To Rollover or To Role Into?

My mom has come to me for some financial advice. She currently works at a local bank and do to an acquisition, her bank is now a different bank.

With the ownership change of the bank, comes stacks and stacks of paperwork and choices for her and her fellow employees. One critical choice is what to do with her 401k from the now non-existing bank. Of course the acquiring bank wants all the employees to roll their 401k dollars into the new banks plan. I told my mom that's a bad idea. Here's my opinion why.

Anytime you have the opportunity to roll retirement dollars out of an old employers retirement plan into your own self directed "rollover" IRA you need to do it. The biggest reason why is fund choices. Instead of being stuck selecting from a limited number of mutual funds the new employer is offering, with your own "rollover" IRA you have access to every fund, stock, and then some in the market.

In my mom's case, I'll be helping her open a "rollover" IRA this weekend with Vanguard. I'll place 100% of her money into their Target Retirement 2015 fund. There are a couple of reasons I picked this fund family and this fund for her.

1. Vanguard has very low fees
2. Vanguard has been around a long time
3. Their target retirement funds are simple and somewhat conservative. (That's real good for my parents.)
4. This fund is diversified and it changes it's allocation of holding (Stocks /Bonds/Cash) over time.
   

I'll talk more about Target Retirement Funds if anyone has a desire for me to do so. Just post a comment.