I have a small retirement account with John Hancock through a former employer and...?

Question

I desperately need to take that money out. I realize that I'll be penalized and I'll lose over half of it but I need it. I worked with this employer for over 3 years and I've been gone almost 3 years. I have been calling the owner of company every month since last november. Every time I call he tells me he can't do anything until it's time for the yearly evaluation and he'll be doing them next month, so I should call back in a month. The last few times I've called, his secretary tells me he's in but when I get transferred to his line, no one answers. I guess what I'm asking is, is there anyway to take my money out of the account without dealing with him? Can John Hancock do it for me? Or is there any legal action I can take against the owner of the company?

Answer 1

Depending on how the retirement plan is set up you may NOT have access to that money till retirement age.  This is how most companies plans work.  Contact Hancock and ask for a copy of the rules and guideline of the plan.  Three years of contributions could not add up to much and the penalties and taxes may wipe out more than half.

Answer 2

jeez, people...if you don't know then say you are guessing!

Hancock is right...you need your employers signature authorizing the distribution.  Hancock is simply the recordkeeper and can't do anything without authorization.  What they can do (and you should be able to do this online) is print up distribution paperwork for you.  Then you need to walk/drive/run this over to your previous employer to have him sign it for you.  At that point YOU should fax or mail it to John Hancock yourself.  You do not have to wait until the next valuation.  If the money is at John Hancock then your account is valued daily.  The only annual valuation is the calculation of the profit sharing contribution (and matching contributions in some cases) and/or allocation of forfeitures. If you had left during 2008 or even 2007 then you may have to wait for the profit sharing contribution/forfeiture allocation to take place but you said you left 3  years ago (2005).  Unless he failed to make timely contributions for prior  years, you should not be receiving any additional contributions at this time so it would be ok to pay out your money.  

Bottom line is that YOU need to do the work because your ex-employer doesn't seem inclined to take the single easy step to get distribution paperwork printed up.  If he didn't make timely payments then you can still take a distribution of your current account and then take another distribution of residual money when it is deposited.

Answer 3

You don't need legal action, you need to start calling the right people.  Your former employer has nothing to do with this account.  If you want to withdraw funds (which as you know is a TERRIBLE idea) you have to call whoever holds the account- that's John Hancock.

If I were you, I'd evealuate a few other methods of getting some cash.  Not only will you be VERY heavily taxed on this money, but then you won't have anything left for investments.  

Rarely does anyone read what is reccomended, but PLEASE try to get yourself to read this book, so that you have a better idea of how to make some capital.  

Increase your Finanacial IQ by Robert Kiyosaki.  

http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dads-Increase...