Rolling Over Your Savings Plan
 
 
 
Polaris Advisors, the website, the worksheets and the seminars are not endorsed, reviewed or approved by either Gillette or Procter and Gamble.  Polaris Advisors is an independent Financial Planning Firm, and prospective clients must make their own assessments of the accuracy and validity of the material presented.
 
Rolling over your Savings Plan!  An extremely important step in your Retirement that’s fraught with risk and complications.  Yet, it’s the first thing on the mind of most “Advisors” since that big slug of money can be the source of big commissions.
 
The attached worksheet is a decision tree to help you make sense of this task.  But first, let’s review why we roll a Savings Plan at all.  Can’t we just leave it where it is?
 
The answer is yes, but:  Here are some reasons to take control of your account.
 
First and most important is to get access to improved Investment Management.  Whether you do it yourself, or have someone do it for you, recognize that your Savings Plan is necessarily limited by the Company’s need to run an ERISA compliant Retirement Plan.  It’s not designed to be the best Investment vehicle; it’s designed to be the best Employer/Employee Savings vehicle.  You may be able to do better in an IRA, possibly much better.  That can make a huge difference in your Retirement Income, particularly in your later years, after inflation has started to eat away at your fixed Pension check.
 
Second is service.  You will now be withdrawing from the plan instead of depositing into it.  It’s not designed to make that easy or tax efficient.  It’s designed to comply with IRS and Department of Labor rules, and not cost the company too much to administer.
 
Third is tax planning.  The Savings Plan holds money in various “tax buckets.”  Understanding these tax buckets will allow you to plan for the big goals of your retirement years.  In the Rollover process, you can “set up the pins” for some smart tax planning for both you and your heirs.  With a good, forward looking plan, you can get the IRS out of a lot of your future spending plans, by structuring your Rollover correctly.
 
Finally, there are some fees associated with accounting for all the millions of transactions that occur in the plan, by thousands of participants on weekly or monthly payrolls.  You can either save those fees, or direct them to your Advisor for selecting investments and monitoring your IRA.  You’re wasting you own money by paying for accounting costs for the benefit of remaining employees, after you have left the company.
 
So, pull down the worksheet and follow it through.  Here’s a hint though.  If you have done a little financial planning first, ala, our Retirement Income Plan, you’ll be ready with the answers to the questions on the sheet.
 
And, as always, we stand ready to help you make sense of it all, though our seminars, or one of one with you.  Just give us a call to find out more about either.
 
 
 
* These worksheets alone do not constitute a complete Financial Plan.  Please consider all aspects of your situation with competent tax, financial and legal counsel before making any decision to leave employment.  Polaris Advisors, LLC is not responsible for any use or misuse of these tools by persons who have not contracted with Polaris Advisors LLC for Financial Planning Services.
 
    
 
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