r/401K

I have a simple question here. I recently started thinking about my possible 401k and I'm already at the age of 50 here and I don't even know how to go about finding my 401k so I can see if there's any money there. The reason I'm skeptical is because most of my life I worked retail jobs and one waitressing job at a retirement home. Then I had a long period out of work because I developed some chronic health issues that I still deal with (get SSI now for 6 years), but not long ago I started working again in June 2025 part time as an Uber Eats delivery driver. . is there a legit website I can use to find out?? I ask because I Googled it and tried to log in to a recommended site but for some reason it had trouble with my social security number even though I have an account there...

I was using the U.S. Department of Labor Retirement Savings Lost and Found website... ANY HELP PLEASE!!

Can anyone tell me what happens if I take a 401K loan and then would happen to lose my job? I don't think it's likely, but want to know anyway. I turned 58 in March. Thanks.

Hi, I’m a single mother of 5. I’m in dire need of a house for me and my children. We’re currently staying with someone who wants us to leave.

Would I be able to borrow against my 401K to find a house and how would that affect me?

Also, when I checked my Empower account and followed the prompts, I didn’t even see an option for the type of hardships I have. Meaning I have to show proof of a hardship for the loan.

Any advice please I’m desperate.

Hello, I lost my job 8 months ago, have submitted over 400 job applications and have recently landed 2 interviews. Unemployment has ended and I have drained my savings to pay my bills. Im desperate at this point that Im considering cashing out my 401k with MerrillLynch , has anyone had experience doing that with this company and if so is it easier to take a loan out against my 401k or to cash it out?

It seems like my 401k barely grows, but if I invested that money in AMD or MU like I do on my Robinhood account, I’d have way more money.

Why aren’t these retirement funds investing in the right companies?

I actually think I could handle the investments myself, but I don’t want to miss out on the employer match to my 401k..

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had an experience moving jobs while having an active loan out? Everything I see says I will have to pay it off out of pocket but I don’t think that will be viable. Unfortunately the place I am going doesn’t start you on a 401k until a year in. I guess I am also wondering what will happen with the rest of the balance in the account. It is vanguard if that matters.

I know the best 401 K advisor who advices the terminated employees to get the money out and the big companies also who are loosing millions of dollars in having bad retirement plan for their employees.

I want to get others' opinions of Empower Retirement. In my experience, while they are generally legally compliant in how they conduct their business (although they seem to get sued a lot), they are kind of scam of deception. They don't add any value to my employer's 401k. They simply put money into other brokerages accounts, which results in another layer of fees coming out of my assets, and that additional layer of fees are really high. In my experience, they also make it VERY difficult to roll over to an IRA if you have left an employer, between the high pressure sales tactics to roll into an Empower IRA, the slow response times, not providing the required forms online ... all of it is just designed to drag their feet, delay, and hope you get frustrated and just leave the funds in the 401k. I have had to deal with them twice now, and I basically think the company is a scam (morally speaking) run by scumbags. What they are really selling is cheap 401k administration fees to employers, which they make up for by digging value out of my assets through exhorbitant fees which reflect zero value being added by Empower. I'd like to hear others' experiences and opinions of Empower. FWIW, in my latest job search, I actually turned down an offer because Empower administers their 401k. That told me something negative about the prospective employer and I kept looking.

Like the title of this post, I realize I’m behind and should have started with my retirement planning much earlier, but is there anything I can do to make it up? I’m 51, supporting a family of 5.

I currently have $225K in a dormant 403b from my previous long term employer. Additionally, I have an active 401K with $26K in it with my current employer. I’m currently contributing 5% of my $100K income to that account and it’s matched by my employer.

What should I do with the 403b? Roll it over to an IRA? Or roll into my current 401K?

Beyond those accounts, I don’t have anything else savings-wise. But, I can probably create margin if I had some ideas on what to do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Husband is currently 70 years old. We’ll need to take minimal disbursements from his 401K at age 73.

We don’t need the income at this time.

Can we channel the disbursement into a Roth IRA?

2026-06-26

 

Long story.  I’ll keep it short.  Recently I reached out to Lincoln Financial Group of Fort Wayne, IN, in April to close out a 401K from an old employer that had just been sitting there a couple of years after leaving the company.  At the time of employment, I was able to save a little money, and the employer contribution (at the time of employment) was a 50% match.

The value of the 401K at the time of closure 5/20, it was $2800+.  Lincoln very opaquely demonstrated that my employer was rescinding $1009 from my account. See photos of weekly ‘activity’ reports, and you will understand my confusion.  Watch how the money just seems to vaporize mysteriously without any direction as to where the money went.  And every week, the value is zero. 

I was just waiting for a check that never arrived.  Weeks, months go by.  And now I start receiving these cryptic weekly statements....

 When I began to inquire about what was happening, none of the important questions about this mysterious ‘Forfeiture’ account was.  I even asked, “Forfeiture?  What is that?”  the rep’s response was that it was “oh, that’s the employer’s contribution”.   I replied, “what?  so why doesn’t it say ‘employer contribution’?”  Weeks went by.  No check in the mail.  I call again.

Bottom Line:  Lincoln ‘passes the buck’ to the employer, “ oh yeah, the employer changed the ‘vesting rules’  on Christmas of ’25 and you are now only 20% vested”.  What? I was never notified of this.

Oh really?  I earned that money!  Now you say, after years of earning interest, you change the rules and have the right to rescind, and take money that was presumably mine?  Is that legal?  This seems completely and utterly illegal, and if it is not, it should be.  “I am calling you out!”

I couldn’t imagine this being $280, 000, and learning your employer is rescinding $100,900.  This practice should be made illegal if it is not already.

What do you think?  Leave a comment below.

My two small IRAs are down terribly. I need to consolidate. I have too many funds. Where do you start? I have Spyi, qqqi, schd, VYM, vymi, Asts,main, o, mo, vt,Vti and a few others that are really down so I can’t sell at a loss. Any advice. I am a retiree. Haven’t had to withdraw yet I also have Nvidea and Google

I’m currently 18 with an internship that matches my 401k contributions. My 401k allows for me to invest in the average index and target funds. However I am also allowed to open a brokerage account under my 401k. Would it be smarter to stick with a s&p500 index fund or invest my 401k into individual stocks? Will investing in larger individual stocks like Apple,Nvidia,Amazon etc. that pay dividends be better than my s&p500 401k investment. Considering the fact whatever I choose I can only withdraw at 59.5 years old.

Hello,

I have 401k accounts from 3 different companies. My 1st one is from my previous employer. My 2nd is from my current employer. Few years after, my current employer switch 401k company so I started my 3rd 401k account. I thought of rolling over my 1st and 2nd accounts into my 3rd but I hate paperwork. Should I leave them separately or would it be more beneficial if I rollover and maintain one 401k account?

I worked at a restaurant for like 15 years and I had a 401k there. After I left and started my new job I kind of forgot about it. I was looking at my account for it today and it said validate, so im going through but it asks if I want it to be a traditional or a Roth. Honestly does it matter? I was considering just cashing it out and using it for some home repairs instead of moving it to my new 401k. (Im not touching my current 401k which is about double this one in like 1/5th of the time.)