{"id":33680,"date":"2012-11-19T14:31:10","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T19:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/2012\/11\/why-its-time-to-pool-your-retirement-accounts\/"},"modified":"2012-11-19T14:31:10","modified_gmt":"2012-11-19T19:31:10","slug":"why-its-time-to-pool-your-retirement-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2012\/11\/19\/why-its-time-to-pool-your-retirement-accounts\/","title":{"rendered":"Why It\u2019s Time to Pool Your Retirement Accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Investment U<\/a> <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s topic is a subject dear to me.<\/p>\n

It was 15 years ago when I started in the financial services industry. During the late 1990s, 401(k)s and individual retirements accounts (IRAs) were gaining traction in the American worker\u2019s psyche. For the most part, gone were the days of the actuary and the company\u2019s pension plan.<\/p>\n

Your retirement savings were now your responsibility and you needed to know the rules. And it was my job to translate IRS speak and let you know what you could, could not and probably should do.<\/p>\n

Now, even more of you participate in these types of retirement accounts and many of you still have questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne-Employer\u201d Days Are Behind Us<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The workplace environment has definitely morphed into something new. We all know that the job market has been crazy lately. But are you aware just how crazy it\u2019s been over the last half century?<\/p>\n

Changing jobs and careers is now the norm and not the exception, especially if you\u2019re college-educated and born after the latter years of the Baby Boom \u2013 stemming from 1957 to 1964. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, men with a Bachelor\u2019s Degree or higher held on average over 11 jobs between the ages of 18 and 46. Women on the same educational level held a little over 12 jobs during this same time.<\/p>\n

David Wray, President of the Plan Sponsor Council of America, PSCA, has stated,<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly what we have is people entering their fifties, who have three or four accounts, plus their current employer\u2019s one\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Leaving Money All Over the Place<\/strong><\/h2>\n

No one is sure how many people are out there trying to synchronize a bunch of different 401(k)s and IRAs. From the data, we can tell that the number is sizeable.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us in 2009 that nearly 17% of the 72.5 million participants in 401(k)-type retirement left their savings in their old employers\u2019 plans.<\/p>\n

Last year a study by Aon Hewitt showed that of all employees let go last year, the following happened:<\/p>\n