Guideline 401(k) Rollover: Employer-Pays Model, Guideline IRA Option & Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Guideline is a 401(k) platform built for small and mid-size businesses, widely adopted by VC-backed startups, technology companies, and small professional firms. Unlike most legacy 401(k) platforms where investment costs are passed to employees through mutual fund expense ratios, Guideline's business model has employers pay the plan administration fee — which typically means the fund lineup inside the plan has expense ratios that are already in the index-fund range. This structural difference changes one of the most common IRA rollover arguments: if the cost case for moving to Fidelity, Vanguard, or Schwab is weaker for Guideline participants than for employees leaving a high-cost corporate plan, the rollover decision becomes a question of investment breadth and account consolidation rather than a straightforward "IRA has lower costs" conclusion. This guide covers the Guideline platform's cost model, the Guideline IRA default rollover path, Safe Harbor vesting characteristics, the SECURE 2.0 auto-rollover rules, Guideline-specific traps, and the step-by-step rollover process for Guideline participants rolling to an external IRA or the Guideline IRA.

Understanding the Guideline 401(k) platform

Guideline was founded in 2015 with the premise that small businesses — particularly tech startups — should have access to low-cost 401(k) plans without the administrative burden and high employee-side costs of legacy plan providers. Their model: the employer pays a flat monthly plan fee, and the investment fund lineup is populated with low-cost index funds. The employee side is handled through a modern web portal at app.guideline.com.

For rollover purposes, the key structural differences from most 401(k) platforms:

Step-by-step: Rolling FROM a Guideline 401(k) to an external IRA

Step 1 — Log in to app.guideline.com and review your account

Log in to app.guideline.com with your employee credentials. Even after leaving your employer, your Guideline account remains accessible. Navigate to the Accounts section and confirm:

• Your total balance and vested balance — only the vested portion is yours. If employer contributions are subject to a vesting schedule (profit-sharing contributions beyond the Safe Harbor minimum), the unvested portion is forfeited at separation, not included in the rollover.
• Your investment allocation — the specific index funds you hold and their current positions. In a Guideline plan, positions are held as mutual fund shares; these liquidate to cash before the rollover check is issued.
• Any outstanding plan loans — if you have a loan balance, it will be treated as a loan offset at separation, reducing the net rollover amount. See the loan offset rollover guide for the QPLO deadline rules.
• Your mailing address on file — rollover checks to external IRA custodians are mailed to your address of record. Update it if needed before initiating.

Download the Summary Plan Description (SPD) from the Plan Documents section while you are here. The SPD confirms whether your plan uses Safe Harbor design (immediate vesting) or a separate vesting schedule for employer contributions — this determines whether all employer contributions are included in the rollover or only a vested portion.

Step 2 — Decide: Guideline IRA or external custodian?

This is a decision most other custodian rollover guides skip — but for Guideline participants, it matters. Consider the following:

• Choose the Guideline IRA if: you value simplicity, the index fund lineup meets your investment needs, you do not currently hold accounts at Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab, and you do not plan Backdoor Roth contributions that would require careful pro-rata management. The Guideline IRA completes faster and with less paperwork than an external rollover.
• Choose an external IRA (Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab) if: you already have an IRA or brokerage account at that institution and want to consolidate, you want access to a broader investment universe (ETFs, individual stocks, options strategies, alternative investments), you plan to manage Roth conversions via multiple IRA accounts, or you prefer a full-service brokerage platform with more tools and research. See the Fidelity vs. Vanguard vs. Schwab comparison guide for an external custodian evaluation.

The cost difference between the two options is minimal for most Guideline participants. Unlike rolling from a high-cost legacy plan where the IRA offers significantly lower expense ratios, Guideline's plan funds are already in the index range. Choose based on account consolidation and investment-options preferences, not on the assumption that the external IRA will save you money in fund costs.

Step 3 — Open the receiving IRA before initiating the rollover

If rolling to an external IRA, open the rollover IRA at your chosen custodian before contacting Guideline. Online account opening takes 10–15 minutes with no initial deposit required. Obtain the receiving account number and the exact FBO payee name. Common FBO payee formats:

• Fidelity: "Fidelity Management Trust Company FBO [Your Full Legal Name]"
• Vanguard: "Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company FBO [Your Full Legal Name]"
• Schwab: "Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. FBO [Your Full Legal Name]"

Confirm the exact FBO payee language directly with the receiving custodian before initiating — a mismatched payee name on the check causes delays or a returned check.

