Can my former employer force me out of the 401k plan?

1. I don't recall the legality of whether an employer can kick you out of a 401(k) plan as a former employee. I left a major Wall Street firm and no one forced me to rollover the 401(k). They can ask you to leave, but they would be severely liable under ERISA law if they liquidated your assets and sent you a check without your written instruction to do so. They can charge you an "administration fee" to hold the 401(k) for you however.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/erisa.ht...

2. You can opt to move the 401(k) to an "IRA Rollover." I would not do this with a bank or insurance company. Most bank/ insurance employees are poorly trained and inexperienced when it comes to investing and investment strategy. I would go get professional advice from a broker with 15+ years of retirement and market experience.

3. You can often transfer the assets "in kind." This means you keep exactly what funds (assets) are in the 401(k) when you move it to an IRA Rollover.

Historically, CD's are bad investments long term, esp if you have 10+ years before retirement.

There is no such thing as an "IRA CD." This is an incompetent banker wanting you to liquidate your funds at loss and buy a CD which he/she gets paid on that.

You can have an IRA account, and inside the IRA are the investments. An IRA is nothing more than a shell that holds assets under a certain legal structure.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/ira.asp

I don't know what you are holding, or your situation, so I cannot give you personal advice.

In general, I would look to Dollar Cost Average each month or bi-monthly (better) in major market indexes such as the S&P 500.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging

Yes, they can force you to get out of their 401k program, but there's no reason you have to put the money into a CD.

Talk to a broker, set up an IRA account and transfer the money to your personal IRA. The broker should help with all the details. You can buy some good quality mutual funds within your IRA, so you will be transferring money from one account that is low, to another fund that is low right now, so the current market situation will have no impact on your long term account situation.

Think about it this way. You own X shares of some fund in your 401k. right now those shares are worth less, so you get less money when you pull it out of the 401k. But at the same time, the shares in the new fund that you buy into are down, so you get more shares for your money when you buy into the new fund, so it all equals out.

If your account is over $5000 then they can NOT force you out of the plan for any reason. they can "want" you out all they want but if your account is that much then they can't get you out. If your account is less than $5,000 or greater than $1,000 then they can force you out but have to roll it over into an IRA but if it's under $1,000 they can force you out and pay you in cash.

However, that being said...they can make you pay your own way as a termed employee though it's allowable I've never seen one done...threatened yes, but actually done? No.

Why have a company that has no vested activity in you or your retirement handle you cash? Roll it into an IRA (no fee or effects in case you chosen suited motor vehicle) and you handle your guy or woman retirement (do no longer pay a financial planner to do it). the enterprise, or financial business enterprise etc... which you roll it to will do each and all of the place of work work to pass. initiate a clean one at your new job, and examine on that one in many cases to re-allocate whether it is not doing nicely. Paycheck manages your 401K, in spite of the undeniable fact that it remains disbursed by your former corporation. Get it out!

It's up to the employer and their plan. They can do it. You will need to roll it over into an IRA.