bad time to roll over an IRA?

I'm about to mail off the final paperwork to roll over an IRA into an account with another company. Bad timing, with the current market?

This is a small account with TIAA CREF from when I worked at the med center. All our other accounts are with another company, so we're just moving this fund to that other company to make our paperwork simpler.

Would you hang on to the paperwork for a bit, or does it not really matter, especially since it's a smallish account anyway?

[Cumberland]

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

I have been sitting on mine with my last job too, also with TIAA CREF. I would have rolled it over into my merrill lynch account which is where my hesitation comes from.

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

I say do it and get the paperwork off your desk unless you think the TIAA CREF funds are going to maintain their value better than they would elsewhere or you are concerned about where you would move them to. A few months ago DH rolled his TIAA CREF accounts over. It is nice to have off the to-do list. I think the value would have gone down with TIAA CREF in a similar fashion to where he has it now. :huh:

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

We're sending it to Edward Jones. :huh: They're ok as far as anyone knows, right?

[JaneDoe]

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

We're sending it to Edward Jones. :huh: They're ok as far as anyone knows, right?

I know nothing about Edward Jones, but I'll just through out another option for you to consider: Vanguard. As far as I know, it is doing okay. It also tends to have lower costs. I second rolling over your IRA now. It is a lot more work than I realized it would be. It will be nice to have it done.

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

Thanks - DH is out mailing off the paperwork now. I think we've decided to leave all our IRAs with Edward Jones. When he starts practicing, we plan to look at other companies who might have more experience protecting other assets (especially for a high-risk OB ).

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

I'll second the Vanguard suggestion. I don't have accounts with them but have thought about moving there. They are known for having low/reasonable fees on their index funds. It wasn't horrible but it is a fair amount of effort and follow-up. TIAA CREF was more involved and picky than Fidelity for moving his accounts (Fidelity=two weeks, TIAA-CREF= 2 months because they didn't contact him to say some paper work faxed by the former employer was missing, I think the signature had to be notarized, etc ).

Just my two cents but on the asset protection stuff, I think you need to speak with an attorney.

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

I'll let DH know about Vanguard. Yeah, TIAA CREF has been a real pain to work with. At Edward Jones, I talk directly to the same two people whenever I call, and with the rollover they took care of as many details as they possibly could. They remember our kids, when I'm due with the next baby, and what our long-term plans are. That alone is worth a lot. But I also know DH also is thinking ahead about where to put future money.

[JaneDoe]

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

Dh and I rolled our IRAs from TIAA Cref to Vanguard two years ago. It was a lot of work dealing with TIAA Cref. I was glad when we had it all wrapped up.

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

Deb, my biggest gripe with TIAA/CREF was that they didn't let DH know about the missing papers. He had to fax everything to his former employer so they could verify that he was no longer an employee. The university must have accidentally not included a page or the fax pulled in two at a time. We kept waiting and waiting for them to send a check to the new account (they wouldn't send it to us like Fidelity did even though it was made out to the IRA acct name). We kept calling and calling...PITA.

Also, the form that TIAA directed us to on-line wasn't the same form that they emailed to DH and there were some differences between the two. I hope it is smooth, painless, and off the list before the bambina arrives! If it takes more than a few weeks, call them because they won't call you.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: bad time to roll over an IRA?

My IRA is with Vanguard, I've never had any issues with them and rolled it over out of my 401k painlessly when I got laid off. DH's is with Fidelity but there really isn't much there so we just let it sit, so we haven't had a lot of interaction with them.