Retirement & 401(k) Rollover Guidance
Make your retirement savings work harder
When you leave a job, your 401(k) doesn't have to stay behind. You typically have four options: leave it, roll it to your new employer's plan, roll it into an IRA, or cash out (usually the costly choice). The right move depends on fees, investment options, your timeline, and your risk tolerance. May helps you understand every option — including protected strategies like fixed-indexed annuities and IUL for the portion of savings you can't afford to lose.
- Understand all four 401(k) options clearly
- Avoid unnecessary taxes and penalties
- Explore principal-protected growth strategies
- A plan matched to your retirement timeline
Your four options when leaving a job
You can leave the money in your former employer's plan, move it to your new employer's plan, roll it into an IRA, or cash out. Cashing out before 59½ typically triggers income taxes plus a 10% penalty — often costing a third of your savings. The other three each have real pros and cons around fees, investment flexibility, and creditor protection. May walks through them all so you decide with full information.
Protecting the money you can't afford to lose
The closer you get to retirement, the more a market downturn hurts — there's less time to recover. That's where protected strategies come in: rolling a portion of savings into a fixed-indexed annuity creates guaranteed lifetime income with zero market risk to principal, while keeping the rest invested for growth. It's not all-or-nothing; it's about matching each dollar to its job.
Direct rollovers done right
A direct rollover — where funds move institution-to-institution — avoids the 20% mandatory withholding and the 60-day deadline traps of indirect rollovers. May coordinates the paperwork with your plan administrator so the transfer is clean, tax-free, and stress-free.
Ideal for