Re: 401K forced rollover?

Sara Brown <SaraTGinMD@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:

> My company was recently sold and we were assured (Verbally) that we
> would have the option of either ca****ng out our 401K accounts or
> rolling them over into the new company..But now they are saying they
> have sold our 401K to the new company..I didn`t want this at all..They
> are saying there`s nothing we can do as it was in the contract for the
> sale of the company that the 401K was part of the sale..This doesn`t
> sound legal to me..Do I have ANY recourse?...Thank you

I don't think your 401K was "sold" to the new company.  That's your
money, not your employer's to sell.  However, it's possible that the
new company has taken over as custodian of your old 401K plan, or the
plan was merged into that of the new company.  None of us on the net
can tell you exactly what is going on; you need to get something in
writing from your employer, or call the account services folks at your
old plan and see if they have any details yet.

Some years back when the company I worked for was acquired by a much
larger one, our old 401K plan was closed.  We were given 90 days or
something like that to tell them what to do with our money; I chose to
roll mine over into the new company's 401K plan, which was actually a
much better plan than we had before (better investment choices), but
that wasn't automatic -- I had to fill out some paperwork to make it
happen.  Beware that "ca****ng out" is a dumb idea anyway since you
have to pay penalties as well as taxes.  I also suggest you make sure
you're enrolled in the new company's 401K plan now -- this is probably
not automatic either.

-Sandra the cynic

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