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When I lost my job back in March, I was left with a decision: What to do with my company funded 401(k)? I could either a) cash out and pay the early withdrawal fees and taxes, or b) do a rollover. I chose to roll it into an IRA through the same investment company (Merrill Lynch). Everything is finally now just squared away and the money is transferred and I’m left thinking…What now?

I honestly don’t know what I’m doing. I know that rolling it was the better option of the two, at least I still have the benefit of saving for retirement rather than cashing out and losing 1/3 of what was in there. But the advantage I had with the company 401(k) was that I had deductions each week from my paycheck put into the account and it basically did all the work itself.

I was checking last night and I can’t even make transfers from my bank account into the new IRA. I can do direct withdrawals from payroll, but I’m still unemployed. From what I can tell, the only option is that I can hand write a check and fill out a form and send it all in and have it deposited. I’m lazy. I don’t like this option. I prefer online transfers.

Not only that, but it’s not set up the same way that my 401(k) was set up. The 401(k) was very visually easy to interpret, listing all the investments and how much stock I owned in each and what my balance was for each line item. I don’t see anything like that with the new IRA. It basically just shows me my total cash amount (the amount I rolled over into the account) and that’s about it.

I don’t like hand picking my investments, so I was used to using a conservative model where it chose the investments for you. That worked for me. Now I feel so terribly lost and confused! I can’t tell if what I’ve done is a good idea or not, only that I know I haven’t lost a huge chunk due to cashing it out.

Aside from calling a rep at Merrill Lynch and having them look at me like I’m some stupid little girl (which I am when it comes to this type of financial stuff), I don’t know what my options are. Plus? I have a fee each year that my balance is under $20,000. It’s only just above $6,000 right now and that worries me. We aren’t in a very good financial position to where we’re able to contribute the max each year, let alone even $100 a month! I plan on writing a check at the end of the month for $100 and mailing it in just to see how that all works and whatnot. But I don’t think I can make it into a regular thing. Not with the way bills are and me not having a job.

I feel lost and keep asking myself if I did the right thing by rolling it into an IRA instead of cashing it out.