During the third week of September, 2005, I had initiated the rollover process for my old 401K plan at the previous job into a rollover IRA account at Fidelity Investments. Now, it's beginning of November but the funds still has not been rolled over into the new account. However, the funds have been emptied out from the old 401K plan already. The distribution check designated for Fidelity Investments still has not arrived. I think it takes about a month or so to get this process completed, so I'll give it another week or so before I start looking into why the check has not been received.
The distribution check isn't much since I didn't contribute the maximum contribution to get the company's match. The company's match is fully vested only after three years and since I knew that I would not be staying with the company that long anyway, I was not worried. However, I do wish that I had contributed at least 5% of pay to the old 401K plan. I believe I contributed the minimum contribution percentage, that's set as a default by the company.
Does anyone know how long the rollover process takes in general, beginning with submittal of the distribution form to your old company and ending with the deposition of your money into the new rollover IRA account?
Hey Thinyi I checked out your ocbudget blogsite. I'm learning something! I'm figuring out how to manage my finances too.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so knowledgeable about the investments and things like that. I guess I should read up on those more. My mantra is 'maximize earnings and minimize spending'. To minimize earnings, I try the 80/20 'rule' from computer science (80% of work is done by 20% of the system). Of course, it's not exactly like that, but what I'm trying to say is a big portion of the output is dependent on a small portion of the system. So, I try to find out where the big fishes are (eg for food, eating out is expensive) and try to find betters ways of managing them. For example, I'm planning to use http://www.dinnerbroker.com/ next time I'm thinking of checking out a nice restaurant (30% off!).
I also think little things can add up. Penalties, finances charges, etc can add up. If I'm not careful, I could lose hundreds of dollars in a span of one year. So I try to make sure I pay bills on time, and not use services beyond what I'm allowed in (eg cell phone service). I'd rather spend the hundreds of dollars in possible penalties (if I'm really careless) on things that improve quality of life.
It has been almost 4 years since I did a rollover. I do remember that it took some time, but don't recall the exact timeline. If you are concerned don't hesitate to call Fidelity and ask for an update. That is what those rollover specialists are there for!
ReplyDeleteHopefully it won't be too long now.