This is my first post, been reading for years. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
Background: In January I will be retiring from a full-time government job. I will be doing consulting work that will cover more than my expenses for the next two years minimum and my Wife is still working full time. I have a pension and a 457b through Valic. The issue I have is with the Valic 457b.
The Valic 457b has 150k invested in the Valic Stock Index Fund (VSTIX) which is an S&P 500 Index fund. This is also one of the "cheapest" expense ratios available at .34! Now that I am much more informed, I realize how much the expense ratios and fees impact my investment. Even worse is that that the account is invested in a variable annuity which tacks on another 1% M&E fee, so my S&P 500 Index fund is costing me 1.34% annually in fees. I realize this stinks and I'm looking for any advice on the matter. I definitely do not want the annuity so I'm paying 1.3 more than I need to to invest in a S&P 500 index fund, shame on me for not learning more about it when I signed up for it 20 years ago!
The main reason why I'm hesitant to roll it into an IRA is that I'm 43 and like option of withdrawing from this account in early retirement without a 10% fee prior to 59 1/2 (should I need to). I am passed the surrender fee times so I can surrender the account without any penalty and transfer the 150k to a taxable account but then I'm stuck with a huge tax issue. Any other ideas or perspectives would be great to hear! Thanks so much.