I worked for about 5 years for a subsidiary of GE Aircraft Engines, about 5 years ago.
Never rolled that 401k into my current 401k, dont know if that really makes a difference.

What do YOU think?


I can tell you, like a lot of people, I lost a bunch of money when somebody accidentally the whole economy, but since international funds took a delayed dive, I held onto my GE funds, and actually bought more with most of the money I had in international funds when I thought GE was gonna bottom out. It dropped an additional $2... but that still put me in a decent position for a rebound.
So here we are, rebound, sorta.
So, thats not bad... I'm making my money back, and I haven't touched my elections since the move into GE funds.

Guess really what my question is; do I roll that 401k into my current one (performing at 8.1% rate of return, but also just signed up for Fidelity to actively manage my acct... maybe that goes up more, who knows), or leave it alone to continue to slowly building?

 

I'm actually toying with the idea of taking everything out of my 401k and rolling it into an IRA. I lost about $8k on my 401k last year...

 

Im going to give this managed account thing a try for a while before I change it up that much. I may be screwing myself with this too, dont really know.

Im 30, and a combination of underpaying jobs and a ruined economy has me with a total of about $12K in my 401k at this point. Im investing in riskier stuff now to see if I can aggressively grow that number to what I feel is a more comfortable amount for my age, then I'll back off a bit and start playing it a little safer again.

Or, I'll lose a bunch of money and just accept that I'll have to drink myself to death before retirement, because there won't be any money after I stop collecting a paycheck.


Win/win situation.

 

I think the economy screwed us all. I have a couple of retirement accounts. had to cash out a Roth IRA to...well...survive the economic downturn. Still have irons in the fire though.

Anyway, to the original question, I believe that rolling your old 401K to the new one is the preferable way to do it. Your old account will continue to earn you interest and grow on interest alone, however, if you combine it with your current 401K the principal will grow and increase your overall interest earnings, even if the new plan earns at a lower rate of return. hopefully, when the economy rebounds, we will all be in a bit better shape.

 

I think everyones 401k tool a ****. Mine certainly did

 

Yeah, my 401K actually hit (-1)% gain over the past year, so it stands at a lifetime gain of 5.8%. Kinda sucks. I have stopped my contributions for a few months to catch up on bills, but haven't had to pull anything from my 401K or IRA.

I would roll the old into the newer 401K (or into an IRA - that was my only option). Easier to manage, less fees (if you are being hit be fees), and combined compounding.

 

Everytime I have moved to a new job, I have moved my 401k into an IRA I started while in the military. That way I have more control over it.

 

Lost my shirt today, anyone else? 0_0

 

I'm holding steady right now. A little over a year ago I moved mine into the stable fund option offered through work. I'm in a Vanguard Targeted fund that adjusts the mix based on age and years til retirement, but I moved it into a stable bond mix. I have 85% matching from the company for the first 6% of my salary contributed, which I take full advantage of. Since the move my growth has mainly been just from contributions and company match but I've gained some interest. I won't move back into the market at least until after the election and we see how things shake out domestically and in Europe.

 

I ended up rolling into the new 401k. Called Fidelity and chatted with a guy for 10 minutes on the pro's and con's given my situation.

Old 401k was/is doing alright at the moment, and there are no fees on it, but I was 100% in stocks, and with my good timing on my switch from international to GE stock fund, I actually avoided some headaches, but if stocks crash again, I might not be so lucky.
IRA was a possibility, but I've been thinking about possibly borrowing from my 401k, and apparently you can't borrow from a IRA. Also, I was told I couldn't go with a managed IRA until I had $20K or something into it.
Im not really interested in following my investments enough to manage my own account, and I don't have enough for the managed acct, so I passed on that.

Im still thinking I'll have Fidelity be rather aggressive for a while (on a 1-10 scale, Im suggesting '7'), see if I can boost that balance up to where I feel it should be for someone who's been contributing for 10 years.