Changing Jobs (Part 3 of 3) Retirement Plan Options

Maintain Stability in the Midst of Change Life can bring a flood of changes during your working years. Career changes. Changes in priorities. Changes from work to retirement. How can you make sure that your investments will navigate through these periods of change? Retirement Plan Options One of the toughest challenges we face is building and maintaining a retirement account that will help us to meet our financial goals. The money you save for retirement has a certain amount of protection--when your financial situation changes, you can continue to protect your investment by "rolling over" your qualified retirement plan into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). It is critically important to learn how you can guard your money against penalties, taxes, and other implications associated with income and employment changes. The Four Basic Options: 1. Take it out for immediate use 2. Leave it in your current employer's retirement plan 3. Move it to your new employer's retirement plan 4. Roll it over. Let's take a closer look at these four options. Option 1: Take it out for immediate use. If you've participated in a retirement plan for a while, you may be surprised at the amount you've saved. You may be tempted to spend it to pay down a debt or make a signification purchase. There are serious consequences for your money: Pros: * Money is immediately available Cons: * Pay federal income tax and possibly state and local taxes * If you are under 59