For one thing, you could lose track of some of these IRAs. And if you think things like that don't happen, just ask any bank, brokerage or insurance company how much time and effort they've spent trying to track down the rightful owners of savings accounts, stocks and insurance policies. You may think this will never happen to you and your IRAs. And maybe it won't. But even if you know exactly where all your IRAs are, that doesn't mean it's a good idea to have them all spread out.
Consolidation offers some potentially significant advantages.
There's the reduced paperwork, for starters. Instead of having to deal with multiple statements from different companies, you'll only have one. Also, you may be able to reduce the fees you're paying to maintain all your IRAs. Saving paperwork and fees are two of the most obvious benefits of consolidating IRAs. Also, some financial-services companies will even calculate the distributions for you.