Most of us change jobs at least twice before retiring, leaving a trail of retirement nest eggs behind us. Now that defined-contribution plans are much more prevalent than defined-benefit plans, we have more responsibility for financing our retirement. So it’s important to manage our retirement accounts actively. But how can you do that if your accounts aren’t even located in one place? Here are a couple of tips:
Organize Your Records
As long as you continue to hold your account in a former employer’s plan, you should receive statements. Keep them all in a file —or even better, enter them all in a spreadsheet, tracking the combined balances and amounts in each type of investment.
Consolidate Your Accounts
It’s much easier to manage your assets if they’re all in one place. Fill out the paperwork necessary for rolling them over into one account. That single consolidation account could be the plan you are currently contributing to if it permits rollover contributions. You can also open a rollover individual retirement account (IRA) and have the funds from your other accounts directly transferred there.
If You’ve Lost Track of Accounts
If you’ve lost track of one or more of your accounts with a former employer, contact your old employer and ask them to confirm that you participated in the plan and the steps you need to take to get a current statement of your account. Or find an old statement and look for a contact phone number or address. As long as there are assets in the account, the financial institution can probably still account for them.
Copyright © 2020 This article is published in its original form from its original publication with Investment Answers and Integrated Concepts, a separate, non-affiliated business entity. The original newsletter publication, Investment Answers Financial Success Winter 2020, is intended to offer factual and up-to-date information on the subjects discussed but should not be regarded as a complete, evolving, or personalized analysis of the topics, and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Qualified financial professionals should be consulted before implementing a personalized financial plan. Please reference the original publication for additional disclaimers.
