Your 401(k) Can Move. Should It? 

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Nobody schedules an exit interview for your retirement money.

You leave the job. You return the badge. You say your goodbyes. Meanwhile, your 401(k) stays right where it is. The matching contributions stop, but the account remains invested in the same funds under the same plan rules.

Once that money becomes eligible to move, new choices can open up. Keeping your money in place is one of them — and plenty of people make that choice without ever taking a fresh look.

To understand what you’re choosing, let’s look at what your 401(k) was designed to do — and where its limits begin.

What your 401(k) was built to do

The modern 401(k) has done real work for real people.

It grew out of the Revenue Act of 1978, which added Section 401(k) to the tax code and let employees defer taxes on compensation.¹ 

Ted Benna — often called the father of the 401(k) — created the first working plan in 1980–1981, pairing salary deferrals with an employer match. Companies moved fast after that.⁷

And that match remains one of the plan’s biggest attractions to date.

Among Vanguard plans offering a match in 2025, for example, the average promised match reached 4.7% of pay. The median was 4%.²

4.7% OF PAY

The average promised employer match among Vanguard plans offering one in 2025.² 

—Vanguard, How America Saves 2026.

That’s money added to your retirement because you contributed. If you captured your full match year after year, you made smart use of the tools available to you.

The plan came with limits

Think back to when you chose your 401(k) investments.

Your employer selected the plan provider. The provider assembled a lineup of funds. You chose from what was left — probably during onboarding, somewhere between completing your I-9 and trying to remember your new email password.

Unless you’ve changed your allocation since then, you’ve been living with those choices ever since.

Fees can be just as easy to overlook because they don’t always arrive as a separate bill.

The Department of Labor groups common plan expenses into three categories: administration fees, investment fees, and individual service fees.³

Some employers cover part of the cost. Other fees may be deducted from plan assets or your individual account. Investment fees are often built into each fund’s expenses, which means they’re reflected in the returns you receive.³

Your participant fee disclosure shows what applies to your specific plan — and that matters far more than an industry average.

“Fees and expenses paid by your plan may substantially reduce the growth in your account.”³

—U.S. Department of Labor

Lower fees help more of your money stay invested. Your available investment choices can also shape what the account can do.

A 401(k) limits you to the funds included in the plan. Most workplace plans don’t offer direct access to physical gold and silver, for example.

While you were working, payroll contributions and the employer match may have made those limits easier to accept.

Once the job — and the match — end, it may be time to compare the old plan with the broader choices now available.

When the account can move

While you’re still working for your employer, the plan’s distribution rules generally control when your money can be distributed and which investments are available.

Some plans give participants access before they retire. Others don’t.

The IRS says a plan may permit a distribution when a participant leaves the employer or reaches age 59½. Each plan sets its own conditions, and those rules must be explained in plan documents.⁴

That word may is important.

Turning 59½ doesn’t automatically make every active 401(k) movable. Some plans allow an in-service distribution at that age. Others require you to wait until you leave the employer.

Once a distribution is permitted under the plan, eligible funds may be rolled into an IRA with broader investment choices — including a properly structured self-directed IRA that can hold certain physical gold and silver.^{4 5 6} 

Autopilot still picks a direction

Keeping money in a former employer’s plan can be one available option.

That account will continue responding to its current investments, allocation, applicable fees, and market conditions.

Those forces keep working in the background. Meanwhile, the plan you chose years ago may no longer fit the risks, priorities, and retirement timeline you have today.

Before leaving the account untouched, take a fresh look at three things:

1. What do you own?

Review the funds and the markets they depend on. Discuss with your financial advisor whether they are still the best options.

2. What are you paying?

Examine the plan’s investment and administrative fees. How much are they eating into your returns?

3. What choices are available now?

Compare the old plan with any rollover options that may have opened.

Those answers can look very different at 62 than they did at 32.

What a rollover can open up

A rollover can move eligible retirement savings from a workplace plan into another qualified retirement account.

A direct rollover sends the money from the former plan straight to the receiving plan or IRA. This generally avoids the mandatory withholding that can apply when the payment goes to the participant first.⁵

“When you roll over a retirement plan distribution, you generally don’t pay tax on it until you withdraw it from the new plan.”⁵

—Internal Revenue Service

An IRA may provide a wider investment selection than the former employer’s plan.

A self-directed IRA can expand those choices further. When properly structured, it can hold certain IRS-eligible physical gold and silver.

The metals must meet specific requirements. Qualifying bullion generally must remain in the physical possession of a bank or an approved nonbank trustee.⁶ 

That gives eligible savers access to physical assets that standard 401(k) menus commonly leave out.

Where gold and silver may fit

Retirement changes the job your savings need to perform.

Growth still matters. So do purchasing power, diversification, market exposure and the ability to support years of retirement spending.

Physical gold and silver provide a different type of asset exposure from common paper-based assets. They can provide a protective element of diversification that may offset losses in other types of assets in your portfolio.

Metals also come with their own considerations:

• Prices can rise and fall, just like any asset.
• Physical metals don’t pay dividends.
• A precious metals IRA includes custodial and storage costs.
• Only certain coins and bullion meet IRS requirements.

For savers who are eligible to move retirement funds, the key question becomes:

Could physical gold and silver add something your current retirement mix is missing?

Answering that takes more than looking at a gold-price headline or making a decision based on last month’s market move.

It helps to understand what’s driving the metals market, how physical ownership works and how a rollover fits into the process.

Get clear answers in 15 minutes

Once your 401(k) can move, your options expand.

The next step is understanding those choices.

Gold & Silver in 15: Is Now the Right Time? is a free, one-on-one Mini MasterClass for qualified retirement savers considering physical gold and silver.

In just 15 minutes, an Augusta Precious Metals educator will help you understand:

• What’s moving gold and silver right now
• How physical ownership works
• Where precious metals may fit into a retirement mix

This isn’t a sales presentation. It’s a private, one-on-one session with one of our salaried educators — not a salesperson who earns commission, but a professional whose entire focus is helping you get clear, straightforward answers.

Reserve Your Free Mini MasterClass →

For qualified savers considering $50,000 or more in physical gold and silver.