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I am an idiot when it comes to this stuff and I admit it so that is the first step in the healing process. This topic involves Retirement. I have specific questions about 403B and Roth IRA options.
Scenario:
My wife has worked in 3 different school districts due to us moving quite a bit the last few years. We are finally settled. At her first employer she had a 403B with AXA equitable. She contributed to this account for about 3 years and then we moved and she started at her second employer who didn't carry AXA equitable as an option. Since AXA charged a 20% withdrawal fee, we left that account alone. So now it sits there with nothing contributed to it anymore.
We then opened a new 403B with T.Rowe Price but unfortunately she only stayed at school number 2 for 1 year. Unlike AXA, T.Rowe let my wife roll over her contribution penalty free to employer number 3 for which we set up as a 403B with TIAA-CREF.
In summary: wife has 403b with AXA, no longer contributing and 403B with TIAA-Cref.
This summer the school district changed to a single provider option under a company called Great West. So now she is forced to go with this NEW company that we have no clue about in order to keep expanding on the contributions she was making to TIAA-CREF.
I suggested a ROTH IRA to avoid all this craziness every time there is a job switch. I don't trust this Great West place. Unfortunately the school district won't let her roll over the money unless she were terminated from the job. So if we start a ROTH, it will have to be from scratch. My wife is getting frustrated because she has two accounts now with a discouraging amount of money and it looks like she's going to have to start all over again.
My question is should we just take the 20% hit on the original AXA to convert to new Roth IRA we want to open? Or just let both the AXA and TIAA-CREF sit there stagnant and start from scratch AGAIN with this Roth IRA?
I realize that this is a very loaded question. My next step will be to contact a financial adviser but I know there are some really great minds on this site and thought I would give it a shot.
Scenario:
My wife has worked in 3 different school districts due to us moving quite a bit the last few years. We are finally settled. At her first employer she had a 403B with AXA equitable. She contributed to this account for about 3 years and then we moved and she started at her second employer who didn't carry AXA equitable as an option. Since AXA charged a 20% withdrawal fee, we left that account alone. So now it sits there with nothing contributed to it anymore.
We then opened a new 403B with T.Rowe Price but unfortunately she only stayed at school number 2 for 1 year. Unlike AXA, T.Rowe let my wife roll over her contribution penalty free to employer number 3 for which we set up as a 403B with TIAA-CREF.
In summary: wife has 403b with AXA, no longer contributing and 403B with TIAA-Cref.
This summer the school district changed to a single provider option under a company called Great West. So now she is forced to go with this NEW company that we have no clue about in order to keep expanding on the contributions she was making to TIAA-CREF.
I suggested a ROTH IRA to avoid all this craziness every time there is a job switch. I don't trust this Great West place. Unfortunately the school district won't let her roll over the money unless she were terminated from the job. So if we start a ROTH, it will have to be from scratch. My wife is getting frustrated because she has two accounts now with a discouraging amount of money and it looks like she's going to have to start all over again.
My question is should we just take the 20% hit on the original AXA to convert to new Roth IRA we want to open? Or just let both the AXA and TIAA-CREF sit there stagnant and start from scratch AGAIN with this Roth IRA?
I realize that this is a very loaded question. My next step will be to contact a financial adviser but I know there are some really great minds on this site and thought I would give it a shot.
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