USAA has a good rep so I don't think it should be a problem for you to leave it there for a while. SmartMoney's website I believe is free for access, but I could be wrong - I'm a WSJournal subscriber and the two are owned by the same company so there's a lot of cross-links on the websites. It isn't easy finding an good independent fiduciary advisor, but for people who need help developing a comprehensive financial plan (which is not the same as earning a high ROI on investments), I think it's essential. Most middle-class folks would find it helpful to talk to a neutral third party who can ask the hard questions and analyze your total financial picture. One thing for everyone to be aware of is that when I refer to financial planning, this is not only a legal term, it actually refers to creating a 'road map' that takes you from your current financial situation to achieving your short, medium, and long-term goals. It is aiming for a moving target, so any life-changing events - life, death, marriage, divorce, change of job - means some fine-tuning may be needed to your plan. To produce a good plan requires time spent in not only gathering all your financial info and analyzing it, but defining your goals. Some will be achievable and some will not be. Only you can define and prioritize them, and a good advisor will help if needed. You can get a financial plan, separate from investing advice, from any certified fiduciary advisor. Cheaper ones are computer 'plug in the numbers' produced, so always make sure you understand the base assumptions, and have multiple scenarios run to be sure you're covered for any contingencies/emergencies you haven't foreseen. Establish the total cost of meeting, gathering info, analyzing, and producing the plan(s) up front before signing anything. It takes time to do a financial plan, and anyone promising you it will be easy and fast isn't going to do a comprehensive job. It's an advantage for the fiduciary to be an insurance agent OR to be very familiar with insurance analysis, because many people could use advice on how to use different types of insurance to mitigate risk in various areas of their life. At a minimum you should contact at least three fiduciary advisors, obtain references, and investigate them thoroughly, before working with one. Even if all you need is a financial plan, do the research, but confine the requested references to clients who received a financial plan at least three years ago and are willing to discuss its usefulness. It is not uncommon for people to pay for a financial plan and then follow the suggested actions on their own; e.g., do their own investing, etc., without engaging the advisor to handle their portfolio. OTOH, a financial plan that goes unimplemented is just a useless piece of paper. We used to have to gently 'nag' our clients that they still hadn't completed certain checklist items on their plan, so it depends on how good you are at doing tasks that many people put off....until it's too late.

Thanks - but I guess I am confused again on several points. 1) I do have a separate account for a roth IRA created a few years ago. I was hoping to contribute the max $5k, to my Roth and the max $5K to a reg IRA (after tax), in addition to what i already contributed to my old 401K (which I will be rolling over into an IRA account.) Is there a limit on what the yearly total of the three account contributions can be? 2) Since I was previously putting about 30-35% of my income into my 401K in previous years, trying to get as close to the max as I could, i am worried about a big tax hit this year (6 months of full income with no 401K deductions to reduce it), so was looking for an option to reduce my tax bite. 3) If need to keep all my pre and post tax IRA records, it sounds like I will have a lot to do on retiring in 5-8 years, going thru all my old IRA records (hmmm, about 30 years worth of monthly statements from a variety of companies), I had thought this was true, but apparantly I got some bad advice from an accountant a few years ago, who assured me there was no reason to keep all my various accounts (pension and 401K rollovers, and post and pre tax iras) separate. Argh! such fun to look forward to - but I am pretty sure I saved most everything - got the cardboard boxes to prove it.

A basic principle of taxation in the USA is every dollar is taxed once and only once. (Qualifying Roth IRA withdrawals can be an exception.) Your contributions to the Roth IRA should not be taxed again by the IRS because you already paid taxes on those contributions when you put them into the Roth IRA. The earnings on the Roth IRA may or may not be taxable depending on your circumstances. For example, how old are you, how long were the funds in the IRA, were there any circumstances that existed in your life that would qualify you for an exception to the 10% penalty for early withdrawal? Page 58 of the pub linked to below should help you answer your questions. In my 12 years of preparing taxes, one of my favorite things to do is prove the IRS wrong when they assess additional taxes. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: IRS Pub 590

As sable said above, it is a choice if mutual funds offered under the 401k plan and often stock with the company (employer). When I was working, my employer contributed 50 cents for every dollar I chose to put into my 401k, up to 6% of my salary. Bingo...I immediately made 50% on my money, but there were stipulations. That 50% was not really mine until I had my account for 5 years I believe and became fully vested. The 50% that they 'gave' me was in the form of company stock, GTE or Contel at the time. These funds are NOT in the investor's control. Once your money is in, you're allowing someone else to make decisions for you--and trusting that they're as concerned about your future as you are (unreasonable, right?). Not to mention--they aren't as safe as we've been led to believe. There are people already who have LOST their investments in these instruments. Not a common thing, but it is possible. Are you speaking of 401Ks? Did those who lost everything maybe choose to put all their eggs into one basket, by just holding company stock in their 401?...not a good thing at all. All 401k that I know of, have a choice of investments to choose from...see link from my post above. The employee controls what funds their money is in within the 401, and can change the allocation at any time. Some employees just choose to do an equal mix of things...say 10 funds, putting 10% into each of them. Others maybe choose a 1/3 mix of aggressive, moderate, and conservative. Placing one's savings, whatever it is, 401, sep, IRA, is not for those who do not understand the market and its many ups and downs. Because of that, some will lose sleep over what appears to be lost, even if it is just temporarily. About 30 years years ago, I remember my (company) stock climbing a good bit in one day. I made $5,000 in one day! Boy was I ecstatic! When it later came down, did I lose money? No. Did I really make $5000 that day it climbed so much? No. I only would have made the money if I had chosen to sell it while it was up. It later came down some, went up some, came down some, etc, and has served me well to this day with its nice dividends. Often times one loses on a stock, or fund, if they choose or must sell when the market (stock or that fund) is down. Sue