How To Arrange A Rollover or Transfer

Question: I have money in another retirement plan or in an IRA  account.  How can I arrange to have these funds transferred into my The BEST of AMERICA retirement account?

Answer: First of all, if the money is in another employer's 401(k) plan or another type of retirement plan, call that company's Human Resources Department and tell them you want to accomplish a transfer to your current employer's plan.  They should send you a set of forms to fill out.  Ask the employer if they provide some sort of a statement or a form confirming this money is from a plan that is intended to be a "qualified plan."  Most receiving plans want such a statement and it is a required part of our procedure.

Please note:   You cannot transfer a Roth IRA account or an IRA set-up as part of an SEP plan or an IRA account where you did not take a deduction at the time of deposit.  You cannot transfer-in personal investments accounts of the taxable nature.   

When you are completing the distributions forms of the other employer's plan or from the IRA custodian, there will be a section where you specify how you want the check made out and where you want it sent.    Indicate that the check should be made out to:

Nationwide Financial 

They should also indicate on the check that it is for the benefit of ("FBO") and  then your name and your Social Security Number and the name of the Plan you are now in.

Have the check mailed to your home address but make sure it is not made out to you personally.  Again, it should be made out to "Nationwide Financial".  If it comes made out to you, send it back immediately with instructions to void the check and issue a corrected one.  When you receive the check, please give it to your Human Resources Department asking them to okay the rollover and have your company forward the check to us at:

Plan Design Consultants, Inc. at 1810 Gateway Drive, Suite 300; San Mateo, CA 94404.

By having the check mailed to you from the other plan or from the financial institution, you have knowledge that it has actually been handled.  By giving the check to your current employer for forwarding to us, they also have a chance to approve the rollover.  If you were to request that the check go directly to us or to Nationwide, what happens is we would not know it was requested so we are not in a position to follow-up and you may assume it happened when it did not for some reason.  Also, we have found that many checks show up at our office, if sent directly by the other plan or trustee, without any indication as to what plan it relates or who the participant is.  

By having the check sent to you, you can control the whole process and make sure the money is properly identified when it arrives at our office.  You will also be in a position to know approximately when the money should be deposited into your account.  This procedure described above minimizes the chance for any errors.

If you have questions about the above, please call Plan Design Consultants, Inc. at (650) 341-3322 and ask the receptionist to connect you to your administrator.