Step 4 — Initiate the distribution through app.guideline.com

In app.guideline.com, navigate to the distribution or rollover section of your account. Select Direct Rollover to IRA. If rolling to the Guideline IRA, select the Guideline IRA option and the transfer is handled internally. If rolling to an external IRA, enter the receiving custodian's FBO payee name and your IRA account number.

Always select direct rollover — not a cash distribution. A direct rollover sends funds to the receiving IRA without passing through your hands, so the 20% mandatory federal withholding under IRC § 3405(c) does not apply.² An accidental cash distribution triggers 20% withholding and requires you to fund the withheld 20% from personal savings within 60 days under IRC § 402(c)(3) to avoid treating the withheld amount as a taxable distribution.³

If your plan is subject to ERISA's Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuity rules, spousal consent in notarized form may be required before the distribution can process. Guideline will notify you if this applies to your plan.

Step 5 — Monitor and receive the proceeds

For external IRA rollovers, Guideline typically liquidates your fund positions and distributes the rollover as a paper FBO check mailed to your home address. Do not deposit the check at a personal bank. The check is made payable to the receiving institution FBO you — it is not a check you cash. Mail or deliver it to the receiving institution with a cover letter identifying your IRA account number and noting this is a direct rollover deposit.

If the check is lost in transit or does not arrive within the expected window, contact Guideline participant services to request a stop payment and reissue. You typically have 60 days from the distribution date to complete the rollover into the receiving IRA — do not let the check sit undeposited beyond that window.

Once the rollover posts at the receiving institution, the funds land in the default cash or money market position. Log in and direct the proceeds into your target investment allocation promptly — a large cash balance in a rollover IRA earns minimal return while you wait.

Guideline issues a Form 1099-R for the distribution tax year with code G (direct rollover to IRA) in Box 7. This rollover is tax-free, but the 1099-R still appears on your Form 1040 at Lines 5a/5b (or 4a/4b if it is an IRA-to-IRA rollover). See the rollover tax return guide for correct reporting.

Processing timelines

5 Guideline-specific rollover traps

1. The Guideline IRA path of least resistance — and when it is not the optimal choice

When you separate from a Guideline employer, Guideline surfaces the rollover option prominently — and the easiest path is rolling to the Guideline IRA. For many participants, this is a perfectly fine outcome. The Guideline IRA holds the same low-cost index funds as the 401(k), there is no transfer paperwork, and the process is seamless within the same platform.

The trap is accepting the Guideline IRA default without evaluating the alternatives. Ask yourself these questions before choosing:

• Do you already have an IRA at Fidelity, Vanguard, or Schwab? If so, consolidating the Guideline rollover into your existing IRA simplifies your financial picture and gives you a single login, a single beneficiary designation, and a single RMD calculation point later. Keeping a separate Guideline IRA when you already have a major-custodian IRA adds complexity without a clear benefit.
• Do you want to invest in anything the Guideline fund lineup does not offer? Guideline plans and the Guideline IRA are optimized for diversified index fund investing. If you want individual stocks, sector ETFs, REITs, or other assets outside a standard index lineup, an external brokerage IRA at Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard (through their full brokerage accounts) provides that flexibility.
• Do you plan Backdoor Roth contributions? The Guideline IRA is a traditional IRA — if you roll pre-tax 401(k) money into it, it becomes subject to the pro-rata rule for any Backdoor Roth IRA contributions you make in the same or future years. This is true regardless of whether it is a Guideline IRA or a Fidelity IRA. The choice of IRA custodian does not eliminate the pro-rata issue — but if you already have a pre-tax IRA balance elsewhere, consider the total aggregated pre-tax IRA balance and whether the reverse rollover to a new employer 401(k) is the better path. See the pro-rata guide and reverse rollover guide.

Bottom line: the Guideline IRA is the right choice for participants who want simplicity, are satisfied with an index fund lineup, and do not have compelling reasons to move assets to a third-party custodian. It is the wrong choice if you are chasing a lower expense ratio (you will not find one — Guideline's funds are already competitive) or if account consolidation at an existing institution is a clear win for your situation.

