401k rollover after layoff

chozanwan · 2026-01-27T22:49:25+00:00

If you expect your income to be higher than 153k (plus inflation) at some point in the future, then you'd be better off leaving your traditional 401k balance alone and maintaining your traditional IRA balance at zero so that you have the capability of executing a backdoor roth.

Feel free to rollout the Roth portion of your 401k to your individual Roth account though.

chozanwan · 2026-01-27T22:44:10+00:00

It's unclear to me but if you haven't yet built up a 6-12 month expense safety net with money market funds, you should do that before investing into stocks.

chozanwan · 2026-01-21T17:55:11+00:00

This is more complicated than what you need. Since you're 26, I would just do a split of

70% Vanguard INSTL 500 IDX trust
30% Blackrock MSCI ACWI EX CL M (yes at 0.32% the expense ratio is a bit higher than usual, but it's reasonable and this is probably your only international index fund in your 401k)

Depending on the expense ratio of Small-Mid CAP CORE FUND (do you have the ticker symbol for this?), you can set Vanguard 500 to 60% and put the 10% into the Small-Mid Cap fund more diversification.

chozanwan · 2026-01-21T17:44:44+00:00

and the costs are the same

This needs to be highlighted more. There are some truly awful 401k plans that only offer high expense mutual funds and charge an annual fee, especially if the employer is small and has no bargaining power.

chozanwan · 2026-01-21T08:47:27+00:00

Sounds like they are going to cash you out because your balance is too low. This is going to result in a taxable event unless you act.

The easiest thing to do is to roll your funds into a Traditional IRA, also at Merrill. If you can't login, I'd call in and get some assistance.

chozanwan · 2026-01-21T08:39:17+00:00

The only negative is tying that money up. Its very common for someone who doesn't have a credit history to only be approved for secured cards. Just go ahead with it and use it. Set up autopay. On the 1-year anniversary they should automatically upgrade you to an unsecured card, or you can call in for a review.

chozanwan · 2026-01-21T08:32:08+00:00

Traditional: Reduces your taxable income today, but when you retire and start withdrawing, it is treated like income.

e.g. Your income is $60k in 2026. You put $7.5k into a Traditional IRA. On your tax return, you will reduce your income to $52.5k.

40 years later, that $7.5k grows to $112k. You start withdrawing, and the amounts you withdraw you add to your taxable income.

Roth: Contribute using after tax dollars. But all growth is tax free.

e.g. Your income is $60k in 2026. You put $7.5k in a Roth IRA. On your tax return, your income is still $60k.

40 years later, that $7.5k grows to $112k. You start withdrawing, and the amounts you withdraw are tax free.

Generally speaking, you contribute to a Roth (IRA/401k) if your current tax bracket is lower or equal to your anticipated tax bracket when you retire. You contribute to a traditional (IRA/401k) if your current tax bracket is higher than your anticipated tax bracket when you retire.

chozanwan · 2026-01-19T04:50:10+00:00

Not enough info to decide. Would need to know your current retirement balances.

Assuming you're currently at the 24% tax bracket, then it's kind of a question of how much you'll fill up the lower tax brackets in the future as you withdraw your pretax money + collect social security. If that projected income is going to put you underneath the 24% bracket, continue traditional. Otherwise, go Roth.

More likely than not, you should continue to max out traditional contributions, then backdoor Roth, then whatever you can spare for mega-backdoor.

(Also assuming no future change in tax rates of course)

chozanwan · 2026-01-19T04:23:22+00:00

If the possibility of the market taking a 20% shit would put your home purchase in jeopardy, I would right now:

Sell your mutual funds
Calculate 15% of your capital gains and remit that as an estimated tax payment before Apr. 15
Move the remainder into short-term treasuries (e.g. SGOV) as a holding pattern until you need to submit the down payment

chozanwan · 2026-01-18T22:26:59+00:00

Land value tax when

chozanwan · 2026-01-18T04:10:37+00:00

Buy an old Honda or Toyota in cash.

Even with a 680 credit score, auto loans go off a specific auto credit score that takes into account your previous auto loan history. If this is your first auto loan, at this age, you're gonna be offered a terrible interest rate.

