Only the part that you contributed and the vested portion is yours. Whatever is unvested goes back to JCP.
- is that $900? If it's $900, you take out the money, pay the $90 penalty. It's unlikely to have much of an impact on your taxes, nothing close to 28%
- is that $1900? ($1000 from you and $900 from the JCP). It depends what your income is. But again, it might make more sense to take the money.
You don't have a lot of money in the investment. Unless you have an existing IRA, you might be charged maintenance fees for the IRA due to your low balance.
Normally, I would say roll it over into an IRA. But since your vested balance is only $900 (you don't get to take the nonvested portion), I'd cash it out and pay the tax. $900 is not worth rolling over.
THE ONLY reason for a 401k is for retirement. Not to live on. Roll it over and you pay no taxes. spend it and you owe taxes plus 10%.
That will cost you 10% automatically, plus the taxes on it. So thats $190 plus probably 28% or whatever in taxes along with it. Much better off rolling that into an IRA account, which costs nothing, then use your IRA account the future to add to that and buy some long term dividend paying stocks that grow tax free (i.e. PG, GE, MMM, etc)
If you take it out, you'll pay about 1/4 of it for tax and penalty. If you can, roll it over into an IRA. If you put it into a traditional IRA, you'll pay no tax now, but will when you take it out. If you put it into a Roth IRA, you'll pay tax now but no penalty, pay no tax when you take it out, and have a lot more flexibility for it.
Roll it over...it's a nice start to what could be a great nest egg by the time you retire...
Perfect example of why social security isn't voluntary.
If you can get it all vested and then roll it over.
