Old 401K - roll over into new 401K or into Vanguard IRA?

[russianswinga]

As the topic states, I have about $10,000 left over in retirement accounts from 2 previous employers (7.5K in a 401K from a university I used to work at and $2.5K in a SIMPLE IRA from a previous small business)

I need to roll that over as I'm basically locked out of making any investment changes - at least with the larger sum as the university has terminated all of the plans I was in, and the money is sitting in a 0% safe harbor account, I can't put it into any of their new funds as I'm no longer an employee.

My options are:
1. Roll it over into my 401K with my current employer. Only 20 funds to choose from, only 5 I found that I liked and contribute to and get the match. 401K is with Empower Retirement (formerly Great West)
2. Roll it over into a Vanguard IRA. I can do that, right? It didn't even occur to me until today that I can start investing with 401K money - to me a 401K was just always something that stayed with whatever company you currently work for, and you just always rolled your previous investments into your new company's plan - that's what everybody does.

Your thoughts? I've never worked with Vanguard and wanted to initially start a ROTH with them, but with the birth of our child we just don't have more to invest than I currently do. But that $10K could probably make some good returns at Vanguard.
I am 32 and plan on retiring at or before age 55, so 20+ year outlook.

[dandarc]

Option 2.  Sounds like you're not particularly thrilled with the funds in any of your accounts, including your current employer, so get the funds you want in an IRA.  Unless you're planning on doing a backdoor Roth IRA, there's no big reason to be in a 401K instead of an IRA.

[kpd905]

What funds are in your current 401k, and what are their expense ratios?  Investing in five different funds is a lot, and there might be a lot of overlap.  I'd examine what you are currently investing in there.

And for the old 401k, roll it to Vanguard.

[russianswinga]

Funds and expenses in my current 401K at my employer are as follows:

Great West Lifetime 2015         MXLWX   0.96% Great West Lifetime 2025         MXDLX   1.02% Great West Lifetime 2035         MXJLX   1.07% Great West Lifetime 2045         MXPLX   1.09% Great West Lifetime 2055         MXVLX   1.10% American Funds EuroPacific GR R3      RERCX   1.14% Invesco Energy INV            FSTEX   1.15% NW Ziegler NYSE Area Tech 100 Index A      NWJCX   0.90% Virtus Real Estate Securities A         PHRAX   1.38% Eagle Small Cap Growth A         HRSCX   1.11% Great West S&P SmallCap 600 Index Fund I   MXISX   0.60% Ridgewordth Small Cap Growth Stock I      SSCTX   1.26% Great West S&P  MidCap 400 Index Fund I   MXMDX0.60% Lord Abbett Value Opportunities A      LVOAX   1.26% American Funds Fundamentals Invs R3      RFNCX   0.96% Davis NY Venture A            NYVTX   0.86% GreatWest S%P 500 Index Fund I      MXVIX   0.60% Invesco Comstock A            ACSTX   0.81% Janus 40 S               JARTX   0.97% Oppenheimer Main Street Select A      OMSOX   1.14% BlackRoll Global Allocation Inv A         MDLOX   1.04% MFS Total Return A            MSFRX   0.73% GreatWest US Govt Mortgage Secur Fund I   MXGMX    Oppenheimer Global Strategic Income A      OPSIX   0.97% Oppenheimer International Bond Fund A   OIBAX   1.02% PACE Mort-Backed Sec Fixed Inc Invest Y   PFXYX   0.72% PIMCO Total Return Admin         PTRAX   0.71% I'm in the following funds, 20% equally, NWJCX   0.90% MXISX   0.60% PHRAX   1.38% JARTX   0.97% MXMDX   0.60% Some I picked due to their performance rather than expense ratios, but tried to keep them all reasonable.

[Spork]

Roll it to Vanguard.  You'll be shocked how simple and easy it is to do online.  (And if that isn't your preference, you'll be shocked at how helpful the person you talk to on the phone is.)

[russianswinga]

To follow up, if one were to roll it over to a Vanguard IRA, where would you put $10,000 given that you have no intention of seeing that money for 20+ or likely 30+ years (I don't intend on taking distributions until I"m 59 1/2) and are open to higher risk / higher return? Given that most Vanguard funds require a $3k minimum, I'd like no more than 3 to start.

[frugalnacho]

ditto on option 2.  roll it to vanguard.  just put it all in VTSAX.  You can always change it later when you read up on how you actually want to invest.  Or you could just leave it in vtsax as it's a good low cost index fund.

[MDM]

ditto on option 2.  roll it to vanguard.  just put it all in VTSAX.  You can always change it later when you read up on how you actually want to invest.  Or you could just leave it in vtsax as it's a good low cost index fund.

VTSAX by itself is a fine choice.  So is VTTSX.  So are many others.  You might look at both VTSAX and VTTSX and decide between them - doing 50% in each is not what you want.  No way to tell at this time which will have been better when you look back 20 years from now....