Personal Investments • Keep 401k or Consolidate?

I'm on the fence about something and looking for advice. In our household I handle all the financial stuff, so I'm always worried that if I get hit by a bus, my wife will be in trouble even though we have plenty of money. I have created a death book and reviewed the key portions with her, but I still suspect she will struggle for a while with the learning curve should I pass. I know one thing that would make things easier if is all of our assets were at our brokerage. However, I have a large 401k (about $700k) from a previous employer that I have been loathe to move into a Rollover IRA at our brokerage because I don't want to lose the creditor protections of the 401k. We are in California. My main creditor fear is that our 20-year old daughter might cause significant injury/death in a car accident. She seems like a good driver, but she is 20 year old. We do have a $2M umbrella policy, which is higher than our net worth. Just the same, I've been thinking about not moving the 401k to a Rollover IRA at our brokerage until our daughter is out on her own in a few years. But then part of me thinks that we are covered by the umbrella policy, and possibly by the Rollover IRA (although I read the California law is unsettled on whether a non-commingled Rollover IRA has the same creditor protection as a 401k), and it would be nice to have everything at one brokerage in case I get hit by a bus before our daughter is on her own.

Let me know if you have any helpful thoughts for me one way or another. Thanks.

Statistics: Posted by exodusNH — Thu Feb 29, 2024 5:02 pm — Replies 2 — Views 52