YOU HAVE FOUND OUR OLD WEB SITE. BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR NEW AND IMPROVED SITE!     Breaking Up is Hard to Do Getting Out of a Variable Annuity Proves Arduous and Expensive     Quick, a multiple choice test!   Question: Husband-and-wife educators want to switch 403(b) plans. How easy is it? a. Easy as 1-2-3! b. A few glitches, but they are simply glowing about the overall process. c. Not so easy, but who cares! At least it was fun! d. Husband loses mind. Says, "Hell with it!" Cashes in 403(b) plans. Runs away to a barter society in the Himalayas.     Answer: d. Well, not quite... but getting there.   In August 2004, it dawned on me that my VALIC account and my wife's Met Life account were not performing very well. Without a simple Consumer Reports article telling me how to compare providers, I visited a financial advisor who subtly suggested that we change providers. He said, "You're getting screwed with these companies." He spoke intelligently about high fees and such, and overwhelmed, I simply nodded my head and noticed that his shirt coordinated well with the blinds. To tell the truth, at 125 bucks an hour, I didn't want to ask too many clarifying questions. Next time, I'll ask him to use his "kindergarten teacher" voice.   An internet search landed me at 403bwise.com. Ah! A site managed by a fellow teacher with clear answers to all of my questions. This site enlightened me to many things, but particularly, the impact of fees. What the heck did I know? The 1.7% and 1.92% fees from my old provider sounded pretty gosh darn low. Further research supported the financial advisors warning, and I decided to flee from VALIC and Met Life and switch to TIAA-CREF and T. Rowe Price. Little did I know how confusing and frustrating the process would be.   Just filling out the forms provided a challenge. One form asks: Is my IRS Characterization Information for my old company a 403(b), a 403(b)(7), or a 403(b) Private? I thought 403(b). I thought wrong.   The same form asks: Is my new account an RA, GRA, SRA, GSRA, Classic IRA, Roth IRA, 457(b) Private, or 457(b) Public. I just couldn't even guess. I had to make a phone call to the provider. I got an answer. Something didn't sound right, so I called again. I got a different representative and a different answer.   The forms have a section for "Plan Administrator's Signature." Oops. I didn't have to get that signature from my employer because... well I'm still not sure why. The helpful person at one provider talked me through the first part of their form, had me stop halfway through it, and then told me to skip all the way to the end and just sign it. Whatever.     I sloshed my way through many fund choices (sort of cool) and sent our paperwork for the new providers to our benefits office. I also sent our transfer out forms to the old providers. I breathed a sigh a relief and looked forward to monitoring our new accounts online. A strange thing happen though: Three weeks later, we still had zero balances in our new accounts.   The Story of the Husband's Account I get a call from VALIC, my old company. They tell me that they have sent a check to TIAA-CREF but CREF is going to send the check back to them because they have no record of me and no way to reach me. What?!! A call to CREF confirms that they have no idea who I am. A further phone call to my employer reveals that my employer is sitting on the application and had never forwarded it to CREF. They tell me that I should have never sent them the application. I should have sent it directly to CREF.   You see, I had done something very silly: I followed the direction on CREF's application to "return your enrollment form to your employer's benefits office." And that's where my form remained. I call CREF, and they agree that I should have mailed it to them (never mind what their form says). They promise not to send the check back to VALIC, and since neither of us trusts my employer to send the original application, I fax a copy directly to CREF. A day later, I have money in my CREF account and all is well (though my retirement account was hit hard by VALIC's surrender charge).   The Story of my Wife's Account Interestingly, I had also sent my wife's application for her new provider (T. Rowe Price) to my benefits office, and it got forwarded with no problem. We had filled out forms for both T. Rowe and Met Life that we wanted money transferred from Met Life to T. Rowe. These forms were sent in late September. Two weeks later, the money had not been transferred. My wife calls Met Life and they say they were expecting contact from T. Rowe. She calls T. Rowe and is told they were expecting contact from Met Life. Fun stuff this is.   Another three weeks after T. Rowe sends out a request to Met Life, there is still no transfer, but Met Life now tells my wife that a check will go out in 7 to 10 days. I wait 10 days, but there is still no transfer. I call Met Life and am bizarrely told that they have a request for a transfer, but no record of a check going out. I politely get angry, telling them that ten days ago, they told us the check would be sent. But then I am told that the check actually DID go out a few days earlier. It is now 9 days after the check went out and T. Rowe still hasn't received it. And guess what I get for this wonderful Met Life service? A hefty surrender charge! Thanks, Met Life!   Well, at least my wife's automatic transfers from her check are building up her T. Rowe account, right? No. My benefits office tells me that they have no record of the salary reduction agreement. (Funny how they got the T. Rowe application, but not the salary reduction form that was enclosed with it.). I have to fax a new form. It's almost 2 months after we sent the application to open the T. Rowe account and we still have a zero balance.   And you thought the answer to the multiple choice question was (a) Easy as 1-2-3. Hah!   Home | Disclaimer | © 2004 bWise Guys, LLC. All rights reserved.				Related Information More about this teacher in 403(b) Stories.