u/tirerlabrise

Apologies in advance for how stupid this question is, I have minimal knowledge on these matters.

Background: I am in my mid-30s. I worked for a city municipality in the United States for 2.5 years. During that time, I put the maximum I could into the city’s retirement plan (11%). I was recruited to a much better job within my field late last year, and subsequently resigned from my position within the municipality.

My new job (non-profit sector) offers a Simple IRA plan with a 3% employer match, which is way better than the 0% with the municipality. I’ve been contributing since April, when I became eligible (6 month wait before eligibility for the Simple IRA). I do not have any other retirement accounts (please don’t judge).

As of today, my pension/retirement account from the municipality has approximately $19,509 in it. It barely gains any interest. The plan is portable. I think the APY last year was 1.13%. Obviously I’d like to move this money somewhere else, where it can actually accrue interest, and I’d like to do this soon.

The problem is that I cannot roll these funds into my new Simple IRA until the account has been open for two years, so April 2028. I’ve looked into IRA and Roth IRA, but the contribution limit for each is $7500 per year. This leaves ~$12,000 left to deal with. The way the municipality’s system works is that I cannot take a partial withdrawal. If I take anything out, I have to close the account. These means I have to roll everything into a new account, or withdraw a portion into a retirement account and receive a check for the rest. This means paying the 20% IRS penalty PLUS the 10% early withdrawal fee, which I obviously want to avoid.

My question is, what is my best option? Do I wait almost two years, allowing money that could be earning better interest to just sit there? Do I roll some of it into a retirement account and put the rest into a CD or HYSA, paying penalties? Any advice is welcome. TIA.

Offering a bit of positivity today! I failed my early one hour glucose test with a 158 (doc was looking for 135 and under). I was pretty much convinced I’d fail today — for context, I have insulin resistant PCOS, I’m over 35, and I have a higher BMI.

Great news though, I passed with flying colors! I am almost 18 weeks, so I still have to take the regular ol’ glucose test again in 10 weeks, but at least I have some relief today. I’m hoping this might offer some relief to anyone else who needs to take the three hour test.

Also, I had the lemon lime flavor and it wasn’t that bad. Sip it through the five minutes, don’t chug, and you’ll be fine!