It seems like a lot of brokers allow you to trade/daytrade your IRA, but not your 401-K. So which broker allows you to trade a 401-K? How are expenses compared to a regular account?
I rolled over my 401k into an IRA. Check the stipulations where your companies 401k is held. Your company has a contract with the broker that holds your 401k. You might be able to take a loan on the 401k or completely roll it over. It all depends on the agreement that was made. For me, I had to wait 6 months after leaving the job to roll over my 401k.
I believe that a 401K is very restricted since your company is making safe harbor contributions into it. A 401K roll-over is unrestricted (at least as far as what you can trade) since it ends up being an IRA. I have a 401K roll-over at IB and can do most anything except buy stock on margin and short sell stocks.
The 401K that I have is very restrictive. They basically let you pick from two large cap , two medium cap, and two small cap , one international , a bond fund and a money market. Half of the funds are there own in house funds which you can't even graph because there is no fund symbol. I like the forced saving from payroll deduction and tax benefits but I would like more freedom . The only way to roll my 401 over is to quit. This is very frustrating .
I am greatful I have a job however I would still like more freedom with MY money. Heres an Idea ... How about letting us choose from fidelity' s family of funds or any other fund family that offers sector funds. Still conservative but the opportunity to catch the sector rotation .
Don't some of you have a mini 401K you set up with your trading profits? I guess that's more along the lines of what I'm looking for. I don't see why you would choose a mini 401K over a SEP IRA, if the 401K restricts you into brokers you can't trade with.
What are you referring to? By restrictive trading do you mean the free-riding rule: Reg T or "T+3" that does not allow the use of sales proceeds until 3 days have passed? OR do you mean the 401(k) plan you are in limits the amount of activity without regard to the T+3 rule? Which brokers are you referring to that are flexible? restrictive?
The problem there Tony is that the majority of people that put money into 401k's don't have a clue. There's been many studies done that show if you limit the choices in a 401k the majority of 'average Joes' will put $ in. If you have too many choices it's overwhelming. That's why it's done that way. (that was from my past broker experience). Now as a trader or active investor, I would want more choices. Depending on the size of the company you work for, you could lobby the broker to have more on the menu. It can be done, but most don't want to bother.
Actually I mean (as far as I can tell) that there are very few brokers that allow you to trade a 401-K, whereas it seems that just about any broker will alow you to trade an IRA. I don't want to set up a mini 401K if it means I have to put my money into a brokerage with Merril or Schwaub, where I can't make any money.