The Price of Leaving 401(k) Money Behind
The average baby boomer has worked for six different employers over the course of their career, not counting jobs before age 24, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's a lot of opportunities for retirement savings to be overlooked or lost. "People tend to forget that they have old 401(k) plans from past jobs," says Amie Agamata, a certified financial planner based in San Diego and president-elect of NexGen, the Financial Planning Association's group for new and aspiring financial planners.
In retirement, a forgotten 401(k) account can cost you both time and money. One of Agamata's clients can't access her 401(k) account from a company that has now gone out of business and has to search in hopes of finding the missing funds.
