Left my hospital job in January. Three old accounts, three companies, three different answers

Retired from nursing in January after 31 years, finally getting around to the paperwork pile. I have a 403(b) from the hospital (the big one, most of my savings), a 401(k) from a private clinic I worked at in the 2000s that I honestly forgot existed until they mailed me something, and a small IRA I opened in the 90s.

Called all three companies. The 403(b) people say "you can leave it right here." The old 401(k) provider transferred me to a "retirement consultant" who within ten minutes was talking about an annuity with some kind of income rider. And my bank says roll everything into an IRA with them, they'll even give me a free review with their advisor.

Every single one of these people gets paid depending on what I choose, right? So who do I even ask?? I'm not stupid, I ran a cardiac unit, but I feel stupid every time I get one of these people on the phone.

You're not stupid, the system is genuinely built to be confusing. I consolidated three accounts last year and the one thing I'd shout from the rooftops: when you do move anything, make them do a DIRECT transfer, company to company. One of my old plans mailed the check to ME instead, and it turns out when that happens they hold back 20% for taxes and the clock starts on a 60-day deadline to get the full amount into the new account or it counts as a withdrawal. I got it sorted but I lost actual sleep over it.

Before moving that 403(b) anywhere, ask them for the fee disclosure and look up what share class the funds are. My old employer plan had institutional funds at a cost I literally cannot buy as a regular person in an IRA. "Consolidate everything" is great advice for tidiness and sometimes bad advice for money. Sometimes the boring answer (leave the big one where it is) wins.

Patty, your post could have been written by me in 2022, except mine was a 403(b) from teaching, two old 401(k)s, and a Roth IRA I'd genuinely forgotten I opened. So, from someone just a bit further down the same road:

The question that cut through the noise for me was the one you already asked: how does this person get paid? The old plan's "consultant" who steered straight to an annuity with a rider was the fastest phone call I ever ended. Nothing wrong with annuities existing, but when the free help arrives already knowing the answer, that's a sales process, not advice. When I eventually paid an advisor a flat fee, with no product to sell me, the conversation was completely different.

The mechanics side, direct rollovers, the 20%-withholding trap Debbie hit, when leaving money in an old plan is actually the better move, is all in the site's 401(k) rollover guide. And since a forgotten clinic 401(k) found YOU by mail, it's worth a sweep for anything that hasn't: finding lost retirement accounts covers where to look. Gary's fee point is real too, my teaching plan turned out to be the cheapest thing I owned.

Small update, not done yet. Requested fee disclosures from all three (the old 401(k) company made me ask twice). The 403(b) is cheap like Gary guessed, so that's staying put for now. Still deciding between rolling the little accounts into the old IRA or somewhere new, and I am NOT doing it by phone with anyone who calls me "young lady." Will report back when it's actually finished.