Bonuses for IRA transfers, rollovers

The Savings Game

If you are looking to roll over your 401(k) into an IRA or simply move your retirement accounts from one financial institution to another, there’s good news. Several firms will offer you a bonus for your business, as long as you make contributions for the current year (and in some cases several subsequent years as well).

Although some of these offers sound enticing, consider a long-term approach before deciding to transfer your funds.

For example, if you have selected a financial institution because of its low overall cost, it doesn’t make sense to transfer funds if you will incur much higher annual expenses.

For example, say you have a portfolio of index mutual funds, with a current value of $200,000. You pay an average annual fee of 0.15 percent (such information is available from any fund’s website). That comes to $300 per year. You are consider-