Am I entitled to money I put into 401k plans at previous jobs if I've never been fully vested and if so how do I go about getting that money?

Answer 1

The money that was taken from your pay and not taxed and contributed to a 401k plan is your money. Even though you were not vested in the plan, this is still your money. Vesting will make employer contributions to the 401k plan available to you. When you signed up for the 401k plan you were given a copy of the Summary Plan Description. In that document, it describes when and how you can get your money. This document also tells you what the tax consequences are for taking your money under various circustances. Read your Summary Plan Description. If you do not have The Summmary Plan Description, contact the 401k custodian/trustee and ask for a copy. This may be a good idea anyway because these plan descriptions change from time to time. Generally the best thing to do is to move this 401k money to a Traditional IRA using a Trustee to Trustee Transfer. The Trustee to Trustee Transfer to the IRA can be done by determining where you want your IRA. Contact that orginzation and tell them what you want to do. This new IRA custodian/trustee will help you through the process. After signing some papers, they will see that the transfer of your old 401k funds is done properly and deposited into your IRA. This IRA will be called a ROllover IRA. Doing this Trustee to Trustee Transfer is not a taxable event.