I have had a 401K for15 years and want to roll it to a traditional IRA, who has the best rates right now?

Question

Having a great deal of trouble finding the right place to invest my $ in 100% risk free environment, earning as much as possible, Can someone out there help, at least point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

There is no free money, but you can gamble. The risk free CD's or other risk free investments are lousy and don't keep up with inflation, wall street is the same as Vegas or Reno.

You can always go to a Merill Lynch guy or any other "Money advisor" and let him give you advice, then do the opposite, that may give you a good chance.

I would lean back, enjopy live and not think about the mess, Bush and his Military is leaving us. Make sure you vote the right man.

Answer 2

Lots of advice above, too bad noone answered your question so I will.

For 100% risk free (except for inflation as Muncie and others pointed out) FDIC insured savings/checking/CDs, go to www.bankrate.com for the highest rates offered in the USA.  You can invest in any of those banks via the internet or phone.

By the way, I have yet to find a gas station or food store that will let me pay in gold nuggets, silver bars or any other type of "Constitional form of money" so stick with "greenbacks" if you don't grow your own food, make your own biodiesel, clothing, etc.

Answer 3

Just some things for you to think about:

How much did YOU put into the 401 ?

How much is it worth now?

Was your percentage gain respectable?

What were you invested in?

Caution is one thing, but looking to get into a " risk free" enviroment is sort of bizarre ( if you have made money in the 401 for 15 years)

As far as " rolling over"...get to Fidelity or someone similar...let them do all the work for you...get into a self- directed IRA.... select anything you want once you have the account... but, try, try, try  to get some portion of your funds into something that is doing better than " average" and learn to make adjustments now and then....if you don't, your cautious investments will barely keep up with inflation.

Answer 4

Are you still working for th company that you have the 401k plan with? If yes, you can't roll it anywhere. If you have left that company, 100% risk free investments pay very little = a stable income mutual fund or money market fund would be your best bets, but don;t expect more than a 2-3% return, which won;t even match inflation

Answer 5

The Fed has put the queltch on risk free earnings.  They are more interest in borrowers than savers since the U S treasury is the biggest borrower in the world.  In fact they do not have a hoot about savers.  Your options are extremely limited and your probability of keeping up with inflation is nil.  Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news.  Fidelity is currently offering these choices for risk free savings:

1 year CDs 3.5%

Considering inflation is running at 6%,  you will be loosing only 2.5% before taxes which will eventually come due. You do not want to go out more than one year because next year inflation will probably be 10%.  

Here is a link to Fidelity.  At least if you open an IRA account there you will have access to quite a few different investment options.  

But I have to tell you.  If you do not take any risk you will most likely not have all that much to retire on when the time comes.  Figure it out.  How many years until retirement?  20?  If you loose 2.5% annually to inflation you will have only 37% as much then as you have now.

Answer 6

As many of the others have already said, there is no such thing as a risk free investment. Risk comes in many shapes, as I am sure you are discovering. Inflation is an investment risk that is just as real as losing money from a stock or mutual fund that goes down in value. The real key is determining how you are going to manage that risk. I like to use the thunderstorm at the beach analogy to paint a picture. You go down to the beach in the morning. Not a cloud in the sky, cool breeze, sun in your face. Perfect. A few hours later, you notice some clouds way out on the horizon. Do you pack up and leave? Probably not. The storm might blow away from you or just go away. But if the clouds keep getting bigger, closer and darker you might finally decide it is time to head home. Then, on the way home, you find out that it is a hurricane - and it is heading straight for you! What now? If you are smart, you get out of town and seek a safe shelter. Well, guess what! Investing is just like that - except 99.999% of all investors just sit on the beach no matter what (i.e. - do nothing). They aren't being stupid though. Most of them can't see the clouds! That is why we developed an extremely effective investment model that tells us when it is time to get off the beach, when it is time to get out of town and when it is safe to head back down to the beach! If you want to learn more about how you can easily invest and reduce your risk about as much as possible, take a look at the article entitled "The Origins Of Our Investment Models" on our website at InvestmentCoaching.net. It is free - and you don't even have to register to read that one!

Hope that helps. Here's to your safe investing! Take care.

Answer 7

I hate to break the news to you but there is nothing 100% risk free. You can have 100% FDIC insured CDs or money market funds in your IRA but that isnt 100% risk free. Due to a 17% increase in M3 (inflation) and rising each year, you are loosing purchasing power with your Federal Reserve Dollars. There are only 2 ways to hedge against this.......investing in overseas currencies and buying gold and silver. I would be opting for the gold and silver as that is the only true Constitional form of money. You are far better off dollar cost averaging into gold, silver and other hard assets with your retirement if you truly want to hedge against inflation. Some money in FDIC insured deposits is OK but when...not if....the dollar is devalued as the federal debt increases you want to have some money in hard assets. Be aware its comming sooner then you think.