If you have money sitting at an old or soon-to-be-ex employer retirement account, you have a few options: Leave the money where it is. Some employer plans offer a strong lineup of low-cost investments, so it may make sense to leave your money there. That said, there are two things to consider: Your old employer may not let you leave your money there, or it may charge administrative fees. (The fees may be worth paying if they’re low and the plan is particularly good.) Roll your money to an IRA. Choosing a broker like the ones we point to above can mean low fees, a wide range of investments, and helpful retirement-planning and investing tools. Plus, I personally love having all of my investment accounts in one place (except for that one old orphan 401(k) that I still need to rollover). Roll your money to your new employer’s retirement plan, if they allow it. Maybe it’s a really good plan, with low-cost investments (think mutual funds with expense ratios of 0.2% or less). I don’t even want to mention this one, but another option is to cash out your plan. You’ll owe income taxes and a 10% penalty on an early withdrawal, and that will truly shrink the amount of money that ends up in your hands, so ideally you don’t do this.