2. Safe Harbor vesting is immediate — but profit-sharing contributions may not be

Guideline's marketing and platform design strongly encourages Safe Harbor 401(k) plan adoption among its employer clients, because Safe Harbor plans simplify compliance and allow high earners to max out contributions without annual discrimination testing. This is good news for many departing participants: Safe Harbor matching contributions vest immediately (100% on day one) by law under IRC § 401(k)(12) or (13).⁴ If your plan uses Safe Harbor design, there is no employer contribution forfeiture regardless of how long you have been at the company.

However, two vesting traps still apply:

• Profit-sharing contributions: Some Guideline employers contribute additional profit-sharing amounts beyond the Safe Harbor minimum. These are often discretionary — made in good years and withheld in bad years. Profit-sharing contributions can have their own vesting schedule, separate from the Safe Harbor matching. If your employer has made profit-sharing contributions to your account, confirm the vesting schedule for those contributions specifically before initiating the rollover.
• Non-Safe Harbor plan designs: Not every Guideline plan uses Safe Harbor. If your employer opted for a traditional matching design without Safe Harbor, the matching contributions follow a vesting schedule set by the employer — commonly 3-year cliff or 6-year graded under ERISA § 203(a)(2).⁵ Read your plan's SPD before assuming immediate vesting on employer contributions.

To confirm: log in to app.guideline.com, access the SPD under Plan Documents, and read the contribution and vesting sections. The SPD is the authoritative source — your account balance screen shows total account value but may not clearly differentiate vested vs. unvested amounts if any employer contributions are subject to a schedule.

3. The final payroll contribution delay — initiate after the last contribution posts

Guideline integrates with most major payroll providers (Gusto, Rippling, ADP, Justworks, and others) so that 401(k) contributions are deducted from payroll and deposited to Guideline on a regular schedule. When you separate from employment, the 401(k) deduction from your final paycheck typically follows the same posting schedule — but there is a processing lag between when your last paycheck is issued and when that contribution posts to your Guideline account as invested units.

If you initiate a rollover the day after your last day of work, the final contribution may not yet appear in your Guideline balance. The rollover would process based on the current balance, excluding the final contribution — and you would need a second rollover for the remaining amount, adding days to weeks of delay and two separate 1099-Rs.

The simple fix: wait until you can see your Guideline balance stabilize and reflect contributions from your last paycheck before initiating the rollover. Log in to app.guideline.com 5–10 business days after your last day, check whether the balance has moved from the previous period (indicating the final contribution posted), and then initiate. If you are unsure whether the final contribution has settled, contact Guideline participant services and ask directly before submitting the distribution request.

4. Rule of 55 forfeiture for ages 55–59½ — the IRA rollover is permanent

Guideline's frictionless rollover experience — a few clicks in a modern portal — can make it easy to roll over a 401(k) balance without pausing to consider the Rule of 55 opportunity you are giving up. Under IRC § 72(t)(2)(A)(v),⁶ employees who separate from service in or after the year they turn age 55 can take distributions from the 401(k) plan they separated from without the 10% early withdrawal penalty — even before age 59½. This exception disappears permanently for any assets rolled to an IRA. There is no mechanism to recapture it.

For a Guideline participant who is 56 years old, has $400,000 in their plan, and needs $36,000/year in bridge income for 3 years before Social Security and investment income are sufficient, the math is significant: keeping $110,000 in the Guideline plan (enough for three $36,000-plus-buffer distributions) and rolling the remaining $290,000 to a Fidelity IRA saves approximately $11,000 in 10% early withdrawal penalties on the portion distributed before age 59½ — plus keeps the IRA portion in a potentially broader-investment-universe account.

A partial rollover strategy is usually the right answer when the Rule of 55 applies: roll the portion you do not need for bridge income, and retain enough in the Guideline plan for planned pre-59½ withdrawals. Important operational note for Guideline: confirm before executing this strategy that the plan document allows partial distributions post-separation. Most Guideline plans do — the SPD will confirm distribution frequency and minimum distribution amounts if applicable. See the Rule of 55 guide for the full mechanics and the partial rollover execution process.