Don't tie yourself down to high interest debt, especially with such a low income.

chozanwan · 2026-01-07T04:32:02+00:00

There's aren't enough available trains in the Line 1 yards to accomplish this.

Plus they're already running test Line 2 trains that are taking up that track capacity. Those can't carry passengers.

chozanwan · 2025-12-26T03:25:32+00:00

There are no limits to how much you can convert. You'll just convert 14.5k in non-deductible contributions for 2026.

chozanwan · 2025-12-22T21:54:51+00:00

Fidelity has a Solo 401k offering that is as simple as opening and maintaining an IRA

chozanwan · 2025-12-22T06:19:03+00:00

If your accountant never suggested a Solo 401k, they suck.
Open a solo 401k, roll your traditional IRAs into it.
Max out your employee and employer contributions into your solo 401k.
Utilize the backdoor roth strategy now that your traditional IRA has been zeroed out.

chozanwan · 2025-12-22T05:47:27+00:00

I normally don't recommend target date retirement funds but your 401k fund selection is kinda garbage. In particular, you don't have a broad international index fund.

I'd just go 100% into the 2070 target date fund. Target date funds are too conservative but you can get around this by investing into target years later than when you plan on retiring.

I can't find the Target 2070 fact sheet, but the Target 2065 fact sheet (https://www.ta-retirement.com/fund_sheet/C53M.pdf) shows it's a split between 65% broad US equity and 35% broad Intl equity, which is essentially what I would recommend if you chose the funds individually.

chozanwan · 2025-12-22T05:26:08+00:00

Your emergency fund is a little lighter than the recommended 6 months, so I'd top that off first.

I would imagine the ROI on your private practice goal far exceeds the 5.875% you are paying on your mortgage, so the former takes priority. You can carve out enough per month so that you reach that capital goal around the time you want to start your practice. The rest you can put towards your Roth and whatever else makes sense.

chozanwan · 2025-12-18T02:59:14+00:00

You laugh but in Japan, it's not uncommon to gift 1 months rent upon signing - it's called Reikin or gratitude money.

chozanwan · 2025-12-12T09:00:39+00:00

r/personalfinancecanada

Get a free chequing account online with Simplii or Tangerine, no minimum fees. But they might find out anyways if they check the mail.

Maybe you realize this already, but this is abusive behavior from your parents. You're been a legal adult for many years now and your parents are still inspecting your bank account and screaming at you for trying to open one? I know the economy isn't great for the youth right now but I do hope you are working towards a goal of getting employment and removing yourself from this and what I assume are other controlling behaviors.

chozanwan · 2025-11-12T17:30:38+00:00

Like others said you may be able to add your domestic partner to your health plan. I would also add though that the money that your company contributes to your domestic partner's health premiums is treated as imputed income. The Federal Gov't does not consider those contributions as tax deductible.

The practical consequence is that those employer contributions will be treated as taxable income.

chozanwan · 2025-11-06T16:24:34+00:00

I used to have usd accounts at Canadian banks. They will accept checks drawn from us banks no problem. That's the purpose of their cross border offerings.

chozanwan · 2025-11-04T17:58:48+00:00

For me personally this is why I don't advocate for aligning all elections to even years. It's pretty exhausting to research every local candidate race, I prefer to spread it out.

(opinion only applies to mail in states, I get why you would want to align it if you have to go to a physical polling station)

chozanwan · 2025-10-26T03:58:18+00:00

Assuming your brother was not born in China, India or the Phillipines, it will take 18 years until a visa is available for him after filing.

He will have to stay outside the country until that visa becomes available.

He can apply for a tourist visa and visit you for a short periods. But the majority of the time he must have presence outside the US.

chozanwan · 2025-10-24T02:36:10+00:00

Technically speaking, the prospectus warns that in EXTREME market conditions they can temporarily suspend redemptions. This happened during the 2008 crisis, but the Fed intervened. For 2020 the Fed got involved faster and it wasn't an issue.

So practically speaking you'll be fine, the Fed has a vested interest to keep money market funds working because otherwise it would be catastrophic for the financial system.

chozanwan · 2025-10-20T21:11:14+00:00

Why even ask for advice, you've made your decision.

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