401k Rollover advice needed........

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I suggest looking into rolling over into an IRA with Vanguard, Fidelity, T Rowe Price, etc.

You will have as many or more fund options, and, most importantly, the ability to control costs.

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I shouldn't have any issues with any penalties or anything like that right? I have a ROTH IRA with Vanguard already. Will I be able to open a traditional IRA and roll that money over with Vanguard as well?

If you like the Schwab offering then just keep the Schwab account. You won't be able to contribute to it but you don't have to leave either. Or, you can rollover to an IRA and make contributions there subject to IRA limits.

Unfortunately you can no longer make contributions to your Schwab account as a 401k, that must be through the employer-provided plan. Some plans (not many) will allow you to take in-service distributions that you can roll over into an IRA (this is the famous "back door" IRA) but like I said it's pretty unusual for this to be allowed.

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My new employer is with John Hancock...

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My condolences.

In the roughly 35 years that I've dealt with investment companies, I have never (ever!) dealt with a more incompetent bunch of people than those at John Hancock. That's who my former company was with, and the 401k rollover-to-IRA process was a convoluted nightmare. Part of my 401k was traditional and a smaller part was a Roth. T.D. Ameritrade dedicated two people to me to straighten the mess out. After it was finally done (two weeks later), one of the TD reps said that he had never had an experience like that before... it was like dealing with half-drawn cartoon characters.

Anyway, if you're happy with Schwab, you can roll the Charles Schwab 401k account into a Charles Schwab IRA. But I'm confident that Schwab won't royally goof it up, where ever you go. And if your company allows in-service withdrawals/transfers, I would roll whatever I could from John Hankook to where ever you decide to put your rollover account.

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And if your company allows in-service withdrawals/transfers, I would roll whatever I could from John Hankook to where ever you decide to put your rollover account.

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If I'm understanding this correctly, you are saying that to set up automatic transfer withdrawals from the John Hankcock account to the rollover account? Is something like this even allowed without some type of penalty? I wonder how this would impact any vesting benefits b/c I'm not 100% vested for three years.

To all the analytical folks out there....I am in a similar scenario.

Would it be better to roll it over to a Vanguard type or account, or have the previous account balance compound and aid growth of new 401K monies added?

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Jag_Warrior

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Thanks.

Not certain if exactly who our 401K provider is. But wanted to gauge everyone’s thoughts.

Another thought, is it better to roll my old 401K into a Roth, and pay the taxes?

Depends on whether you think your tax rate will be higher or lower at retirement. The break even point is generally 15-20 years. If you are in your 20’s - 30’s...go for it if you have the extra cash. Just be careful it doesn’t push you into a higher tax bracket.

I like a combo myself. Use Roth funds with IRA funds in years you have higher distribution needs (new car, home improvement needs, medical bills, etc.) to balance tax liability. Use IRA funds in years with lower distribution needs. I’ve seen people in retirement with more tax deductions than they can use in certain years so we went ahead and made IRA distributions above what they needed to take advantage of the low liability.