Deciding weather or not to roll over your 401k to an IRA can be a difficult decision. After all for many people this is the largest check they will ever get from their employer and they want to make sure they get it right. However there are many advantages that an IRA offers you that your 401k doesn’t. Let’s examine the 5 reasons you might want to move your 401k to an IRA as soon as possible.
Are you familiar with the Stretch IRA? We don’t have the room to explain it in this article but it is one of the greatest gifts the IRS has ever given those of us who have IRA plans. It basically allows you to leave your IRA to your children or grandchildren and allow them to continue the tax deferral of your IRA over their lifetime. (certain restrictions apply) What does this have to do with your 401k? Many 401k plans do not allow for this option and will force your beneficiaries to cash out your plan much sooner than they would like if they are trying to postpone taxes. Won’t they have to pay tax eventually anyway? Sure but with the Stretch they can delay the tax so long that the compound tax-deferred interest will be so great that the IRS will never catch up. (more…)