Woo Hoo! I made it to retirement age.

[fumbling]

Originally Posted by ReachTheBeach

I hit a milestone today - 59.5. I filled out my in service distribution form to roll the 401k money out to an IRA where I will have more options and control. I will also roll some out of the first IRA into at least one other to keep from having too many eggs in one basket. The 401k has been getting maxed out for several years and is the bulk of the retirement money. Still a few years away, but a milestone that makes me feel like it is really on the radar now. It also means I got away with not having as much in emergency savings as I should. In an emergency, I could take some out and pay tax but no penalty. that is something i would try hard not to do, but the balance in it would not be as high if I had put some of the money in emergency savings and I would have paid tax on that money in order to be able to put it in regular savings.

You might want to read this about giving up ironclad protection against creditors or legal judgments if you roll over a 401k to an IRA:

IRAs Could Be Fair Game in Lawsuits

If you have access to low cost stock index funds in your 401k, you may not need more options or control. However there are arguments pro and con for rollovers but one con is giving up the legal protection, although there are states that protect IRAs from creditors/judgments.

[ReachTheBeach]

Originally Posted by fumbling

You might want to read this about giving up ironclad protection against creditors or legal judgments if you roll over a 401k to an IRA:

IRAs Could Be Fair Game in Lawsuits

If you have access to low cost stock index funds in your 401k, you may not need more options or control. However there are arguments pro and con for rollovers but one con is giving up the legal protection, although there are states that protect IRAs from creditors/judgments.

Thanks. I did a little research and both NC, where I am now, and FL, my most likely landing spot for retirement, have laws that exempt IRAs from judgments. My employer strongly encourages rollovers at 59.5. It's a small company and they don't like the liability. An embezzlement or getting conned into losing some or all of the 401(k) funds would shutter the company if the balance is high enough. I will be rolling out over 20% of the total balance for the company. The younger employees either don't participate or don't put much away. The two employees older than me both rolled out their money at 59.5 and only have smallish balances now.

The article did get me thinking about the umbrella liability policy.