SAVVY SENIOR

By Jim Miller

If you think you may have lost track of an old 401(k) retirement account, you aren’t alone. As Americans move from job to job, many leave scraps of their company sponsored 401(k) plans behind, believing they’ll deal with it later, but never do.

In fact, according to a recent study, Americans have left behind around $1.35 trillion in retirement accounts that are connected to previous employers.

To help you look for an old 401(k), here are some suggestions along with some free resources that can help you search.

The first way to look for an old 401(k) account is to contact your former employer’s human resources department. Ask them to check their plan records to see if you ever participated in their 401(k) plan, and if so, how much it’s worth. You’ll need to provide them your Social Security number and the dates you worked for them.

If you need help tracking down your former employer because it may have moved, changed owners or merged with another firm, help is available from the Labor Department (AskEBSA.dol.gov, 866-444-3272) and the Pension Rights Center and Pension Action Center (PensionRights.org/ find-help).

If there was more than $5,000 in your 401(k) account when you left, there’s a good chance that your money is still in your workplace account.

Your former employer should be able to either get you the forms necessary to roll over your retirement money to a different 401(k) or to an IRA, or to give you contact information for any outside financial institution overseeing the plan on your employer’s behalf. By following the appropriate instructions, you’ll be able to move your retirement money where you want.

But if your old 401(k) account was under $5,000, your former employer has the option of transferring the money to a default individual retirement account without your consent. Your cash may go into an interest-bearing, federally insured bank account or to your state’s unclaimed property fund.

If this is the case, and your old employer cannot tell you where your 401(k) funds were sent, you’ll need to track it down yourself.

While there’s no federally run national database where you can look for all the retirement accounts that are associated with your name, a good place to start your search is with the Department of Labor’s abandoned plan database at AskEBSA.dol.gov/ AbandonedPlanSearch. And FreeErisa (FreeErisa.BenefitsPro.com), which maintains a rundown of employee benefit plan paperwork.

There’s also the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits at UnclaimedRetirementBenefits. com. This site works like a “missed connections” service whereby companies register with the site to help facilitate a reunion between exemployees and their retirement money. But not every company is registered with this site.

To see if your 401(k) money was turned over to the state’s unclaimed property fund, use the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators website (Unclaimed. org) to search. Or you can do a multi-state search in 39 states at MissingMoney.com.

Or, if you think you were covered under a traditional pension plan that was disbanded, call the U.S. Pension Guaranty Corp. at 800-326-5678, or use the trusteed plan search tool at PBGC. gov/search-trusteed-plans.

Editor and Publisher Wagner Dotto

Associate Editor Steve Yablonski

Writers & Contributors Deborah J. Sergeant Mary Beth Roach, Christopher Malone Ken Sturtz, John Csiszar, Norah Machia, Janice Egan, Aaron Gifford

Columnists Bruce Frassinelli, Marilyn Pinsky, Harold Miller Jim Sollecito, Marvin Druger Michelle Reed, Jim Miller Eva Briggs (MD), Donna Cordello Janice Egan and Tim Beauvais

Advertising Amy Gagliano Cassandra Lawson

Office Manager Ahme Cruz

Layout & Design Angel Campos-Toro

Cover Photo Chuck Wainwright

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Q.: Are Social Security numbers reassigned after a person dies? A.: No. We do not reassign Social Security numbers. In all, we have assigned more than 500 million Social Security numbers. Each year we assign about 5.5 million new numbers. There are over one billion combinations of the nine-digit Social Security number. As a result, the current system has enough new numbers to last for several more generations.

Q.: Is it illegal to laminate your Social Security card? A.: No, it is not illegal, but we discourage it. It’s best not to laminate your card. Laminated cards make it difficult — sometimes even impossible — to detect important security features and an employer may refuse to accept them. The Social Security Act requires the Commissioner of Social Security to issue cards that cannot be counterfeited. We incorporate many features that protect the card’s integrity. They include highly specialized paper and printing techniques, some of which are invisible to the naked eye. Keep your Social Security card in a safe place with your other important papers. Do not carry it with you.

Q.: Someone stole my Social Security number, and it’s being used repeatedly. Does Social Security issue new Social Security numbers to victims of repeated identity theft? A.: If you’ve done all you can to identify and fix the problem, including contacting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), but someone is still using your number, Social Security may assign you a new number. If you decide to apply for a new number, you’ll need to prove your identity, age, and U.S. citizenship or immigration status. You’ll also need to provide evidence you’re having ongoing problems because of the misuse of your current Social Security number. You can read more about identity theft at www. ssa.gov/pubs.

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