Considerations for Rollovers to an IRA

For individuals deciding to rollover an employer retirement plan to an IRA, there are many considerations and tasks to check off along the way. Here are a few:

• Consider rolling over “aftertax money” from an account into a Roth IRA and “pretax money” into a traditional IRA.
• Pay off any outstanding loans of the employer plan before rolling funds into another plan.
• Remove an insurance policy from the plan if one exist.
• If the plan requires spousal consent prior to the roll over, get it.
• Decide whether going with a direct rollover or a 60-day rollover will be more beneficial.

See Natalie Choate, A Checklist for IRA Rollovers, Morning Star Advisor, March 13, 2015.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.