If you marry after leaving a company that still holds your pension funds, your spouse's consent will be needed to name anyone other than your spouse as the beneficiary. On the other hand, amounts transferred to an IRA rollover account when you were single do not require your spouse's consent to change your beneficiary designation at any time. Gain more control over distribution . Your plan may not allow you to withdraw you funds in small bits. Some plans only allow you to choose between a single-sum payment or a series of installment payments.
Beneficiaries avoid immediate taxes .
Upon your death, your beneficiaries, excluding your spouse, would receive a taxable single-sum payout of your pension funds. Some beneficiaries, however, may not need the money right away and would rather delay the payout in order to avoid the immediate tax bite. In an IRA rollover account, your beneficiaries can delay paying taxes until they withdraw funds from that account. They also get to control the timing and amount of the withdrawal. Deferring tax on distributions .