I just found out that I made a mistake in my employee retirement plans. I mistakenly contributed to 3 types of plans instead of 2-- a 457b, a ROTH 401k and a regular 401k.
I only wanted to contribute money to the 457b and ROTH 401k.
Now, I have $1,306 in an extra account I didn't want (regular 401k).
Will I now receive 3 separate checks from my 3 accounts when I retire? This is a pain in the neck, because I now have to keep track of 3 accounts, each of which is treated differently by the IRS. And, to have this extra headache for such a small amount of money is really annoying, especially for a guy like me who is always looking to streamline and simplify things.
I was hoping I could consolidate accounts by rolling money from my regular 401k into my 457b or ROTH 401k, but I can't.
Is there anything else I can do to simplify things short of just liquidating the 401k account now, and getting hit over the head with a 10% penalty?
What really annoys me is why on earth would a company that offers a 457b plan also offer a regular 401k plan??? What's the point? They're the same thing, except the 457b is better, since you don't get a 10% tax penalty if you withdraw the money early. I would have never made the mistake I did if this was never offered to begin with.
To complicate matters more, I plan on retiring at around age 50, and I will use the IRS 72 (t) rule to avoid paying a 10% tax penalty for early withdrawals from my accounts.
Now that my accounts are so fragmented, it will get even dicier and more complicated to use this rule to my advantage.
Should I take a small percentage from all 3 accounts simultaneously? Can I?
Or, should I take the majority of the money from this 401k (assuming it grows to a few thousand in 10 years), so I will liquidate this account first? How can I simplify things?
