Undo a Rollover

Very few companies allow in-service withdrawals or rollovers, but there are a few. You'd need to check with your pension administrator to see if they are available to you - just don't get your hopes up.

This is one of the reasons many advisors usually recommend rollovers to private IRAs instead of into new company plans.

Good luck, Gene E. Utterback, EA, RFC, ABA

Gene, are you saying that in-service rollover of a 401k -> IRA is possible at all? If so, I will try to inquire how to move my 401k into an IRA with better fees or managers.

It is. My company allows in-service rollovers of after-tax contributions, company match (although that freezes matching for like six months), or rollover contributions.

Consult your plan documents or contact the adminstrators to find out if they allow it.

Brian

Thanks for all your answers.

So, it's not a matter of law, but of company policies?

TIA

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Absolutely - Assuming you work for a company that allows it. BUT there are very few companies that allow it and the ones that do often have other limitations. Some will only allow you rollover after tax contributions, some allow a limited amount of deferred money to also be moved, this may be expressed as either a dollar or percentage limit. The only way you'll know if your company allows it is to ask them - AND DON'T stop with the administrator at your company if you get a NO answer. Normally the administrator is nothing more than liaison between the company and the PLAN Administrator.

I actually have a list of 138 companies that allow in-service withdrawals. I've met with several clients who were unhappy with how their 401(k) plan was performing and they wanted to move their money to their own 401(k)s. Their company HR people said it could not be done BUT when they pushed to get the plan document and/or actually speak to the plan administrator or the TPA they found that I was right and they were able to move some portion of their 401(k) money to their personal IRAs.

I have yet to find a company that will allow you to move ALL of the money, but some is better than none.

And, NO - I will not provide or post that list of companies. However, if you tell us who you work for I will tell you if that company is on the list. I also have to add that I'm certain that the list I have is NOT all inclusive - meaning that I'm sure that there are other companies that allow in-service withdrawals, just I'd be willing to bet that a few of the companies on my list may no longer be around (the economy has shaken loose a few).

Good luck, Gene E. Utterback, EA, RFC, ABA

How about AMD, GOOG, INTC, MOT, MSFT, QCOM, TXN, just to name a few of my friends companies?

TIA

If the company allows after-tax money to be rolled over, then a share of taxable earnings must come with it (provided the contributions were made post-1986).

Brian