As people retire, they will often have a choice of leaving funds with their previous employer or rolling over the funds to an individual retirement account (IRA). An IRA is somewhat like a pension or profit sharing plan, in that it allows the funds to be held tax-deferred until later withdrawn. Although there are differences, in general, from a distribution perspective, IRAs and profit sharing plans share many commonalities. From an asset protection standpoint, however, ERISA plans (i.e., profit sharing and pension plans) generally provide enhanced asset protection. (discussed below)

The key question one faces after retirement is the determination of whether or not funds should be moved from an ERISA-governed plan to an IRA. The primary answer to this question will be based on asset protection, while the secondary answer will largely be governed by federal tax law.

In certain circumstances, an employee who plans to separate from service (or has already separated from service) after age 55, but who is not already age 59½, may be well-advised to leave funds in an ERISA-governed qualified plan until he reaches age 59½. This can be beneficial because distributions from qualified plans are not subject to the ten-percent additional tax on early distributions if the plan participant is over the age of 55 at the time of separation, while distributions from IRAs are subject to such penalty unless the IRA owner has reached age 59½.