Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Yes, the cash balance plan is the former pension plan, which is not at all related to a 401K.

I did need to contact WF retirement office, and they were awesome, very helpful, and know exactly what to do.

Mine was on 30K, so I did the lump sum, the monthly payments were not worth bothering with it. They did withhold taxes, which is fine, as it did not interfere with my retirement goals.

with this lump sum, I am finally done with WF and all their sh*t show thing.

Leave it if you can then start getting monthly pension checks when eligible.

I was laid off in October 2023 and rolled over my 401k (direct rollover all shares in kind to Fidelity).
I also took my cash balance plan as a rollover. The cash balance plan cut is mailed to you (unlike the 401k) ..... My check is payable to FIDELITY for the benefit of (my name) so there are no taxes and penalties. I drove to FIDELITY and they put it in my IRA account.

Set up an IRA account somewhere and do the above when you feel it's time.

OP here. Yes, the Cash Balance Plan is the legacy pension plan that Wells decided to sunset after the Wachovia merger (so many hear may have never even heard of it). I invest with Vanguard. It looks like I actually have to call HRWELLS. Thanks for everyone's input!

You are getting some 401K rollover advice. I took the lump sum from the cash value plan and it was mid 6 digits. If you have 25+ years with WF there is a nice chunk waiting for you from the plan that was frozen. No, it doesn't show online until you model a retirement scenario. WF will only issue a check for this. There is no direct transfer option. The check goes to you without any withholding and you have 60 days to deposit it in another tax exempt account. I had an IRA with Ally so I mailed the check to their processing center for deposit. Worked fine but I did take a coy of the check front and back just in case. Remember this, the longer you wait the smaller the lump sum value gets. It's a projection of your payments over the rest of your life which is getting shorter every year. Model retiring at 62 and then at 65 and you'll see.

Thank you all for sharing this information. Adding it to my notes for when the axe comes to me.

Call HR Wells and select the 401k option and talk to them. It doesn’t sound like anyone who has responded so far knows what the Cash Balance plan is. They could be right, but you need real data.

Mine was so small, just over $5K, I cashed it out and paid the taxes when I retired. Guess it all depends on your definition of "small".

It is called a trustee-to-trustee transaction. You contact where you want your self-directed IRA to be; Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab/Morgan Stanley/JPM, etc Tell them what you want to do and open up an account. Take that account number, address and give this to Empower. (Yes Empower doesn't do wires!!!). One trustee, Empower, sends to your new account. Empower will then make a check with the account number, and mail it to you. (It takes a long time (15 days in my case). https://budgeting.thenest.com/trusteetotrustee-ira-rollover-28822.html

It’s actually very easy and you can do it at any time. There is no deadline. I had a 401k at one bank for years and let it sit for 2 years. I rolled it over to Fidelity. No fees. The nice thing about a rollover IRA you can trade and no capital gains. You can’t touch it until retirement but it’s nice to trade and not worry about long term short term capital gain taxes.

@ppa+1rLswlgA

What are you talking about? You have 60 days to put it into an IRA

Yes, you need to rollover to an IRA directly. If the money gets cut to you, whooo boy....... penalties.

It’s not at all difficult…..talk to your financial advisor at where you plan to make the rollover—- my case Prudential. It was easy and you’ll get all your questions answered.

I think you contact Vanguard/Fidelity
Open a traditional IRA
Tell them to provide account details for a transfer
Provide details to WF HR