When to Rollover your 401K

Our retirement will be greatly impacted by what we do today with our 401K, IRA's and other retirement investments we have. Yet, we put off dealing with the collection of existing and old 401K's as well as a collection of IRA accounts.

Many of us could do more to maximize the size of our nestegg. An additional 6% return for a decade doubles the size of our retirement money and, probably, doubles the income. If you have an old, neglected 401K, the chances are you could get an additional 6% over the long term.

Too many or too few choices can paralyze because we don't know what to do and we fear making a mistake that will lose money. IRA's have a limitless set of alternatives and the 401K plans may not have the choices you would like to make. If you look at your latest 401K statement (or old IRA for that matter) and see what your three and five year annual rate of return is (ARR). If your ARR is below 3%, read on, there is upside for you.

SIB (Simpler Is Better) portfolios are based on simple asset allocation implemented using market index funds that can be measured for performance. We are going to use a SIB to see what is realistic and determine whether the gains are there to make a change to a portfolio.

The SAA (Strategic Asset Allocation) --buy and hold strategy represents what many people may end up with as there is little thought put into which asset classes are represented but these are the most likely ones to be covered.

Over the past decade 'buy and modify' (Tactical Asset Allocation or TAA) evolved whereby you keep the same asset classes but you may change the ratios depending on market conditions. For example a 60% bonds, 20% US stocks and 20% international stocks portfolio may see the bond and US stock ratios increased at the cost of the international stocks when international economies are faltering.

A five asset class ETF SIB is compared against a leading 401K plan. To make the comparison personal, plug in your own numbers.

For example, an ex WELLS FARGO employee has money in the WELLS FARGO retirement plan. There is no activity so it's a strategic asset allocation (buy and hold). A good result for a moderate risk approach - assuming good asset allocation choices and occasional rebalancing would deliver results in the 3% range over a five year period. Contrast this with a five asset class SIB implemented with Vanguard ETF's with a moderate risk profile with tactical asset allocation -- 14% for five years with a moderate risk profile. So the difference between staying in and rolling over to an IRA is 11% a year - that difference doubles your money in seven years.

The takeaways? Get your latest 401K and IRA statements and see your annual rates of return - some sites calculate this for you. Compare what you are getting with what's possible. Decide what you are going to do about it. Remember, you are talking about your retirement.

This allows retirement plan participants (IRA, 401K etc.) to automatically build and manage portfolios that professional wealth managers use -- but for free or at a fraction of the cost. The result will be improved returns and lower risk.

-Simon Napper