Elle wrote:
- quote -

I'll tell you what's really going to miff you. I am allowed to
contribute up to 30K a year pre-tax to two different plans. But I
exchange that by accepting lower salary in government and non-profit
service. Whereas those who are in the private sector get company match
to their contribution, I get nothing. It's all my money.

Elle wrote:

- quote -

No, it is not the law. It is the rules established by the University
for this plan.
Many, if not most, plans allow roll overs after leaving employment. I
have 5 other accounts that allow roll overs, no problem.

- quote -

These are employer contributions. I had no choice in plan or amount of
contribution, only how to allocate within the 6 funds available in the
plan.

"revheck" <revheck[at]linuxwaves.com> wrote
- quote -

Isn't it the law, not the University, that forbids the
movement of founds out before age 55, etc.? So this is jut
business, underwritten by Congress? The vernacular "403(b)"
of course refers to some specific part of federal tax yada
law. (No need to google and post an "Actually,... " folks.
Specificity is not needed to make the point here, if one
thinks.

Plus ya know you could have researched this before investing
in it.

Ya know what really miffs me is that you got to contribute
in the neighborhood of $14k a year to this plan, while I am
not allowed to put a cent into my Roth IRA unless it's
employment income. You think anyone gives a darn about my
objection? Of course not. One chooses. Then one votes for
change and does the best one can with the outcome.

PeterL wrote:
- quote -

I was also told that I could not even move to an IRA within TIAA-CREF.
I must use the plan the University chooses, even though I no longer
work for them.

Thanks all.

I spoke with TIAA-CREF again today, and then with the benefits
department of my former employer. This really is a 403b and the
University really does forbid anyone to move funds
out of the plan before age 55. The benefits person was nice enough and
said she had fielded similar complaints in the past.

I asked who set the policy and how I could complain. She said I would
have to write the Trustees of the University. She agreed that it was
paternalistic, but that it was perfectly legal and the University has
never made any exceptions.

I think it should be illegal and I am surprised it isn't already.



PeterL wrote:
- quote -

revheck wrote:
- quote -

I have more information for you. Right after I read your post I got an
email from TIAA about rolling over to an IRA. So I gave them a call.
Turns out my accounts both allow roll overs. I can either roll into a
TIAA IRA or to another company (in my case, Fidelity). The agent told
me that indeed there are institutions that have contracts with TIAA
that don't allow roll overs. This is essentially a paternalistic
attitude to "protect" people from rolling the funds out and spending
their retirement money.

So the answer is it depends on the contract your employers have with
TIAA. It seems that they want to protect you from your own financial
foolishness and prevent you from taking a hold of your retirement funds.

- quote -

I got the impression from Fidelity's literature on annuities
that some annuities can be transferred into another without
causing a taxable event. The post-tax part would stay
post-tax and ditto for pre-tax.

revheck wrote:
- quote -

I also have funds with TIAA-CREF. As I understand the structure of the
account, it's not really a standard 403B plan. I think it's structures
as some kind of annuity. And indeed according to the contract
(probably true of all similar contracts) you are restricted in moving
the funds out of TIAA-CREF. You can move the funds within TIAA-CREF as
you wish, but not out of the company.

Can a *former* employer prevent you from rolling over an 403b account
to an IRA with another institution?

I have a bunch of 403b accounts from previous employers, which I want
to consolidate by rolling them all over into a single Fidelity IRA.

Two accounts are from a former University employer, and are handled by
TIAA-CREF. The supplemental account with my own contributions can be
rolled into IRA without problems.

But I was told today by TIAA-CREF that the account with my employer
contibutions cannot be
withdrawn for any reason before I am age 55, even if I just want to
rollover to an IRA.

This doesn't make sense to me: I thought that once I leave an employer
that I am always free to roll over all funds from any retirement
accounts into another IRS approved retirement account.

What they are saying is that even though I no longer work for this
university, my retirement funds must continue to be invested with their
chosen institution and only in the limited funds allowed in that plan.

I don't understand the logic in that restriction. Why should they care
once I leave their employment? What if TIAA-CREF started to mismanage
the funds? Why shouldn't I be able to use another institution? Can
anyone explain?