The main difference between both types is that in case of a direct rollover the funds would be transferred from your current plan into the final IRA or new 401K of your choice, in this process you would not have any interaction with the funds. Imagine as if you were moving shared between one broker to another. On the other hand, indirect rollovers are a different story, as they usually write down a check for the amount of the funds. Keep in mind that the IRS provides 60 days after the check was written for the assets to be deposited into the new account, if this period of time passes and the funds were not deposited as per the rules, it will be considered as an early withdraw and all the penalties and taxes will be due. Even though indirect rollovers are a right of each account owner, our recommendation is to avoid any unnecessary headache and let the brokers do it directly.