In-Service Rollovers

We always talk about these different financial jargon terms and everything, but what about in-service roll overs? What exactly does that mean? So it’s while you’re still working and contributing into a say a 401K or 403B or some type of retirement plan, but you’re interested in the possibility of rolling that money over say to an IRA account. So a lot of times people think they have to wait until they’re fully retired before they can move those assets from a 401K, 403B over to an IRA. But some companies may allow you to do that at any time. Some companies might say perhaps, oh you have to wait until your age 59.5 and there’s some that again are just going to say well you can’t touch it. You have to wait until retirement. And it’s going to vary for each company out there. So 401Ks and 403Bs, they’re going to typically they’re going to provide a limited number of investments because that makes the administration of these plans a lot easier for them. So however you have IRAs that then open up a great deal of different investments for you and investment options. So again, you might be looking at your 401K statement that will say okay, here’s the different funds to choose from. Meanwhile an IRA your investment options are somewhat limitless. So how would you go about even finding out? You would essentially just call typically the 800 number that’s listed on your statement. And simply say hey, I’m curious. I have an IRA account and I was interested in potentially rolling over my money from my 401K over to an IRA. Is that a possibility for me? And from there they’ll let you know. Nope, here are the different rules associated with that and then you can determine essentially if that’s something that would be important to you. So with this a lot of times people are curious too, is this a taxable event? No, it would not be if you’re going as a direct roll-over. So a 401K directly to an IRA is considered a direct roll-over. You’re not receiving funds and so it wouldn’t be taxable event. Now something else to consider is maybe if you’ve been contributing into a Roth of the 401K. Then again you would need to establish a Roth IRA to essentially make sure it is a direct roll-over. Again, IRAs offer you a wide variety of options and we encourage you to just reach out to your 401K or 403B provider just to learn if that’s an options for you and if you have the ability to do that. So again, this is in-service roll-overs and if you have more specific questions about this and want to get more details, you’re welcome to give us a call anytime.