This is a YouTube video titled "Don't Be Afraid of Rollovers" created in January 2025 featuring Jim Dahle discussing the process and common concerns about financial rollovers, particularly 401k and IRA transfers. Jim Dahle provides detailed advice on how to handle rollovers, encourages viewers not to fear the process, and mentions various supportive communities for financial questions. The content also includes a disclaimer about the hosts not being licensed financial professionals.
We're going to talk about rollovers, all right? And rollovers are super intimidating to people for some reason. In fact, I'm convinced that the need to roll something over sends just tons of people into the hands of unscrupulous financial advisors every year because they just don't know what to do. And they know they need to roll over something. Right? Take a deep breath. Rollovers are not complicated. Once you've done two or three or a dozen of them, you're going to go, oh, this is no big deal. If you need help, there are people there to help you. Typically on both ends of the rollover, the company that the money's coming from and the company that it's going to. As a general rule, you do not want to do what is sometimes referred to as a rollover, where you take possession of the money, they send a check made out to you. That's generally not the way to do a rollover. What you want to do is what's called a transfer or a direct transfer, right? Where it's going from one provider, one 401k provider, to an IRA provider or another 401k provider, right? From your old 401k to your new 401k, whatever, right? But there's somebody on both ends. You can call up and say, hey, this is what I want to do. I want to transfer the money from your 401k to my new 401. What do I need to do? And as a general rule, it's best to start at the destination, pick up the phone, call them up, say, what do I gotta do? Do I gotta fill out any paperwork? You know, can I do this online? What's the way to do this? Have them walk you through it. Yeah. You might be on the phone for 20 minutes the first time you do it, and this whole process might take you two or three weeks for the money to actually be gone from the old account and be in the new account. But I promise you, they will help you do it. It's not that complicated. You don't have to figure it out all on your own. This is what these people do, right? They move money around all day. They're used to rollovers. It's not an unusual thing for them. And so it shouldn't be an unusual thing for you. I have to do a rollover. It seems like, I don't know, every two or three years, it feels like I've done a rollover for some reason or another. And so I've done this. I don't know A dozen times in my career. Maybe people are too afraid of it. It's not that hard. You don't have to hire a financial advisor just to do a rollover. And don't leave your money in an old plan with crappy investment choices and all kinds of problems making your life all complex. Just roll it into your new plan. Unless your new plan is just terrible, just put it in your new plan. It's fine. Roll your old 401 into your new 401, your old 403 into your new 403 or 401. If you had a governmental 457, you've left that employer. You can roll that into your new 401 as well. Non governmental 457s can only be rolled into non governmental 457s, but that's something to consider when you decide whether you're going to contribute to it in the first place. By the time you're leaving the employer, that decision is long in the past. All right. Don't be afraid of rollovers. They are not that hard. You can do them, I promise. If you're having problems, ask on our communities. We've got the financially empowered women community, the few. We've got our White Coat Investor Facebook group. There's close to 100,000 doctors in there. Doctors and other high income earners. The subreddit White Coat Investor subreddit's now close to 100,000 people in there. The WCI forum's been around since like 2016, right? Easily searchable, a little easier to find old stuff in there. It's not as big of a community as the Facebook group and the subreddit, but there's been a lot of people that have been there for a long time. And I think a SKU's a little bit older and a little more experienced than some of the other communities, so you can check that one out as well. If you can't find an answer there, you can even shoot me an email, right? Editorwhitecoatinvestor.com I'll try to help you figure out your rollover and why it seems complicated to you, but trust me, they're not that hard. Sometimes they're a pain. You're like, ah, these guys are pain. But it's not that bad, right? This is not something you can't do.
The hosts of the White Coat Investor are not licensed accountants, attorneys or financial advisors. This podcast is for your entertainment and information only. It should not be considered professional or personalized financial advice. You should consult the appropriate professional for specific advice relating to your situation.
