What to do with an old 401(K)? (pay, taxes, savings)

[CityScape0322]

Since I have been a member of the post-grad workforce, I've worked for 4 different companies (I currently work at my 4th). All 4 companies have offered 401(K) plans that I have taken advantage of. Since I only worked at two of them for a brief period of time (1 year or less) I have rolled them over into my current companies plan.

However I have one outstanding plan for my first employer of over two years that has a substantially larger sum of money sitting there and I was wondering whats the best option to go with.

Should I:

A) Leave assets in my previous employer’s plan,
B) Move the assets into a rollover IRA or a Roth IRA, or
C) Roll over the assets to my current employer’s workplace savings plan.

I picked these three because they seem like the most sensible options as cashing out will eliminate 42% of the the money in the plan between penalties, federal and state taxes.

Which of the three options listed is the better option and why?

Thanks!

[cdelena]

Roll into IRA... Roth may create a tax liability.

[flyonpa]

Roll it into a IRA - Better Choice of investment options, Generally Lower management fees.

If you have the $'s to pay the tax on it, you might want to do a IRA-Roth Conversion, and pay taxes at your current low tax rate.

[duster1979]

I saw a minor oversight in your post, hope you don't mind that I fixed it here.

Originally Posted by CityScape0322

Since I have been a member of the post-grad workforce, I've worked for 4 different companies (I currently work at my 4th). All 4 companies have offered 401(K) plans that I have taken advantage of. Since I only worked at two of them for a brief period of time (1 year or less) I have rolled them over into my current companies plan.

However I have one outstanding plan for my first employer of over two years that has a substantially larger sum of money sitting there and I was wondering whats the best option to go with.

Should I:

A) Leave assets in my previous employer’s plan,
B) Move the assets into a rollover IRA or a Roth IRA, or
C) Roll over the assets to my current employer’s workplace savings plan.
D) Cash it out and send the proceeds to duster1979.

I picked these three because they seem like the most sensible options as cashing out will eliminate 42% of the the money in the plan between penalties, federal and state taxes.

Which of the three options listed is the better option and why?

Thanks!

I think D is the best option by far.