My buddy at the garage gym changed how I think about rolling over 401ks

I was on the phone with my friend Dave last night while he was loading plates at his garage gym. He's a electrician by trade, not a finance guy. He asked me why I bother moving my old 401k from my last job into a brokerage account instead of just leaving it at the bank. I told him about lower fees and more investment choices with a broker. But he pointed out that I lost about 3 weeks of market time during the transfer last year because the check got held up. That hit me different because I never thought about the downtime between accounts. Now I'm wondering if sticking with a bank's rollover IRA is actually simpler for someone who doesn't trade much. Has anyone else dealt with that gap period causing problems?

3 comments

3 Comments

webb.victor13d agoMost Upvoted

Dave's got a point about the 3 weeks of lost market time. That could easily eat up any fee savings if the market jumps while your money's stuck in limbo.

miles_perez13d ago

@webb.victor sure but markets go down too, so downtime cuts both ways.

noahhall13d ago

Friend had his money locked up for two months and the market ate his gains.