5. The auto-rollover window — respond to Guideline's notices within the timeframe given

Under SECURE 2.0 § 304 (effective for plan years after December 31, 2023), 401(k) plans can automatically roll over terminated participant accounts with balances at or below $7,000 to a default IRA without the participant's affirmative consent — up from the prior $5,000 threshold.¹ Guideline will send post-separation notices to your email address on file notifying you of your options and the deadline for electing a distribution destination. If you do not respond within the timeframe specified in the notice, the plan will auto-roll the account to the designated default IRA — which in many Guideline plans is the Guideline IRA, though the plan document specifies the exact destination.

For balances above $7,000, the auto-rollover threshold does not apply — your funds stay in the Guideline plan as a terminated participant account until you take action. However, leaving a balance in a former employer's plan indefinitely is generally not optimal: you lose control over notification changes (address updates, beneficiary changes), the plan may change its investment lineup, and consolidation simplifies your financial picture and future RMD calculations.

The actionable point: when you separate from a Guideline employer, watch for the post-separation distribution notice email and respond proactively. Do not let the notice sit in your inbox for weeks. Responding promptly ensures you choose the rollover destination rather than having the plan default to the Guideline IRA auto-rollover path.

Three real scenarios

Scenario 1: Software engineer at 31 — evaluating Guideline IRA vs. Fidelity rollover IRA

Priya, 31, left her Series B startup after 2.5 years and a $128,000 Guideline 401(k) balance (fully vested — Safe Harbor plan with immediate vesting on employer 4% match). She already had a $24,000 Roth IRA at Fidelity and was contributing to a Backdoor Roth IRA through her new employer's Mega Backdoor Roth 401(k) plan. Her first instinct was to roll the Guideline balance to the Guideline IRA for simplicity.

Her advisor identified the Backdoor Roth issue immediately. Priya had no pre-tax IRA balance currently — her Fidelity account was entirely Roth. Rolling the $128,000 traditional (pre-tax) Guideline 401(k) to a traditional Guideline IRA would create $128,000 of pre-tax IRA balance. Her new employer's 401(k) plan (an Empower-administered plan) accepted incoming rollovers from IRAs. The reverse rollover path — move the traditional 401(k) balance to the new Empower plan — was available and would have preserved her zero pre-tax IRA balance needed for a clean Backdoor Roth. But she chose a different path: her new employer also offered a Mega Backdoor Roth 401(k) within the Empower plan, and the Backdoor Roth IRA contribution ($7,500/year at 2026 limits) was already being made via the back-door method. The $128,000 rollover to a traditional IRA would apply the pro-rata rule: of each future $7,500 Backdoor Roth conversion, only the fraction above the total pre-tax IRA balance ([$7,500 nondeductible IRA contribution ÷ $135,500 total IRA balance]) would be tax-free — approximately 5.5% tax-free, leaving 94.5% taxable. Over 5 years of $7,500 Backdoor Roth contributions, this created approximately $35,500 in extra taxable income vs. the zero-IRA-balance alternative.

Priya instead did a reverse rollover: she confirmed Empower would accept the incoming rollover, then rolled the Guideline 401(k) directly to her new Empower 401(k), keeping her pre-tax IRA balance at zero and preserving the full Backdoor Roth tax-free conversion path. This decision was worth approximately $35,500 in avoided taxable income over five years — a meaningful outcome that a "frictionless" Guideline IRA rollover would have permanently foreclosed.

Lesson: before accepting the Guideline IRA default path, evaluate your Backdoor Roth situation. The Guideline IRA is a traditional IRA — rolling pre-tax 401(k) money into it creates pre-tax IRA balance subject to the pro-rata rule. If you have an active Backdoor Roth strategy, consider the reverse rollover to the new employer's 401(k) first. If the new plan does not accept incoming rollovers, evaluate the long-term pro-rata tax cost against the convenience of the Guideline IRA.

Scenario 2: Startup operations manager at 57 — Rule of 55 preserved with partial rollover

Marcus, 57, was laid off when his Series D startup missed a funding round and went through a 40% reduction in force. His Guideline 401(k) held $475,000 — fully vested under a Safe Harbor plan. He had no new job lined up and planned to take 2–3 years to consult part-time while drawing down from savings. His financial plan required approximately $60,000/year in withdrawals for living expenses before he qualified for Medicare at 65 and could elect Social Security at 70.

