to make a decision regarding my account.

The options are leaving it with them, rolling into my ITA with Fidelity, or rolling it into my new jobs 401k.
I still don't know if they accept rollover. Anyway, new job has the 401k with a company called Voya. I think that's the name.

My idea is to roll it over to my ITA at Fidelity.

Any drawbacks I should consider?

Thank you

[minnesotapaintlady]

Do you mean IRA?  I would do that.  If you are ever going to be at risk of not being able to directly contribute to a Roth IRA due to income limits (146K MAGI for Single Filers), it can make sense to roll to the new companies 401K, but otherwise you will have more control and options and less fees going the IRA route.

[jerseygirl]

Agree to roll to your tIRA at Fidelity

[busymom]

I'd go with Fidelity.  My trust in corporate America diminishes every year.  


Just be sure to do a direct rollover to Fidelity.  The money should never touch your hands.  

[Ava]

Thanks. That's exactly what I thought. The best option is to roll it directly to my IRA at Fidelity.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes in my OP.

I was at the beach when I received the email from TRowe Price and immediately thought of posting here for an opinion.

I will post again when I take a good look at their insurance plans.
They have 5 plans, but none of them look good.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Ava, the only advantage to rolling it into the new job 401k is if you plan to use the rule of 55 to retire and withdraw funds for living on between 55 and 59.5.

[haapai]

Jun 21, 2024 14:38:46 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Ava, the only advantage to rolling it into the new job 401k is if you plan to use the rule of 55 to retire and withdraw funds for living on between 55 and 59.5.

Eh?  Not Eva here but what is the rule of 55?  Some of the folks in my workplace have been mentioning that number for a while and recently some of those same folks have been asking when I plan to retire.  I'm 55 now.  What the heck are they referring to? 

[minnesotapaintlady]

Jun 21, 2024 14:53:34 GMT -5 haapai said:

Jun 21, 2024 14:38:46 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Ava, the only advantage to rolling it into the new job 401k is if you plan to use the rule of 55 to retire and withdraw funds for living on between 55 and 59.5.

Eh?  Not Eva here but what is the rule of 55?  Some of the folks in my workplace have been mentioning that number for a while and recently some of those same folks have been asking when I plan to retire.  I'm 55 now.  What the heck are they referring to? 

If you leave your job after 55 you can draw from your current 401K penalty-free (assuming your plan allows it, not all do, and some plans require you take it ALL in one distribution so you need to read your docs).

[CCL]

There's also the lesser-known Rule of 72(t).

www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rule72t.asp#:~:text=Understanding%20Rule%2072(t),-Rule%2072(t&text=To%20take%20advantage%20of%20this,calculated%20through%20IRS%2Dapproved%20methods.

[Ava]

I thought about the rule of 55, too.

I honestly prefer to have my money at Fidelity rather than Voya.
My plan is to work in CT until 59 1/2.

Of course there's always a chance I'll have to touch the money before 59.5 years of age.
I'm still leaning toward Fidelity IRA

[MN-Investor]

Absolutely the Fidelity IRA.

Invest in a low expense ratio total stock fund or bond fund.

My Fidelity IRA is totally in Fidelity's Total Market Index Fund (FSKAX).

If you want to own a bond fund, I recommend Vanguard's Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF (BND). When my husband retired, he sold his corporate stock and put it into BND in his Scottrade IRA - which got acquired by TDAmeritrade and then by Schwab.

[Ava]

Yes, I'm doing the Fidelity IRA.

Another account to consider is the HSA.
It's currently with Optum.
I could leave it there but looks like they charge high fees.

I'm thinking of opening an HSA with Fidelity and transferring the balance there.

New job offers HSA for at least 3 of the 5 insurance options, but I dint have any details yet.
Anyway, I don't think you can transfer an HSA balance to new employer.

[haapai]

I don't like the fees that Optum charges monthly for the privilege of investing part or all of your HSA either.  I've been dragging my feet on finding a way of avoiding them.  You may have just had such an option handed to you.  

