Fellow Mustachians, I am stumped. A couple of months ago, I changed jobs from one government organization to another. The company that holds my 457 account has a relationship with both employers, and after a meeting with my plan advisor I was led to believe that my account would be moved over to the new employer, no problem, and all I had to do was fill out new paperwork to start making contributions. Well, I got a call today saying that this wasn't possible after all and I would be stuck with two 457s. I have a meeting set up with the advisor next week to get the full story and to fill out paperwork for the new 457, but I'm beginning to have some doubts. During my career, I have rolled a 457b into a 401k into a 403b without issues; therefore, why would rolling one 457 into another be problematic?
FWIW, I also have the above-referenced 403b from the old job (which I plan to roll into a traditional IRA), a Roth IRA, and a pension I can start taking at 30 years or age 62, so it's not as if I'm without other retirement funds. I opened the 457 a few years ago in order to access some funds before age 59.5 penalty-free, but if there's some weirdness about this type of plan I don't understand, then I sure don't want to open another one. The idea of giving up the tax advantage infuriates me, but none of the employer-sponsored plans I've had access to have been anything to write home about fee-wise. And, I've gotten to the point where I have a hard time trusting any plan advisor out there.
The only "glitch" I know of with this plan is that there's a penalty incurred if you keep the account open less than 5 years, but would that be a reasonable explanation as to why it wouldn't roll over?