Marcus separated from service in 2026 — the year he turned 57. This qualified him for the Rule of 55 exception under IRC § 72(t)(2)(A)(v): penalty-free early distributions from the Guideline plan he separated from, with no 10% early withdrawal penalty, until he turned 59½. Rolling the full $475,000 to a Fidelity IRA would have permanently eliminated this exception for those assets.

His advisor structured a partial rollover: keep $180,000 in the Guideline plan (30 months × $60,000/year, with a modest buffer) for Rule of 55 bridge distributions, and roll the remaining $295,000 to a Fidelity rollover IRA for a broader investment lineup. Marcus confirmed with Guideline that partial distributions were available post-separation and that he could take distributions on a schedule without Guideline imposing restrictions.

Over 2.5 years of Rule of 55 distributions totaling $150,000, the penalty savings were approximately $15,000 (10% of $150,000). His advisor also noted that the Guideline plan's Safe Harbor immediate vesting made this a clean calculation — no unvested employer contributions to recalculate. At age 59½, Marcus rolled the remaining Guideline balance to Fidelity for consolidation.

Lesson: Guideline's frictionless rollover portal makes it easy to roll everything out in one click — but for participants between 55 and 59½ with bridge income needs, a partial rollover strategy can save 10% in penalty taxes on the bridge distributions. Confirm partial distribution availability in the plan SPD and with Guideline participant services before executing. The operation requires two rollover requests (one for the IRA portion, one remaining in-plan), not one.

Scenario 3: FAANG engineer with Guideline plan from previous startup — IRMAA cliff management in early retirement

Rachel, 62, had $310,000 in a Guideline 401(k) from a startup she left at 55 — the account had been sitting as a terminated participant account since then, growing in low-cost index funds, as she moved to a larger tech company. She had recently retired at 62 with a large Fidelity rollover IRA ($1.4 million) from her most recent employer, and her advisor had already built a Roth conversion schedule to manage IRMAA in the window between retirement and her age-75 RMD start date (born 1963; SECURE 2.0 § 107 RMD age is 75⁷).

The Guideline 401(k) was an orphaned account that Rachel had not thought about in seven years. Her advisor recommended rolling it to the Fidelity rollover IRA for RMD simplification and to bring it under the same Roth conversion plan. The rollover was straightforward: Guideline liquidated the positions, mailed an FBO check to Fidelity, and the full $310,000 was consolidated within three weeks. Rachel updated her mailing address in app.guideline.com first — it still showed her address from 2019.

The more interesting decision was timing. Rachel's Roth conversion plan was already filling the bracket to $218,000 MAGI (the 2026 married-filing-jointly IRMAA first-tier threshold⁸) each year from the Fidelity IRA. Adding the $310,000 Guideline balance to the conversion pool did not change the annual conversion amount — just the total conversion runway. But it prompted her advisor to model a Roth conversion acceleration strategy: since Rachel was not yet on Medicare (enrolled at 65), she could convert more aggressively in 2026–2026 before the 2-year IRMAA lookback applied at all, then taper back to the IRMAA threshold once Medicare began. This front-loaded conversion — made possible by the full picture of the consolidated IRA balance including the formerly orphaned Guideline account — reduced the projected total tax cost of eventual RMDs by approximately $38,000 over the next 13 years.

Lesson: orphaned Guideline 401(k) accounts from prior employers are common among tech workers who have changed jobs multiple times. Rolling them into a consolidated rollover IRA not only simplifies RMD management but gives your advisor a complete picture for Roth conversion optimization. Update your mailing address in app.guideline.com before initiating — accounts dormant for years often have stale address data that delays the FBO check.

When to get a specialist involved

A straightforward Guideline rollover — fully vested Safe Harbor plan, rolling to Guideline IRA, no active Backdoor Roth, age over 59½ — can typically be initiated through app.guideline.com without specialist guidance. A fee-only rollover specialist adds clear value when any of these apply:

• Active Backdoor Roth IRA contributions — evaluating whether rolling to a traditional IRA (Guideline IRA or external) triggers the pro-rata rule and whether a reverse rollover to the new employer's plan preserves the clean Backdoor Roth structure
• Ages 55–59½ with bridge income needs — partial rollover strategy to preserve the Rule of 55 for the portion needed before 59½ while accessing broader investment options with the rest
• Profit-sharing contributions with uncertain vesting — confirming vested balance and whether approaching a vesting cliff warrants delaying the rollover by weeks or months
• Large orphaned Guideline account from a prior startup — integrating it into an existing Roth conversion plan and optimizing the conversion schedule around RMD start dates and IRMAA thresholds
• Outstanding plan loan with QPLO October 15 deadline approaching — ensuring the loan offset rollover is completed correctly within the extended IRS deadline
• IRMAA cliff management — sequencing Roth conversions from the rollover IRA below the $109,000 single / $218,000 MFJ Medicare surcharge threshold in the retirement-to-RMD window

1. SECURE 2.0 Act § 304, Automatic Rollover Threshold Increase: IRS — SECURE 2.0 Act Changes Affecting Defined Contribution Plans and DOL — Retirement Plans and ERISA FAQs — SECURE 2.0 § 304 increased the mandatory automatic rollover threshold for involuntary plan distributions from $5,000 to $7,000 for plan years beginning after December 31, 2023. Plans may automatically roll accounts at or below this threshold to a default IRA when the participant separates. Verified June 2026.
2. IRC § 3405(c), Mandatory Withholding on Eligible Rollover Distributions: IRS Publication 575 — Pension and Annuity Income — The 20% mandatory federal income tax withholding applies to eligible rollover distributions paid directly to the participant rather than as a direct rollover to an eligible plan or IRA. A direct rollover is exempt from mandatory withholding. Verified June 2026.
3. IRC § 402(c)(3), 60-Day Rollover Requirement and Indirect Rollover Rules: IRS — Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions — Indirect rollovers must be completed within 60 days of the date the participant receives the distribution. The self-certification waiver under Rev. Proc. 2016-47 may apply in qualifying circumstances. Verified June 2026.
4. IRC § 401(k)(12) and (13), Safe Harbor 401(k) Immediate Vesting: IRS — 401(k) Resource Guide for Plan Participants — Safe Harbor 401(k) employer contributions (matching under § 401(k)(12) and nonelective under § 401(k)(13)/QACA) must vest immediately at 100% as a condition of Safe Harbor plan status. This immediate vesting requirement cannot be modified by the plan sponsor. Verified June 2026.
5. ERISA § 203(a)(2), Minimum Vesting Standards: DOL — Retirement Plans: Vesting and IRS — Retirement Topics: Vesting — ERISA § 203(a)(2) sets minimum vesting standards: cliff vesting must reach 100% by end of year 3; graded vesting must reach 100% by end of year 6. Safe Harbor contributions subject to immediate vesting are exempt from these minimums. Profit-sharing contributions may follow a separate schedule set by the plan sponsor. Verified June 2026.
6. Rule of 55, IRC § 72(t)(2)(A)(v): IRS — Retirement Topics: Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions — The age-55 rule provides an exception to the 10% early withdrawal penalty for distributions from a 401(k) or 403(b) plan when the participant separates from service in or after the year they turn age 55. This exception applies only to the employer plan from which the participant separated — not to IRAs or other employer plans. Rolling assets to a traditional IRA permanently forfeits this exception for the rolled amounts. Verified June 2026.
7. SECURE 2.0 § 107, RMD Age Increase: IRS — Retirement Topics: Required Minimum Distributions — Under SECURE 2.0 Act § 107, the required beginning date is April 1 of the calendar year following the year the participant turns age 73 (born 1951–1959) or age 75 (born 1960 or later). Verified June 2026.
8. IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, 2026 IRMAA thresholds: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — Establishes 2026 ordinary income tax brackets and thresholds. The Medicare Part B IRMAA first-tier threshold for 2026 is $109,000 (single filer) and $218,000 (married filing jointly) based on 2024 MAGI (2-year lookback). Roth conversions that push MAGI above the IRMAA threshold increase Medicare Part B premiums two years forward. Verified June 2026.

Guideline platform descriptions, portal navigation, cost model, fund lineup characteristics, and distribution processes reflect publicly available Guideline documentation and general 401(k) plan administration practices as of June 2026 and may vary significantly by individual plan configuration and employer plan terms. Contact Guideline participant services and review your plan's Summary Plan Description to confirm your specific plan structure, vesting schedule, distribution options, and rollover process before initiating any rollover. ERISA and IRC citations are consistent with 2026 law as verified across sibling pages of this site.