I'm pretty sure that you can transfer that HSA balance. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Just realize, you do not need to move your 401k if you like your investment options at your old employer.  My 493b is still at m6 last employer.  I have excellent access to funds and my employer negotiated extremely low rates so while I get to pay those myself, they are really nominal.  

I believe a 401k is judgement proof, an IRA is not so you have a bit more protection there.  .  

[Ava]

I will move the HSA from old job to a Fidelity HSA.

As for the 401k, I'm undecided now.

If I roll it into my new jobs 401K, it will be safe from any lawsuit. That's supposing the new plans allows rollover. Anyway, the idea of putting all my money with Voya Financial doesn't sit well with me.

So it's either leaving it with TRowe or moving it to Fidelity.

I don't know how much time I have to make a decision.

TRowe is not a bad company, but I like to have as few accounts as possible.

Have to think about it a little more.

The HSA is a no trainer and it's moving to Fidelity.

[minnesotapaintlady]

If you get a HDHP and HSA with the new employer, you can also transfer to your Fidelity HSA periodically.  I don't like my employers HSA provider (HSA Bank) due to their fees and not great investment options.  I keep about 4-5K in cash with them and once it gets a couple thousand over that I initiate a transfer to my Fidelity HSA.  I start it on the Fidelity side and just need to provide the info for where the account is and they handle everything with pulling the funds.

[teen persuasion]

If your old 401k balance is high enough, I think > $5k, they can't force you to move it. You can leave it where it is for years, unless the plan is dissolved.

DH left his 401k in a former employer's plan. Eventually we decided to roll it into a tIRA, because we were tired of it getting moved to different sponsors every few years. Another planned move got our attention, but we weren't fast enough to get it transferred before the lockout period. Once that was over, and we got statements from the new sponsor, we noticed a change -- some of his balance was now unvested. It had been 100% vested when the company closed! The new sponsor couldn't fix it - that was the data they got in the transfer -- contact the employer. How, they were out of business? Well, some sister agency was still running the 401k, DH called them and luckily reached a former co-worker who knew the details on their vesting at closure. She got it straightened out. If we hadn't been looking closely before transferring it, we'd have completely missed that tiny detail, which would be harder to correct after more time went by.

So keep good records, especially during transfers of any kind.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jun 22, 2024 19:03:09 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

If your old 401k balance is high enough, I think > $5k, they can't force you to move it. You can leave it where it is for years, unless the plan is dissolved.

DH left his 401k in a former employer's plan. Eventually we decided to roll it into a tIRA, because we were tired of it getting moved to different sponsors every few years. Another planned move got our attention, but we weren't fast enough to get it transferred before the lockout period. Once that was over, and we got statements from the new sponsor, we noticed a change -- some of his balance was now unvested. It had been 100% vested when the company closed! The new sponsor couldn't fix it - that was the data they got in the transfer -- contact the employer. How, they were out of business? Well, some sister agency was still running the 401k, DH called them and luckily reached a former co-worker who knew the details on their vesting at closure. She got it straightened out. If we hadn't been looking closely before transferring it, we'd have completely missed that tiny detail, which would be harder to correct after more time went by.

So keep good records, especially during transfers of any kind.

Mine has been at my old employer for 12 years now.  Luckily, there have not been any change of plans since I left, and my employer had and has excellent choices.  So it just sits and gains.  

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jun 22, 2024 13:19:03 GMT -5 Ava said:

Yes, I'm doing the Fidelity IRA.

Another account to consider is the HSA.
It's currently with Optum.
I could leave it there but looks like they charge high fees.

I'm thinking of opening an HSA with Fidelity and transferring the balance there.

New job offers HSA for at least 3 of the 5 insurance options, but I dint have any details yet.
Anyway, I don't think you can transfer an HSA balance to new employer.

I transferred an old HSA to fidelity too. Have one more to rollover there, keep delaying cuz....lazy....