I just got a check from UC Berkeley HR which seems to be residuals from my 403(b). Now, I’m not quite sure what this is for — I did have a 403(b) when I was an employee in the computer labs, and it says I put in X dollars and had Y gains. Then the check has Federal and State Taxes withheld, so I’m assuming the money is mine now, and I’m not obligated to roll it into something else.
So yay, free money? And by “free” I mean, 33% of it is free and 67% of it is my money that used to be mine and is mine again. Of course, the fact that it appears I got taxed on the entire check, not just the interest, lowers the amount of money that I actually gained to some pitiful year over year percentage. Overall, it seems I probably shouldn’t have bothered, but I can’t remember if there was matching or something when I was paying into this. I’m sure it would have worked out better had I stayed a government employee.
HAH!! cheap ass uc regents doing a matching?! PAH!!
actually, they did that until the first bduget crunch, but not while we were there.
Yes, it was your money to start with.
If you worked over a certain threshold (like 20 hours a week?), you paid into your 403(b) retirement. At least, that’s what I remember from way back then.
You can elect to roll over the entire amount into a different retirement thing, or take the distribution (less taxes, etc.). Although, it seems they made that choice for you.
Well, congrats on free money.
You got the check because all UC 403b accounts of ex-employees that were less than $2k or so were being closed and distributed. It’s taxed because you didn’t select to have it rolled over into something else to maintain it. However you may still have 60days from the date the check was dated/issued to dump it into a rollover IRA or something, which can be recharacterized or what not afterwards.