401(k) Rollovers in Charlottesville, VA

Usually yes, but not always. The first conversation is about your specific situation. We walk you through the alternatives (leaving the money in your old plan, rolling it into your current employer’s plan if you have one, taking the cash) and tell you honestly which one fits your situation best.

Either can be right. It depends on how good the new plan is, what you want to do with the money, and whether you have other accounts to coordinate with. A new employer’s plan can make sense when it has strong low-cost investment options and you want fewer accounts to track. A rollover IRA gives you more investment flexibility, more control over decisions like Roth conversions, and a cleaner relationship with an advisor who is managing the money alongside the rest of your picture. We walk through the comparison on the first call using the actual options available to you.

Yes. It’s called a Roth conversion. The money you convert gets taxed as ordinary income in the year you convert. After that, it grows tax-free and comes out tax-free in retirement. Whether a conversion makes sense depends on your current tax bracket, your expected retirement tax bracket, and whether you have money outside the account to pay the conversion tax without reducing what gets to grow tax-free. We walk through the math and help you decide whether to convert all, some, or none of it, and in which tax years.

Yes. A Roth 401(k) rolls over into a Roth IRA, and the rollover itself is tax-free. The five-year rule for Roth accounts works a little differently after a rollover, and we walk you through how it applies to your situation.

Sometimes, yes. It’s called an in-service rollover, and whether it’s available depends on your current plan. Some plans allow partial in-service rollovers once you reach a certain age, often 59½. Others allow rollovers only for specific money types inside the plan, like after-tax contributions. We can look at your plan document and tell you whether an in-service rollover is available to you and whether it makes sense.

A traditional-to-traditional rollover (a traditional 401(k) into a traditional IRA) is generally tax-free when it’s structured as a direct rollover. We handle the paperwork to make sure it qualifies. If we’re discussing whether to convert any of it to Roth as part of the move, that’s a separate decision with its own tax implications, and we walk you through the math before you decide.

Most rollovers take two to four weeks from start to finish, and we handle the timing. Some plans move faster. A few are slower, especially if they require a wet signature or a notary. The 60-day rule applies when the old plan sends a distribution check to you instead of directly to the new institution. You have 60 days from receiving it to get the money into an IRA, or the amount becomes taxable and may trigger a 10% early-withdrawal penalty if you’re under 59½. We structure every rollover as a direct rollover whenever we can so the 60-day clock never starts.

There’s no fee for the rollover itself. Your old plan may charge a small distribution fee, and Fidelity charges nothing to receive the funds. Once the money is in your rollover IRA and we’re managing it, our standard investment management fee applies.

We can roll all of them into a single rollover IRA. We coordinate the moves so they happen in the right order, and you end up with one account, one statement, and one set of investments to manage.

If you have employer stock in your 401(k), there’s a strategy called Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) that can save you significant taxes when it applies to your situation. It’s worth looking at before you make any decisions about employer stock, and we go through it with you on the first call if it’s relevant.

Most clients who roll over their 401(k) to us do so as part of starting an ongoing relationship. If you’re looking for a one-time rollover without ongoing management, that’s a conversation we can have on the first call.

A free phone call. You can schedule it with the button below or call the number at the bottom of the page.