The dreaded roll over

One of the many things I've been procrastinating since leaving my job is to figure out what to do with my 403(b) retirement savings. There are three options:

1. Leave them where they are in TIAA CREF. This should be safe as long as my former company doesn't go under.
2. Roll them over into a Roth IRA or a Traditional IRA, where I'd have total control of my fund choices.
3. Cash out, pay a HUGE (10%) penalty and be destitute for retirement.

Obviously #3 isn't an option for me. I didn't want to do #1, either, but I've been so busy painting and job searching that I haven't had time to get the paperwork for the rollover. I thought, heck, why not just leave them where they are with TIAA CREF?

Then I researched the fees I was paying. Oh boy.

My five funds with TIAA CREF -- and the fees -- are as follows:

• Equity Index (0.49%)
• International Equity Fund (0.79%)
• Social Choice Equity Fund (0.46%)
• Real Estate (1.01%)
• Bond Market (0.50%)

The fees don't seem that bad...until I compare them to the fees I pay for my Vanguard Roth IRA. My 2035 Target Date Retirement Fund with Vanguard charges 0.18% - significantly less than every one of the TIAA CREF funds!

And we know, thanks to Vanguard founder John Bogle, that high fees destroy investment savings. Obviously he's motivated to sell Vanguard funds, but the numbers don't lie. Heck, according to this Vanguard calculator, even investing in a Total Stock Market ETF fund with a 0.9% expense ratio would be better over the long-term than the comparable mutual fund that charges 0.18%.

I went online to figure out how to roll over my TIAA CREF investments. Of course the Web site didn't provide any information -- they don't want to lose employee's accounts! -- so I called the 800 number. The first guy I talked to didn't know what to do and ended up disconnecting me, but the second guy was helpful. Then I called Vanguard to find out what to do on their end.

The paperwork has to be signed by DH and notarized, adding an additional step, but otherwise it should be a pretty straightforward transaction. And then I'll qualify for Vanguard's fancy "concierge" service since my investments with them will be over $100k. Woo hoo! I get to pretend I'm a fancy pants wealthy investor! (You should have heard how quickly they transferred me to the "nice" department after I told them how much I wanted to roll over.)

Speaking of Vanguard, I listened to an audio tape of Bogle's recent book, Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life, this weekend. Maybe it was the delivery of the guy reading the book, but it came across as a pretty arrogant, self-congratulatory treatise. I'm glad Bogle pioneered low-fee index funds for average Joe investors like me, but it's still a business and Bogle is making plenty of money. And it's easy to be philanthropic when you earn a bazillion dollars in finance (and get a tax break), so spare me the lecture on what an amazing person you are.

But I still like the company enough to put my money there.