hi goombay ,
on a scale of one to ten , with ten being the best , i would rate the Xerox 401(k) as " at least a nine ( 9 ) " . and i just hesitate giving them a ten ( 10 ) , the best , cause you never know in this coporate climate ( remember Enron
pension retirees ) . if , at any time i felt concern about my money within the Xerox 401(k) , i would roll it over into a individual I.R.A. account .
i was not exactly estatic when GM Investment management took over our 401(k) , but felt alot better when Hewitt stayed involved ( i wrote a long letter / e - mail to Xerox in support of Hewitt when Xerox was considering getting rid of them entirely a few years ago ) . and it wasn't because i had any proof or evidence that GM was a bad custodian / money manager , BUT i just really don't like change - especially when it comes to MY
money . sometimes it's difficult to see or know exactly who has their fingers in the pie or where the money really is , BUT the Xerox 401(k) is supposed to be totally separate from the corporate fortunes of Xerox Corporation . in other words , Xerox could go bankrupt and your monies are SUPPOSED to be separate and safe . and , of course , the larger the money manager ( and GM Investment management is very large ) the more choices we have in our 401(k) and the cheaper our fees are . the State Street Bank of Boston is the custodian of our ESOP and now our Xerox common stock portion of our 401(k) and probably have management over other parts of our 401(k) too . and , of course , kilo is right that they are a respected money manager . BUT , of course , kilo being from Boston , a Red Sox fan , and a damn Yankee to boot would say that
. and actually , there are many different managers in our 401(k) .
as for weither you or anyone should leave part or all of your money with the xerox 401(k) is totally a personal decision . one of my best friends took his entire xerox 401(k) - stock included - and rolled the entire thing into a Schwab rollover I.R.A. and , of course , he no longer has any access to the Xerox / Hewitt 401(k) web site . he invests primarily in individual stocks , although has some mutual funds , and is struggling lately in this tough market enviroment .
another ex - xerox manager i know left his entire 401(k) with Xerox / Hewitt and said he was going to request a monthy distribution from them to his personal checking account . there is a section on the web site to take / request distributions . and , of course , he can roll his 401(k) into a I.R.A. at any time in the future .
another retired xeroid friend took his " transitional account " and rolled it to a Schwab rollover I.R.A. account and left the rest within his Xerox / Hewitt 401(k) account . he recently requested and took a distribution from them for living expenses . he mainly invests in mutual funds .
i took my Xerox 401(k) " transitional account " at the stock market high the middle of January , 2000 and rolled it into a Schwab rollover I.R.A. account . i have also taken ALL my ESOP shares as " shares in kind " , paid taxes on the value of them at a cost basis of $ 13.04 a share and hold them in my personal brokerage account . i intend to sell those later at hopefully a higher value and only pay capital gains taxes ( 15% ) on those profits above my $ 13.04 a share cost basis i've already paid taxes on .
i left my " before tax " , " after tax " , " company match " , and " company savings " accounts within the Xerox 401(k) and enjoy the many choices and daily switching allowed within those accounts as i am more of a " market timer " and tend to either be in the market ( have been as much as 80% stock market asset allocation late last year and the begining of this year - and have been as much as 100% stock market asset allocation in the past when we were in a secular bull market in the 90's ) or out of the market ( am presently at 9% stock market asset allocation ) at any given time period . i do not suggest this investment strategy for those with weak stomachs or those less nimble / stupid / educated / lucky ( take your pick ) in making investment decisions . i like the " K I S S " method of investing which is " keep it simple stupid " and usually invest in index mutual funds .
i am personally on a program of converting my deferred monies to ROTHs and will soon be rolling more money from my Xerox 401(k) into my Schwab rollover I.R.A. account next year ( 2006 ) to continue that strategy . of course , all monies taken from a deferred account ( I.R.A. - 401k - 403b - etc ) is taxed as income and all monies taken from a Roth are tax free . generally you should only convert money in a Traditional I.R.A. account to a Roth I.R.A. if you have the personal cash OUTSIDE your deferred account to pay the current tax bill for that conversion and expect to be in a higher tax bracket in retirement ( remember your required minimum distributions at 70 1/2 ) or expect tax rates to go up going forward .
i use a " buckets of money " approach to my living expenses where i set aside several years ( you can use a one - two - three year or longer time period if you desire - some have used up to a 7 to 8 year time frame ) worth of living expenses in a separate check writing account that i have in a tax free money market account . this relieves me from having to make decisions about where to take money from what account when sometimes market conditions aren't favorable for that .
at the present time i not only have money in the Xerox 401(k) and a Schwab rollover I.R.A. account , but also have a Fidelity ROTH I.R.A. account , and expect to open a Vanguard ROTH I.R.A. account later this summer in order to get their Admiral class shares in their GNMA mutual fund that aren't available to me within my Schwab account at this time . as you can see , i don't hesitate to spread my money around and i've been known , in the past , to totally pull my monies from an account ( i have walked into more than one bank in the past and walked out with my entire account closed and the money in my hand ) at the drop of a hat if i'm not happy cause after all it's my money .
.
you're very correct that as one gets closer to having to decide these things that one needs to get their " act " together . that's why RETIREMENT PLANNING is so terribly important . one of the reasons i use the word " terrible " isn't because it's bad , but because some of these decisions you'll have to make are " irreversable " and sometimes there is no changing your mind or going back . for example , once you roll your money out of a 401(k) after you've left the company , it's generally impossible to put it back in . or if you give your money to a insurance company for an annunity , it's sometimes not possible to get it back - even if they don't honor their part of the contract or go bankrupt . and it's really a personal decision , just like figuring out your own risk tolerance and what investments one should put their money into .
suggest you do alot of reading . all the past posts and links archived ( thank you
xertech ) on this topic are / is a good place to start . and really THINK about the long term effects what you're doing . and don't hesitate to change your mind if you're not happy about your returns and performance .
in the end , it's your money
.
p.s. not to get into your personal relationships goombay , but let us know if Anne is a good kisser . ? :blink: ?
also let us know what you decide to do and how it gos . we're all xeroids ( even damn Yankee , Red Sox fans from Boston ) and family here and interested and willing to help in any and all questions .
course , without saying , all the above is just my opinion and not actually meant to indicate that i actually know what the heck i'm talking about on any of these matters .
