Author Topic: Self Directed 401k Account  (Read 1221 times)

FreeWheel

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Self Directed 401k Account
« on: January 22, 2016, 06:43:03 PM »
My employers 401k plan with Wells Fargo offers a Self Directed Account option. (SDA) With this account you can basically invest your 401k money into anything you choose, instead of just choosing from the small handful of options offered up front. Cool, right?

I knew this was a no brainer, and that the rest of you Mustachians would have jumped all over this asap... but I'm lazy when it comes to investing so I kept putting it off. It's much easier to just let things ride as they were, so that's what I did!

So I finally got off my procrastinating ass last December and set it up. Transferred everything out of the original managed funds, and into Vanguard index funds. Also set up my future contributions to go directly into the SDA. 

Since I was finally moving forward with things, I also transferred a rollover IRA I had from a previous employer, along with a non taxable account that was set up with another investment firm. All funds in this account were chosen by my "advisor", and were actively managed with 1-2% ER's. D'oh! These funds were transferred to low expense ratio index funds, in a newly set up Vanguard account.

So Yay! Now my money will be earning more for me, and less for someone else. Best of all I can now go back to being a lazy investor, and concern myself with more important stuff... like bikes!

Does your company's 401k plan offer you the option of a SDA? You might want to check.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2016, 06:47:01 PM by FreeWheel »