Author Topic: Retirement rollover timing  (Read 1028 times)

LadyMaWhiskers

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Retirement rollover timing
« on: April 28, 2020, 03:55:21 PM »
I left my full time employer to FIRE in March.

Planning to roll over my 403(b). I’d be selling low and buying low. Am I missing / forgetting anything? Any reason I should not rollover?

legalstache

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Re: Retirement rollover timing
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2020, 04:02:46 PM »
Can you roll over your assets in kind? I'd check that first. Otherwise I think you just have to accept the risk that the market might go up in the few days it takes to complete the rollover. Or if you time it well maybe it will drop :)

Unless your 403(b) fees are outrageous, personally I might wait a little bit to roll over given the recent volatility, but I suppose there's never a perfect time to do it. 

terran

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Re: Retirement rollover timing
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2020, 08:25:20 PM »
The problem with rolling over right now is that things are moving around a lot, so who knows what will happen while you're out of the market. Depending on the company you might consider rolling over to an IRA at the same company that holds your 403(b) to speed up the process, then investing in something you can hold at both that company and your desired company and then transferring the IRA in-kind.

mntnmn117

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Re: Retirement rollover timing
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2020, 10:31:07 AM »
Yeah, wait. I started a rollover process 2 weeks ago. I'm kinda freaking out. Fidelity not doing wires for rollover and Etrade not accepting mobile deposit on large checks is a shitty combo.  A physical check going through the mail and waiting to be processed is a bad spot to be right now.

chicagomeg

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Re: Retirement rollover timing
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2020, 10:35:33 AM »
Yeah, wait. I started a rollover process 2 weeks ago. I'm kinda freaking out. Fidelity not doing wires for rollover and Etrade not accepting mobile deposit on large checks is a shitty combo.  A physical check going through the mail and waiting to be processed is a bad spot to be right now.

Fidelity processed my rollover check on 4/15 and...it got lost in the mail. I saw in my USPS informed delivery last Monday but it never showed up at my house. Waiting for the new one to arrive now. I just keep reminding myself that in the long run 2-3 weeks out of the market will just be noise, but it does really make me uncomfortable. Also, that account is only about $30k, if I keep rolling over from employer to employer someday it will be a much larger amount. Just hoping there's a better solution by then. :(

rudged

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Re: Retirement rollover timing
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2020, 07:17:58 AM »
Forgive my confusion, but if you roll over an IRA into a Roth IRA, won't the investments remain the same ? (I've never thought of the roll over as selling and reinvesting.) You would simply be paying the taxes associated with the roll over with reference to your current income in order to move the investments into the Roth environment.

chicagomeg

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Re: Retirement rollover timing
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2020, 09:57:09 AM »
Forgive my confusion, but if you roll over an IRA into a Roth IRA, won't the investments remain the same ? (I've never thought of the roll over as selling and reinvesting.) You would simply be paying the taxes associated with the roll over with reference to your current income in order to move the investments into the Roth environment.

It's nothing to do with taxes. A 403b/401k rollover to new employer or new IRA brokerage almost always still involves a paper check sent via regular mail with you as the intermediary. So, I'm waiting for a check from Fidelity made out to Vanguard to arrive in my mailbox so I can attach a form to it and mail it on to Vanguard to process. Under the very best circumstances your money ends up out of the market for 5-7 business days. I'm probably going to end up at more like 15. When things are as volatile as they are right now, that can end up being a material swing in any direction.

rudged

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Re: Retirement rollover timing
« Reply #7 on: May 01, 2020, 10:10:19 AM »
Forgive my confusion, but if you roll over an IRA into a Roth IRA, won't the investments remain the same ? (I've never thought of the roll over as selling and reinvesting.) You would simply be paying the taxes associated with the roll over with reference to your current income in order to move the investments into the Roth environment.

It's nothing to do with taxes. A 403b/401k rollover to new employer or new IRA brokerage almost always still involves a paper check sent via regular mail with you as the intermediary. So, I'm waiting for a check from Fidelity made out to Vanguard to arrive in my mailbox so I can attach a form to it and mail it on to Vanguard to process. Under the very best circumstances your money ends up out of the market for 5-7 business days. I'm probably going to end up at more like 15. When things are as volatile as they are right now, that can end up being a material swing in any direction.

Wow. That has not been my experience. I used TIAA last year to roll over an small (10K) 403(b) from a previous employer directly into an IRA, which was converted to a Roth IRA at which time the transaction became taxable. They agreed not to pay the federal taxes in advance on my behalf, but for reasons known only to them, they did pay the state taxes.