Author Topic: I Timed the Market  (Read 3089 times)

alexpkeaton

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I Timed the Market
« on: November 13, 2017, 07:36:39 AM »
I'm in the process of rolling over my 401k from a previous employer. They cut the check and mailed it sometime last week, it arrived Friday, and I'll mail it to the new provider today. During that time the market has gone down like 1%. :)

Of course it happened in reverse last time. :(

alexpkeaton

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Re: I Timed the Market
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2017, 09:50:27 AM »
Haha, yes!

To be clear, I wasn't attempting to time the market, just that if you're going to take funds out temporarely it's nice to get lucky sometimes. :)

boarder42

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Re: I Timed the Market
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2017, 09:51:54 AM »
wow who mails checks what a waste.

ChpBstrd

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Re: I Timed the Market
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2017, 10:16:07 AM »
The mailed check makes me nervous that your first broker might have recorded this as a distribution instead of a rollover. If they did, you might be on the hook for a shitload of taxes. Check with them and then double-check with them to ensure the rollover is being recorded as going to another IRA and is not a taxable event. They have no way of knowing you didn't just spend the cash, so I expect trouble.

If that all works out, congratulations on your luck!

boarder42

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Re: I Timed the Market
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2017, 10:32:49 AM »
i happened to have a lucky market timing back in dec-feb 2015-2016 as well.

we were buying a new house and were not sure if our old house would sell before the new one closed so i sold off all of our taxable assets for a minor loss at the time.  followed by the market continuing to go down and got back in right as it started to climb back up just due to that being the date we closed on our new house.

alexpkeaton

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Re: I Timed the Market
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2017, 12:36:53 PM »
The mailed check makes me nervous that your first broker might have recorded this as a distribution instead of a rollover. If they did, you might be on the hook for a shitload of taxes. Check with them and then double-check with them to ensure the rollover is being recorded as going to another IRA and is not a taxable event. They have no way of knowing you didn't just spend the cash, so I expect trouble.

If that all works out, congratulations on your luck!

I've always received a check for rollovers, never had any sort of direct rollover available. It's made out to the new plan, so I can't (legally) cash it.

MightyAl

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Re: I Timed the Market
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2017, 01:53:05 PM »
My last one worked the same way and the paper work had to be mailed in to the company that ran the 401k.  Of course once I got the check I didn't mail it in to Fido.  I just took a picture of it front and back and it was direct deposited.

ILikeDividends

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Re: I Timed the Market
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2017, 02:51:14 PM »
I'm in the process of rolling over my 401k from a previous employer. They cut the check and mailed it sometime last week, it arrived Friday, and I'll mail it to the new provider today. During that time the market has gone down like 1%. :)

Of course it happened in reverse last time. :(
A little off-topic, but why didn't you just put it in an IRA Rollover?

The last 401K I was part of only had like 10 funds to choose from.  Seems like an IRA account would give you a lot more flexibility in deciding how to invest it.

ChpBstrd

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Re: I Timed the Market
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2017, 03:13:06 PM »
The mailed check makes me nervous that your first broker might have recorded this as a distribution instead of a rollover. If they did, you might be on the hook for a shitload of taxes. Check with them and then double-check with them to ensure the rollover is being recorded as going to another IRA and is not a taxable event. They have no way of knowing you didn't just spend the cash, so I expect trouble.

If that all works out, congratulations on your luck!

I've always received a check for rollovers, never had any sort of direct rollover available. It's made out to the new plan, so I can't (legally) cash it.

Good deal!

In that case, it's great luck!

alexpkeaton

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Re: I Timed the Market
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2017, 03:39:12 PM »
A little off-topic, but why didn't you just put it in an IRA Rollover?

The last 401K I was part of only had like 10 funds to choose from.  Seems like an IRA account would give you a lot more flexibility in deciding how to invest it.

I used to roll everything into an IRA, but then I started making too much money, so I rolled it all back into an employer-provided plan so I could more easily do a backdoor Roth contribution. The other reason is that I can potentially borrow up to $50k against the 401k if needed. (If I need to show more liquid assets to satisfy a co-op board before immediately repaying the loan, for example.) The old 401k and the new one both have some low-cost Vanguard funds. I can use my Roth IRA, HSA, and taxable accounts to round out my asset allocation for areas not adequately covered by the 401k.