Each defined-contribution account you hold — a 401(k) or 403(b) — faces the same four options: leave it in place, move it to a new employer’s plan, roll it to an IRA, or cash it out. A pension, if you have one, follows entirely different rules and is usually the bigger decision. Inventory every account first; the costliest mistakes happen when people treat several plans as one pot.
Why Kaiser departures start with an inventory
Kaiser Permanente is one of Southern California’s largest employers, with hospitals, medical offices and administrative sites spread across Los Angeles and Orange County — several within a short drive of our Norwalk office. Its workforce runs from physicians and nurses to technicians, pharmacists and support staff, and retirement benefits have historically differed by region, by role and by bargaining unit.
The Form 5500 filings for 2024 (public at efast.dol.gov) list the Kaiser Permanente 401(k) Retirement Plan, Kaiser Permanente Tax Sheltered Annuity Plan and Kaiser Permanente Supplemental Savings and Retirement Plan (plus a version for union groups), each listing Vanguard for recordkeeping, and the Kaiser Permanente Retirement Plan, a defined-benefit pension. Your SPD or HR confirms which plans cover your group.
The four options — for each defined-contribution account
These apply to a 401(k) or 403(b) balance. They do not apply to a defined-benefit pension, which cannot simply be rolled somewhere at will.
| Option | Good when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Leave it | The plan’s institutional pricing is genuinely low and you like the menu | Small balances can be forced out; orphaned accounts get forgotten |
| Roll to new employer | You want everything in one place and the new plan is decent | The new menu and fees may be worse than what you are leaving |
| Roll to an IRA | You want wider choice, control, or ongoing advice | An IRA balance can complicate a future backdoor Roth (pro-rata rule) |
| Cash out | A genuine emergency with no other source of cash | Income tax now, a 10% penalty under 59½, and the compounding is gone |
Things to check in your specific Kaiser plan
Plan facts on this page come from the plan's public Form 5500 filing for 2024; plans change, so confirm with your current statement.
- Every account tied to your employment. Your SPD or HR confirms which plans cover your employee group.
- Who the recordkeeper is. The Form 5500 filings for 2024 (public at efast.dol.gov) list Vanguard for recordkeeping for the Kaiser Permanente 401(k) Retirement Plan, Kaiser Permanente Tax Sheltered Annuity Plan and Kaiser Permanente Supplemental Savings and Retirement Plan, including a version for union groups; confirm your account on your current statement.
- Vesting on employer money. Are the employer contributions fully yours yet? Leaving a few weeks before a vesting date can be an expensive calendar mistake.
- Bargaining-unit differences. Union and non-union groups can be covered by different plans with different terms. Check which agreement governs yours.
- Outstanding plan loans. Your SPD or HR explains any loan provisions and repayment options.
- After-tax contributions. If any exist, they can often move to a Roth IRA on favourable terms — and that opportunity is easy to destroy by rolling everything into a single pre-tax account.
If one of your accounts is a pension
Your SPD or HR explains what departing employees are offered for any pension benefit.
If a pension election form is sitting on your desk, treat it as the more consequential of your decisions and slow it down accordingly.
Always transfer directly. When money moves custodian-to-custodian, nothing is withheld. When a cheque arrives in your name, 20% has already gone to the IRS under IRC § 3405(c), and the 60-day clock to replace the full amount — including the withheld portion, from your own pocket — starts the day you receive it.
Common questions
I have a pension and a 403(b) at Kaiser. Do they follow the same rules?
No. The 403(b) is a balance you direct through the four options above. The pension is a benefit formula whose elections are usually irreversible once made, which makes it the decision to slow down on. Handle them as two separate projects with two separate deadlines.
Will the plan tell me which option is best?
The recordkeeper can explain the menu and process the paperwork, but it does not weigh your other accounts, your tax bracket, or your plans for the money. That judgment has to come from you or from an adviser who owes you a fiduciary duty.
Do you earn anything if I roll my Kaiser account to an IRA you manage?
Only our disclosed asset-based fee — we are fee-only, so no commission, no product revenue, and no payment from any custodian changes hands. When leaving the money at Kaiser is the better answer, saying so costs us nothing, and we say it.
One account or five, bring the statements
We will inventory what you actually hold, then walk each account through its own decision — including the ones best left exactly where they are.