Update on our 401k rollover - step by step

As mentioned before we decided to do a 401k rollover to IRAs do to a job change.

We decided to do trustee-to-trustee transfer (see previous post with specifics on how to do a rollover).


It is best to start early and plan the rollover in time where you will not travel much. There was a bit of hands on in our rollover process.


1. We called the previous employer 401k and requested a trustee-to-trustee transfer. 
They said that they only have one way they do it - issuing a check in the trustee name and mailing it to your address. That qualifies as trustee-to-trustee transfer because the check is in trustees name. 
They mailed us two checks, one for the Roth 401k portion and another one for the non-Roth 401k portion. 
It took about 7 days until we had the checks in our hands.


2. We called the receiving institution to verify the address to mail the checks to. 
They explained which form to fill out and to mail together with the checks. 
They also recommended to mail the checks in separate envelopes to avoid that someone might erroneously switch the Roth and non-Roth checks and and deposit the checks to wrong accounts. That was also my concern and I agreed.
We were also advised NOT to sign the back of the checks since the checks were issued to the receiving institution and not to us. 
It took us about 4 days including weekend.


3. We mailed both checks separately with tracking numbers. 
It took 7 days, 3 days longer then expected by USPS.


4. I was tracking the checks. On the day I saw that the checks were arrived, I emailed the receiving institution and asked them to perform a timely rollover. That was completed correctly on the same day and I received a confirmation email from them. 


It took about 3 weeks in all.