I recently retired (12/31) from WFC and know that we have been in the middle of a conversion to a new 401k plan administrator. My impression was that we would be able to see our current balances starting today. When I signed in to my online banking I now see a balance of zero rather than “not available”. Anyone have any idea when we are supposed to be able to see our current information?
30 replies (most recent on top)
@2alu+18RP5Lrx Typical Wells conversion. Why can’t Wells HR get anything right.
Everybody, please... make it a point to check your beneficiaries in the 401K.
Be sure to check your contingent beneficiaries at empower. I feel certain that I had those setup in the prior plan but under empower I only see the primary. You can click on the "Add Another Beneficiary" button to do this and "Contingent" is a choice.
Other than that things look good to me. The Home page has a Retirement Estimator that includes Social Security and the ability to consider outside accounts. It will also show you how you compare to peers.
Although I didn't plan to make any adjustments during the blackout period, I'm glad to have access to the numbers again.
If you don't read the first email, what good will 5 more do? To each their own but i don't find e-nagging to be reassuring or informative.
It's available now. I was able to register, and I was let go recently.
https://my401kplan.empower-retirement.com/participant/#/login?accu=WellsFargo
So @1qgs+18RP5Lrx is clearly delusional
@1tyk+18RP5Lrx No, not kidding, kid. It takes a pay period to take effect. #schooled #owned
I'm on the cusp of retirement, and have well into 7 figures in my 401k. I'm not worried.
You should not be worried either.
you definitely would have done better rolling your old 401k into an ira can't believe someone as smart as you would pay those 401k expenses.
"And if you want to adjust your % for bonus upcoming, you’ll have little time."
Are you serious? It takes less than 2 minutes to do this and it can be done when you login.
Why are you people all worried? I have high 6 figures in there so it's not teensy.
The money will be there when it reopens. There are no shenanigans going on.
It was communicated explicitly when it would shut off and when it will be available.
I for one don't think we needed reminder after reminder clogging up inboxes.
Grow up and act like the adults you are supposed to be.
OMG. People that retired years ago still have 401ks with Wells? Why on Earth have you not rolled to an IRA with no fees?
Empower will go live tomorrow with emails to 30K per hour starting at 8:am. The External Link for Empower will need a local login, so be sure to register in the morning:
https://my401kplan.empower-retirement.com/participant/#/login?accu=WellsFargo
@1qgs+18RP5Lrx you don’t know what people may be dealing with. Do you really think that responding to people by being rude and condescending is helpful to anyone? Sadly, there is such little communication and transparency that, however unreliable, this is where people are coming for answers.
I am neither retired, nor a male. I started saving right after college and rolled my prior 401k into this one to get the full benefit of compounding investment growth when I started at WF a few years ago.
I too have a six figure sum, and it is not my only asset. I am over twenty years out from needing the money, but that doesn’t lessen my concern about the communications.
Congratulations on literally all of your assumptions being wrong. You’re a gem.
I never said there should not be a blackout. I am actually quite familiar with how plan transitions work having worked in the WF Retirement group for a couple of years. My statements were around the communications processes.
I LOL @ anyone truly concerned about this. It doesn’t matter what year it is or what you think is relevant when it comes to how long this transfer process should take. There has to be time built in for freezing everything, multiple days to let transactions quiesce, year end calculations, validation timing. A black out period is not the time it takes to transfer. If I were a company I would give zero $h!ts about someone’s complaint about the length of time it took. Our holdings are still gaining or losing per our original asset allocation holdings. If you’re concerned you do already know how many shares you had and in what investments and you track it outside of the 401k holder right?
Oh you don’t? Then you’re likely like @mxp+18RP5Lrx , scared and confused because he holds 20-something years in his WF 401k but has no idea how to properly manage his money. You should have performed in-service rollovers long ago to an outside company if you are this concerned over your holdings. It’s called risk assignment and you accepted far more risk than you are willing to accept, this transition angst shows that plain as day. So you should immediately move your money as soon as this is complete.
I have a paltry 6 figure sum in my WF 401k but it represents only 10% of my total holdings so I am not concerned with this inability to access my account. If you already know how to Do Life you’ve already had your accounts set to the asset mix you desire and should be able to let it ride for a full quarter if not longer. 401k’s are not the place to be speculating and making weekly changes.
Horrible communications from Empower and Wells Fargo.. The last I had was an email and snail mail from empower saying it was transferring. I received these in November last year and nothing since.
And so many are ok with it taking this long. It’s not a conspiracy they tell you. These things take time they say. You’re a horrible investor if you want access to your money to make a change they tell you, claim you’re a day trader. Communication has been great they tell you, it’s you that can’t read the dang email they say. Etc etc etc.
No, in year 2021 it taking weeks to do this where people have no access to their funds is unacceptable. You say otherwise, you’re delusional
And if you want to adjust your % for bonus upcoming, you’ll have little time.
@mxp+18RP5Lrx. I agree with this poster.
One e-mail 2 months ago is dreadful communication. This is a lot of money and a lot of people. WF should understand that there is a lack of trust with employees as a baseline. They should bend over backwards over communicating. There is time to write articles about reply all email storms, they can do better with peoples retirement money.
Not identifying a specific date is a terrible practice. I should have total certainty about when I can see my account again so I know when I should start making calls when they foul something up.
Perhaps you don’t feel much anxiety because your balance is teensy. My balance is 20 years of saving and pretty darn big, I think a little more communication and certainty is asking almost nothing.
Has the communication been dreadful, or are people just not reading their emails again? The answer was in the email/FAQ thay they sent out to everyone so I'm not seeing a problem. The WEEK OF the 10th the blackout period will end. Could be today, could be Saturday. Nature of the beast with these things. The market has gone up since the blackout, so an extra day isn't exactly the end of the world, is it? Annoying sure, but we knew this was coming.
No adjustments on payroll, either. Cannot amend % or the deployment.
The communication on this has been dreadful.
We should have gotten several reminders including a teamwork’s article and a couple of emails after the first of the year. We should get a specific date, and information sent by email, not by snail mail which everyone knows is ultra slow and hit or miss due to the pandemic.
There should be information posted on the link to the account information, before you get an error message trying to create account. And I’m sorry, but they should have set this up so it accepts the same log on information as the old site.
It just furthers my opinion that this company just cannot do anything right.
They say it is going to be either Wed or Thurs
You do not need to wait for the post card
Just go here on wed/thurs and click on register
https://my401kplan.empower-retirement.com/participant/#/login?accu=WellsFargo
yea was supposed to be today, I am trying to roll mine over too
"it was supposed to today" - no - if you read the email and numerous comms, it says WEEK OF Jan 10th. RTFM...
Same, retired in 2017. Logged into WF Banking app and it was $0.00. I was able to view the Account History and see the Balance that was transferred during the conversion. Other than the information packet sent out back in October and a reminder post card in November I haven’t received any other information. WF Teamworks doesn’t provide much detail either. Any information is appreciated.
Sometime this week but you'll need to view it on the Empower website.
The Wells Fargo & Company 401(k) Plan is expected to be released from blackout and available the week of January 10, 2021. You will receive an email or postcard from Empower when the blackout period ends and you can access your account.
It was supposed to today.