[toy71camaro]

I would discuss the Roll Over options with your Accountant.

You CAN roll it over to a Self Directed retirement account. Generally speaking, a Rollover IRA. With no penalties, tax changes, etc. AS LONG AS THEY do the roll over.

You CAN roll it over to a ROTH IRA, but your hit with taxes due to the fact your retirement account was a PRE-TAX account, and the ROTH is a POST-TAX account. Depending on the penalty, it "might" be worth doing this, but you'd really have to crunch the numbers. The ROTH IRA you will NOT pay taxes on the money when you pull it out for retirement. Since you paid taxes on it when you put it IN the account.

So, need to really crunch numbers to see what's better. Simpler option would just be to roll it over to an IRA and be done with it. Buy your stocks, and pay your taxes at the time you pull it out when you retire.

GOING FORWARD, I would suggest opening/using a ROTH IRA. Max that puppy out each year. At least until the company offers a decent 401k option WITH a company match (= free money). Put enough in the company 401k to get the FREE match, then everything else goes back into the ROTH.

Hope that helps. You should also be able to do this all over the phone/online with the brokerage of your choice. I use Sharebuilder, but its because I'm a costco executive member and they give a discount on fee's and sometimes a bonus when you open your account. I use Schwab too, but only for research tools.