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Old 401(k)s are a little like the old clothes in the back of your closet. You know you should do something about them, but there they sit, mostly out of sight and mind.And so it is with your old 401(k). If deciding what to do with an old (k) plan has been on your to-do list for a while, here are the key steps you should take to get it done. Step 1: Check your account value. If your balance in your former employer’s 401(k) plan is over $7,000, you can leave the money behind in the old plan or roll the assets into an IRA or your new employer’s 401(k).But if your balance falls below that $7,000 threshold, some of the decision-making may be out of your hands. Step 2: Determine whether to stay within the 401(k) confines. Assuming your balance is over $7,000, your next task is to decide whether to roll the money into an IRA or keep it inside a 401(k).I often recommend rolling over the assets from a former 401(k) into a no-fee IRA with a top-notch mutual fund company or discount broker. But some people value the extra creditor protections that can accompany 401(k) assets versus IRA assets, while others may prize 401(k)-specific investment options. Step 3: Assess the quality of your 401(k) options. If you think you will be better off leaving your money inside a 401(k) rather than rolling it over to an IRA, the next job is to conduct some research on your own 401(k) options.Even if you do decide to stay with a 401(k), you may need to decide whether you’re better off staying put in your former employer’s plan or that of your new employer. Step 4: Find the right IRA provider. If a rollover to an IRA is the way to go, the next step is to identify the right brokerage firm or mutual fund company. Look for a firm that offers a breadth of high-quality investment options with no additional layers of fees for IRA investors. Target-date funds are an elegant, low-maintenance, and underutilized option. Step 5: Decide whether to convert your traditional 401(k) assets to Roth. If you decide to roll Roth 401(k) contributions to an IRA or your current employer’s 401(k), your new account will be Roth, too, meaning that you won’t owe tax on qualified withdrawals.If you have traditional 401(k) assets, a rollover is also a good time to consider whether to convert those assets to a Roth account at the same time. Step 6: Execute. If you’ve decided to roll over your assets to an IRA, fill out the paperwork or online form to open the IRA. You’ll then request a direct rollover from your 401(k) plan to the new IRA provider.The process may be a bit more cumbersome if you’re rolling over to your current employer’s 401(k).In both cases, make sure your 401(k) provider makes the check payable to the provider and sends it directly to them, rather than to you. If the check is made out to you, 20% of the balance will be withheld for income tax. You’ll then have 60 days to get that money deposited into an IRA or another 401(k); if that deadline comes and goes, the distribution will count as a withdrawal and you’ll owe ordinary income tax and a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you’re not 55 or older. Step 7: Determine what to invest in. If you’ve decided to roll over your assets from an old 401(k) to another 401(k) or IRA, you’ll also have to determine how you’ll allocate those assets.If all of your retirement assets were in your old 401(k), a sturdy target-date fund is a one-stop, low-maintenance choice that you can hold into retirement. If your old 401(k) is just one of several accounts geared toward retirement, a rollover can be an ideal time to check up on how all the pieces fit togetherand where you have holes. This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance Christine Benz of Morningstar
Category:
E-Commerce
Back in January, State Farm announced that it was canceling its plans to run a Super Bowl commercial due to the impact of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Our focus is firmly on providing support to the people of Los Angeles, the company said in a statement at the time. But now the company is taking its Super Bowl work and bringing it to another pillar of its advertising calendar, March Madness. The spot stars Jason Bateman as . . . Bateman, a less-than-adequate substitute for Batman. Created by agency HighDive, the spot also has Grammy-winning artist SZA, popular streamer Kai Cenat, and content creator Jordan Howlett (aka Jordan the Stallion). Last week, Cenat made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to tease the spot. State Farm CMO Kristyn Cook says March Madness is a huge part of the culture, and a perfect time to use humor to get an important point across. I think today, more than ever, it may seem like insurance companies are all the same, but when it comes to coverage, having insurance is not the same as having State Farm, says Cook. Over the past few years, State Farm has dominated headlines for dropping insurance policies in the areas hit hardest by the fires, due to the risk of extreme weather. It wasnt the only insurance company to do so, but State Farm was hit hardest by the backlash. Now, the brand is putting on a full-court press as a strong sports marketer to counter the criticism. Our consistent investment in sports is all about aligning [with] our business strategy, and that’s about how we reach large, engaged audiences, says Cook. We want to create that emotional connection with fans. And so you see us doing that, whether it’s in our sponsorships or the creative that we deliver. Cook says that its important for the brand to ask people to really compare its record and services to other options. Our category is very competitive, says Cook. It’s important for us to highlight the difference, and the timing couldn’t be better from a business standpoint. If it feels bold, it was meant to be. Because we feel it was important for people to understand the core message of the campaign.
Category:
E-Commerce
Google has made it much easier to find the answers we seek without navigating to various websites, but that has made it much harder to do business for media companies and other creators. And this new era of artificial intelligence-powered search will reshape the future of the internet, according to Matthew Prince, cofounder and CEO of Cloudflare. Cloudflare has a unique vantage point because it counts content creators and artificial intelligence companies among the more than 20% of the internet that sits behind its network. Driven by a mission to build a better internet, the San Francisco-based company is invested in finding a solution that works for all players involved. The search-driven business model of the internet isn’t going to be the business model of the internet going forward, Prince said Sunday during a discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. “And to the extent that we can help figure that business model out, I think it is existential for us as a business, but it’s actually existential for the internet itself to figure out a new business model. After ChatGPT was released to the public in late 2022, Prince recalled how publishers and content creators began to increasingly identify AI companies as their biggest villain. And because the current dynamic of AI systems crawling these websites for information doesnt provide any incentive for original content creators to churn out new content, thats a problem for everyoneincluding Cloudflare. If people arent creating original content, that’s the gasoline that fuels these engines, so you need to have that original content, Prince said. Prince proposed a three-step possible solution. First, its important to create scarcity so creators dont give away content for free; then if creators have the tools to identify when AI systems are crawling their websites, theyll have control over which of those systems can access this information; and finally, the process should be monetized with a rate card in which content creators dictate how much it costs to crawl their pages. Evolution of a ‘better internet’ That Cloudflare is now thinking about the information ecosystem online is indicative of how much the internet has evolved since the companys founding in 2009. Even the name was a nod to the major internet issues of that time: creating a firewall in the cloud. Whereas an encrypted internet was once the table stakes, Prince said, the standard has now become post-quantum resistant encryption. And looking ahead, Cloudflares mission to help build a better internet could mean protecting customers against Chinese hackers or making sure theyre fairly compensated for the content they create, he added. And he has an even more ambitious goal to make sure that information online continues to be available to all who need it. My utopian vision of the future is that we get to a place where humans get content for free and bots have to pay a lot for it, Prince said. I can afford to sign up for a bunch of paywalls, but I really do worry about the kid in Rwanda who’s brilliant, but today has much less access even though there’s just as much information out there.
Category:
E-Commerce
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