Consolidate Your Retirement Accounts Carefully

If you've worked for multiple companies in your lifetime, you probably have had several different 401(k) plans, some of which you may still own. You also may have a couple of IRAs, a Roth IRA, and a brokerage account or two.

At some point, you may think consolidating some of the accounts would be a smart approach, helping you organize and track your investments and perhaps save some money with fewer account fees. If so, you aren't alone. An Investment Company Institute survey of traditional IRA owners who rolled employer money into IRAs found that consolidating assets was among the reasons they opened their accounts.

A typical employee who