What can I do with my 403b while I'm still employed by the same employer?

[MountainLakeMama]

I have an old 403b that I haven't contributed to in years. I still work for that employer, and likely will for another 10 years. What are my options? The main reason for wanting a change is that I'm breaking up with my Edward Jones financial advisor and he's the one who set up that account for me. Thanks in advance!

ETA: Is there another type of account I could roll it into, at Vanguard, for example?

[MDM]

I have an old 403b that I haven't contributed to in years. I still work for that employer....

What investment options do you have within the 403b?

[Proud Foot]

If you are still employed with them there is not a whole lot you can do. If the plan allows in service rollovers then you could roll it out of the 403b and into a Vanguard IRA.

I second what MDM asked. Also, is there a reason you haven't been contributing?

[MountainLakeMama]

Well, the reason I haven't been contributing is life... I took some unpaid time off to have kids, went through a divorce, etc... Now I'm trying to get back on track, which led me here! I saw the Investment Order sticky, and I maxed out my Roth IRA for 2020. I started an HSA at the first opportunity. My 403b doesn't have an employer match, but I would like to contribute again to it someday. It has been doing pretty well, but Personal Capital alerted me to the fact that one of the funds has a fairly high fee. I'm going to try to attach screenshots of my current allocation within the 403b, and my Vanguard options within the 403b. There are many others besides Vanguard options - it would be too many screenshots :)

[MDM]

Well, the reason I haven't been contributing is life... I took some unpaid time off to have kids, went through a divorce, etc... Now I'm trying to get back on track, which led me here! I saw the Investment Order sticky, and I maxed out my Roth IRA for 2020. I started an HSA at the first opportunity. My 403b doesn't have an employer match, but I would like to contribute again to it someday. It has been doing pretty well, but Personal Capital alerted me to the fact that one of the funds has a fairly high fee. I'm going to try to attach screenshots of my current allocation within the 403b, and my Vanguard options within the 403b. There are many others besides Vanguard options - it would be too many screenshots :)

If the fees in your 403b for the Vanguard funds are significantly lower than the American Funds fees, and the American Funds haven't been significantly outperforming what you would choose from Vanguard (see Backtest Portfolio Asset Allocation for that comparison - ask if that isn't clear), then consider switching everything to anywhere from one to three of the Vanguard funds.  See Three-fund portfolio - Bogleheads for more.

[MountainLakeMama]

Well, the reason I haven't been contributing is life... I took some unpaid time off to have kids, went through a divorce, etc... Now I'm trying to get back on track, which led me here! I saw the Investment Order sticky, and I maxed out my Roth IRA for 2020. I started an HSA at the first opportunity. My 403b doesn't have an employer match, but I would like to contribute again to it someday. It has been doing pretty well, but Personal Capital alerted me to the fact that one of the funds has a fairly high fee. I'm going to try to attach screenshots of my current allocation within the 403b, and my Vanguard options within the 403b. There are many others besides Vanguard options - it would be too many screenshots :)

If the fees in your 403b for the Vanguard funds are significantly lower than the American Funds fees, and the American Funds haven't been significantly outperforming what you would choose from Vanguard (see Backtest Portfolio Asset Allocation for that comparison - ask if that isn't clear), then consider switching everything to anywhere from one to three of the Vanguard funds.  See Three-fund portfolio - Bogleheads for more.

This was very helpful! Thank you. :)

[FLBiker]

Well, the reason I haven't been contributing is life... I took some unpaid time off to have kids, went through a divorce, etc... Now I'm trying to get back on track, which led me here! I saw the Investment Order sticky, and I maxed out my Roth IRA for 2020. I started an HSA at the first opportunity. My 403b doesn't have an employer match, but I would like to contribute again to it someday. It has been doing pretty well, but Personal Capital alerted me to the fact that one of the funds has a fairly high fee. I'm going to try to attach screenshots of my current allocation within the 403b, and my Vanguard options within the 403b. There are many others besides Vanguard options - it would be too many screenshots :)

If the fees in your 403b for the Vanguard funds are significantly lower than the American Funds fees, and the American Funds haven't been significantly outperforming what you would choose from Vanguard (see Backtest Portfolio Asset Allocation for that comparison - ask if that isn't clear), then consider switching everything to anywhere from one to three of the Vanguard funds.  See Three-fund portfolio - Bogleheads for more.

This was very helpful! Thank you. :)

Just chiming in to say +1 to MDM's advice.  That's exactly what I would do.  I can't move my 403b until I leave my employer, either.

[DeniseNJ]

Prompted by this question, I checked dh's 403b to see what the third party administrator, Omni403b, was charging for the Invesco Oppenheimer fund.  That info was not listed anywhere. But what I did notice was they have new funds available including, drumroll, Vanguard, which wasn't previously available.  It also said somewhere that the Invesco index fund had a max 5.5% load, but it didn't seem like anything was being deducted except for 30 bucks a year.  Not sure if that was going to Omni or Invesco.

Anyway, switching everything to Vanguard, since, aside from TSP, all of our other money is there so it's easy to keep track of.  Not sure where I can find out what the Omni fees are, or if dh's work pays them.  There's no match so maybe they pay the fees.