Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, everyone. This is all super helpful to give me some direction.

By rolling it into a Traditional IRA, it severely limits your ability to do a backdoor Roth IRA.

Only a concern if your income is too high for Roth contribs. It doesn’t apply to everyone.

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, everyone. This is all super helpful to give me some direction.

By rolling it into a Traditional IRA, it severely limits your ability to do a backdoor Roth IRA.

You can have multiple IRAs. Just don't commingle the types.

Anonymous wrote:NP - does a Traditional IRA make it hard for OP to do a backdoor Roth in the future?

Yes. That would be the one reason not to do it. The alternative would be to pick one of the three 401ks that has the best/cheapest funds and roll everything into that to consolidate and simplify.

NP - does a Traditional IRA make it hard for OP to do a backdoor Roth in the future?

Thank you, everyone. This is all super helpful to give me some direction.

I just rolled over 4 old 401(k)s into a Fidelity IRA. First I set up the Fidelity IRA, then went to each website to start the rollover process. Each company has their own rules, it took a few calls and such to get it all done, but went smoothly.

Fidelity over Vanguard, but also, Roth over 401k going forward.
Tax deduction and match do not outweigh 401k rules, ordinary income taxes you will have to pay, possible tax hike, RMD, not doing your own investments and many other think you don't even think about right now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do it on the phone with Vanguard or Fidelity, not on your own. You're going to end up with the money in a Rollover IRA, not a Traditional IRA, so if you open a traditional IRA first you'll have an empty IRA sitting around when you're done.

They hold your hand through this whole thing on the Vanguard site. The Rollover IRA is just to "catch" the incoming rollover funds. Then you disburse from the Rollover IRA into your target account, the Traditional IRA.

You keep any investments that were ever ERISA-protected separate from those that were not, because investments that were ever ERISA-protecteed has bankruptcy protection that it would not have if commingled.

https://www.mesirow.com/wealth-knowledge-center/retirement-accounts-provide-protection-against-creditors

I've had the same "rollover" IRA at Vanguard for 12 years. I have rolled into it, back out of it, and into it again during that time. It is a traditional IRA by default. It contains nothing other than investments that were, at some point, ERISA-protected.

Anonymous wrote:Do it on the phone with Vanguard or Fidelity, not on your own. You're going to end up with the money in a Rollover IRA, not a Traditional IRA, so if you open a traditional IRA first you'll have an empty IRA sitting around when you're done.

They hold your hand through this whole thing on the Vanguard site. The Rollover IRA is just to "catch" the incoming rollover funds. Then you disburse from the Rollover IRA into your target account, the Traditional IRA.

Do it on the phone with Vanguard or Fidelity, not on your own. You're going to end up with the money in a Rollover IRA, not a Traditional IRA, so if you open a traditional IRA first you'll have an empty IRA sitting around when you're done.

I prefer Fidelity but also recommend the above approach.

And set up the Vanguard account first. You want to have them accept the direct rollover.

Roll them into a traditional IRA with vanguard. Don't roll them into current employer account or you'll have to play by their account rules and be limited to their fund options.

I have 3 separate 401ks. I'm a federal contractor who has been on year to year contracts for a long time, and it seems there's always been something up in the air, either we have less than a year left or we are up for rebid. And sometimes, I got busy with life. Then one contract was taken over by another company and I thought I'd get serious about combining them and now my job is slated to end due to federal cuts. Should I just move them all to the account that I have with my current employer, even though the work is ending, or is there a better way? I'd prefer to tie up lose ends and not have 3 separate accounts.