My statements say Acensus on the front and then mentions Merrill Lynch in the fine print.
The official letter of notification emailed to me states everything will be rolled into an IRA with Merrill if I don’t send them different instructions.
There is also an attachment to the email that is titled Plan Termination Distribution Request Form. This is what they want me to complete and return by 11/15. It makes repeated mention of Acensus, no mention of Merrill.
I sent an email to the person in HR who handles all of this asking for clarification on a couple of things. The email I got back says “Merrill Lynch currently manages our 401(k) program and can assist you with creating a new account (if you choose to continue to work with them), which your funds can be rolled in to.”
Not exactly clear but it looks like Merrill Lynch would be willing to answer questions and they would welcome my business as well.
Check fees, both for whatever fund you invest in and any ongoing, annual maintenance fee for Merrill holding your account. I don’t know what Merrill charges (quite possibly nothing, especially if you have maybe > $10,000 or so), but you should be able to find an IRA custodian (Vanguard and Fidelity for certain) that won’t charge you anything.
Do look a the expense ratios in any funds you invest in (it’s hard to beat Vanguard in that area). And never buy a fund that charges a sales commission.
We just met with the guy twice - once to review everything and develop a plan, and once to sign stuff that came from the plan, like life insurance contracts.
One reason I can think of is protection from lawsuits / bankruptcy.
States have varying laws on money in IRAs, as to whether that can be seized in legal proceedings. 401(k) money, on the other hand, is apparently safe. The IRAs may be viewed as money you saved, like a savings account. Some of it may be protected up to certain caps (e.g. 1 million dollars), some may be exempted if it’s provable that it came from a 401(k) rollover, etc.
So if you do open up an account, and you are also making ongoing contributions, you may wish to have them separate accounts. They can be with the same institution or whatever, just don’t commingle them.
Schwab, Ameritrade, Vanguard, Fidelity, and others should all meet your requirements, and they all should have people available to provide advice. We’re with Fidelity and had several meetings with an advisor last year; we need to touch base with her again this year to revisit our options. No fees involved, then again we’ve got two huge rollover IRAs there, as well as my current employer’s 401(k), so I think they’re getting their cut :).
I believe there are other ways to save, somewhat tax-deferred - annuities perhaps. I don’t know much about those. They wouldn’t be pretax contributions but the growth would be tax-free, I think.
I strongly recommend Vanguard, especially over Merrill Lynch. You may recall that ML actually went bankrupt during the financial crisis and was bought out by another company, I believe Bank of America.
I’ve been drawing out about $800 per month from my Vanguard account since I retired a year and a half ago, and I have more in there now than ever. They have a wide variety of funds, and will be glad to spend as much time as you need to help you decide and will take care of the transfer from your current plan painlessly.