Old 401k retirement plans

We all know by now that a 401k plan is a retirement account that we have with our employer, in which we save monthly payments or contributions from our salary.

Now at the moment, there are no limits imposed by law, as to the number of 401k plans that each employee can have at a given time. This means that you can have more than one account open, however you cannot contribute in all of your accounts. In fact, you can only contribute funds into one account, which is the one you have with your current employer.

Having more than one 401k plan accounts open, may not be the best thing to do. In fact you should try and consolidate all your old 401k plans, into the one you currently have. The same goes for an IRA. This way it will be much easier for you to watch your investments, and maintain control over your accounts.

If you are not sure whether you have an account opened with a previous employer, then you should follow the following steps in order to locate this:

• First start by contacting your old employers, and ask them to look at plan records, to check whether you had participated in their 401k plan. Prepare all the information they will ask you for such as social security number and date of employment.

• If you are not able to locate an old employer, then try and find an old 401k plan statement, and see whether this has any contact address for the administrating firm.

• The US government requires that a Form 5500 is filled and filed annually. You can therefore look for your employer’s name amongst these forms, on a free website.

Reference: http://www.401khelpcenter.com/faq/faq_39.html