If you quit your job can you retain or transfer your 401K and the money in it?

I have a friend who just quit her job at a Holiday Inn Express and she paid a lot into that 401k for a year, it would be a hell off a shame if she couldn't get back her investment and I can't locate any info on Holiday Inn Express's web site.

She will get papers in the mail from the institution that brokers the fund and she will have a few options ... roll over or to take it out and pay penalties and interest.

I would recommend a rollover and she can do that at www.fidelity.com

Good Luck!

yes, you can retain or transfer. the money you paid into a plan is your money!! even if the employer matched funds (but i doubt they did, if she was only enrolled for a year; most plans require 5 years for matching) once they deposit the money, it becomes hers.

does your friend have a new job with a 401(k)? if she does, the easiest way to get the money would be to have her current plan contact holiday inn to make the switch. this has a couple different advantages:
1) since she never sees the money, she doesn't get taxed on it, and stiffed with the IRS' "severe penalty for early withdrawal" and
2) she doesn't have to deal with holiday inn. they will, so if there's any "guff" from the previous employer, they'll handle it.

Every plan is a bit different, but most have the following provisions:

-if the employee have over $5k in vested funds in the plan, s/he may leave the money on deposit in the plan indefinitely and/or roll it over into a new employer's 401(k) or into a 401(k) IRA.
-If the employee has less than $5k on deposit, s/he must do one of several things:

1) elect to have the $$ paid to them in a lump sum. This is the least wise choice since there are penalties for early withdrawal as well as taxes which must be paid on the distributed funds
2) roll the funds into a new employer's plan
3) roll the funds into a qualified retirement vehicle such as an IRA designed to acept 401(k) rollovers

In some cases if the employee has a minimal amount in the plan (less than $1k, say), there may be a forced distribution of funds in a lump sum to the employee.

I wouldn't expect the employer web site to provide detailed plan info. Your friend should be able to check the web site for her plan provider to see what the rules are (merrill lynch, fidelity, t. rowe price are common plan providers but there are many.) The info on which provider her employer used should be in her new hire and/or termination paperwork.

It is HER 401K so it will remain hers.

You could go to SuzeOrman.com and ask this question.

I found a website that might just make you feel better about all of this.

she can either keep it there or she can roll it over into a 401K at her new job. Personally I would recommend rolling it over if she went to a better place. She will have to follow specified guidelines about the timing of a rollover. One thing is for sure she doesn't want to just lose track of it or worse forget she even has it. Her current HR person or the one at the company she left should be able to guide her or direct her to someone who can.
She may not be completely vested, which means she could only take out the portion she put in plus whatever interest she may have earned on that portion. If the company made matching contributions she may not be eligible to take that money out, or may only be entitled to part of it. If she doesn't have the option of rolling it into a new 401K she may be able to roll it into a specified IRA account.

The specifics will depend on the company, but your friend should be able to get all of the money that she invested. The main issue will be how much of the company matching funds she will have access to. Companies impose a vesting schedule so that you get to keep all matching funds after working there certain amount of time (the companies that I've worked for have had a 3 year vesting schedule)

According to the link below, at least one Holiday Inn Express has a 3 year vesting schedule. I don't know if that holds for all areas of the company.

Once you determine how much she's entitled to, she'll have to decide how to transfer the funds. If she accepts cash with no intention of putting it back into another 401k/retirement plan, there may be significant tax implications. If you roll it over into another 401k, I don't think there's a problem with that.

Absolutely. Any money she put in is hers, and she will get a part of what her employer put in according to the 'vesting terms' that apply to the plan. She needs to 'roll over' the account to an IRA or other tax deferred account to avoid a huge income tax liability.