# Need advice on 401(k) - business transferring ownership, "transition" plan sounds bad

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-advice-on-401-k-business-transferring-ownership-transition-plan-sounds-bad/583107>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 25, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-advice-on-401-k-business-transferring-ownership-transition-plan-sounds-bad/583107 "2011-05-25T03:04:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-advice-on-401-k-business-transferring-ownership-transition-plan-sounds-bad/583107/21 "2011-07-05T21:20:15Z")

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> [@fruitbat](#):
>
> Agreed suprisingly often it isn’t.
> 
> I often find people shocked that they can’t do what they want. I know of at least one university system for instance that decided that you had to convert at least 50% of your 401k balance to an annuity at retirement. So long as you were in the plan you were stuck with their rules.

If it was a university it likely wasn’t a 401k at all. A university is probably a government or non-profit entity, and they don’t qualify to create 401k programs for their employees. They usually create a 403b or 457. It is superficially similar, but the details are very different. For example, in many 403b plans you must put a significant part of your money into annuities.

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