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    Previous employer 401k doesn’t allow transfers/rollovers, what do I do with it?

    I have about ~$40k in a Vanguard account through my previous employer and am not allowed to transfer rollover. Their suggestion is to move my current company 401k to the old account instead, but same problem — new company doesn’t allow rollover/transfers either.

    Both are with Vanguard.

    It seems silly to have 2 separate retirement accounts, do I have any other options?

    Previous employer 401k doesn’t allow transfers/rollovers, what do I do with it?
    byu/soupergloo inpersonalfinance



    Posted by soupergloo

    7 Comments

    1. KCPilot17 on

      You need to re-read your plan, because they can’t just hold your money hostage if you are no longer an active employee. You can always roll it over to an IRA if you want.

      Have to look to see if it’s worth it, though. Fees vs having money in a Trad IRA thus limiting your Backdoor Roth IRA options. There’s nothing wrong with having 2, 3, or 6 different retirement accounts.

    2. GaylrdFocker on

      Did you call your old company or Vanguard? Your old company has no control. Call Vanguard and initiate it, they will verify you are no longer employed and move it to an IRA or if your new company allows transfers in can roll it there.

    5. highknees69 on

      Also, because the post had some confusion, you cannot move your current employer 401k to another IRA or 401k until you are no longer employed there.

      As others have said, you absolutely can move your money out of the old employer plan.

    6. Mesa_Gal on

      There may be confusion in the language being used. If you say “transfer”, they may be assuming you want to transfer the investments (mutual funds, maybe) IN KIND. Not every plan allows for an in-kind transfer due to the fees.

      Be sure you tell them you want to sell your positions to cash and to issue a check, ACH or wire transfer to an IRA. You can open an IRA with Vanguard online.

    7. 1000_feral_cats on

      Call back and clarify. Termination is a qualifying event, so you are eligible to rollover to your current 401k or maybe an IRA. If you have Roth and pretax in your old account you may need to split and move to separate accounts depending on what your current plan allows. Usually this is done by the company issuing rollover checks to the new recordkeeper of your current plan. Maybe they are talking about in kind transfer which isnt normally done for individuals

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