We are happy to hear you have decided to rollover your old employer sponsored retirement plan into an M1 IRA.
We have answers to some frequently asked questions about rollovers to keep you informed during this process:
What type of M1 IRA do I need to open for a rollover?
To successfully complete a rollover of an employer sponsored retirement plan, you will need to have an IRA (Individual Retirement Arrangement) account. An IRA will allow you to preserve the tax-deferred or tax-free status of your account.
To maintain tax-deferred status of your pre-tax retirement plan assets, open a Traditional IRA
To preserve tax-free status of your Roth (post-tax) retirement plan assets, open a Roth IRA
If you’re rolling over both pre-tax and Roth assets, open a Traditional IRA for the pre-tax funds and a Roth IRA for the Roth assets
If you’d like to roll your pre-tax assets into a Roth IRA, note that this is a taxable event
I already have an M1 IRA open – do I have to open another IRA?
No. M1 supports one Traditional and one Roth IRA per customer. This means that customers cannot have multiple IRAs of the same type opened at once.
Can I rollover my spouse’s account into my IRA?
No. Retirement assets are accumulated on an individual basis and can only be rolled into an IRA for the account owner. If your spouse is interested in rolling over their old retirement account, please have them create their own M1 profile and open their own IRA.
How do I prepare my M1 IRA to receive a rollover?
Once your funds are received by our clearing firm, Apex Clearing, they will be deposited into your M1
Retirement Account. The funds will automatically be invested if auto-invest is on in that account. Prior to initiating a rollover, we recommend reviewing your account to ensure that your portfolio is set up how you want it.
Can M1 give investment recommendations for my rollover?
Since M1 is a self-directed brokerage platform, we are unable to provide any investment recommendations. If you have questions about which investments to put in your portfolio, we recommend speaking with a qualified financial professional or tax advisor.
How do I initiate the rollover? Can M1 do this for me?
You can find detailed rollover instructions here. This process involves contacting the plan administrator for your current account and requesting that your funds are sent to our clearing firm, Apex Clearing.
Who should the rollover check be made payable to?
Please ask your plan’s administrator to make the check payable to M1’s clearing firm, “Apex Clearing.”
Additionally, ensure that your name and M1 IRA account number are included in the memo line.
Where should the rollover check be mailed to?
Your plan administrator should mail the check directly to Apex Clearing.
The mailing address is:
Apex Clearing c/o BPO
350 North St. Paul Street #1300
Dallas, TX 75201
It’s possible that your plan administrator will mail the check to your home address, rather than to Apex Clearing. If you receive your rollover check, simply forward it to Apex at the address above.
Before forwarding, ensure that the check is payable to “Apex Clearing” and your name and M1 account number are included in the memo line.
The rollover check was made payable to me – should I cash it?
If you receive a check that is payable to you for the full value of your rollover, please endorse the back of the check and mail it to Apex Clearing at:
Apex Clearing c/o BPO
350 North St. Paul Street #1300
Dallas, TX 75201
The funds must be received into your M1 IRA within 60 days of the distribution date to avoid a taxable event.
The rollover check was made payable to me and taxes were withheld – what now?
Your plan administrator may have processed this transaction as a distribution rather than a rollover. If this is the case, 20% of the distribution amount was likely withheld for federal taxes. To avoid a taxable event, the entire value of your rollover (including the taxes that were withheld) must be deposited into your M1 IRA within 60 days of the distribution date.
We have outlined the following example to illustrate this scenario:
You have made a $10,000 distribution from your account and 20% federal tax has been withheld. As such, you receive a check payable to you for $8,000. To avoid a taxable event, $10,000 must be deposited into your M1 IRA within 60 days of the distribution date. If this does not occur, you may owe a 10% premature withdrawal penalty on the $2,000 if you are under age 59.5 in addition to any income tax owed.
We recommend contacting your plan administrator for next steps. They may be able to re-process the transaction and issue a new check to Apex Clearing.
How long does it take for Apex Clearing to receive the rollover check?
The speed at which Apex Clearing receives the check depends on where the check was mailed from and the type of mail that it was sent through. Some plan administrators offer overnight or expedited mailing. Others may offer tracking services, which may be useful in the event of a delay in the expected delivery date.
If it has been more than 14 days (about 2 weeks) since the check was mailed to Apex Clearing, we recommend contacting the plan administrator to verify the address that the check was mailed to.
What happens once Apex Clearing receives the check?
Once your rollover check is received, it will be deposited in your M1 IRA. The funds will be invested according to your Pie and your auto-invest settings.
My employer account received a dividend after the rollover was processed – what do I do with those funds?
If this occurs, you may contact the plan administrator and request that the funds are sent to your M1 IRA. This process will be the same as the initial rollover, and you may have to provide Apex Clearing’s information to your plan administrator again.
As with the original rollover, please ensure that the rollover check is made payable to “Apex Clearing” and your name and M1 IRA account number are included in the memo line.
My rollover check is lost in the mail – what should I do?
If you think your rollover check may be lost in the mail, you may want to speak with your plan administrator and have the check re-issued. If another check is issued, please ensure that a ‘stop payment’ has been issued for the original check.
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