How to Check 401(k) Balance and Log In to Access An Account

Keeping on top of your finances, especially your retirement savings plan, can provide a pathway to improving them. A working knowledge of all your accounts – and, where they’re located – can help put you on the path to financial wellness for your retirement planning. Checking your 401(k) balance(s) and understanding your investment options is a big part of developing that knowledge. Unfortunately, many Americans don’t know how to access their 401(k) retirement account, complicating regular check-ins on their account balance.

We now know that Americans stand to lose up to $700,000 in retirement funds throughout their investing lives by forgetting about their old, expensive, and dormant retirement plans. This speaks volumes about the need for people to exert greater control over their personal finances – especially if it’s scattered across many different accounts at different financial institutions.

Here, we’ll discuss how to log in and check your 401(k) balance, give some guidance on how to find a missing or lost 401(k), and provide some thoughts on what to do with your old plan once you’ve found it.

How to check your 401(k) balance

If you know where your 401(k) account is, checking your 401(k) account balance is simple. There are three main ways: logging into your 401(k) provider’s site, calling your company’s plan administrator and receiving a balance update over the phone, or reviewing your latest mailed statement.

If you have multiple 401(k)s left from multiple previous jobs, you’ll need to perform these steps for each account you’ve left behind. You might have different login credentials for each account, even if your previous employer’s human resources department (commonly called an HR department) used the same 401(k) provider. Be sure to write down the specific information related to each employer and save it to make it easier to access later.

Three main ways to check your 401(k) balance:

1. Check your balance online
2. Check your balance over the phone
3. Check your balance from a mailed statement

We discuss each method in detail below.

1. Log in and check your 401(k) balance online

Typically, checking your 401(k) balance online requires nothing more than navigating your browser to your 401(k) provider’s site and providing your login credentials. Even if you haven’t contributed much or at all to the account, it’s still worth taking a few minutes to explore your retirement plan’s performance, allocation, and fees to make sure you’re fully optimizing your savings. It can also be helpful to work with a qualified financial advisor to get professional guidance once you’ve located your old plans.

2. Check your 401(k) balance over the phone

This is an archaic way of checking your 401(k) balance, but it’s still possible to check it by phone. You can usually find contact information, including a phone number, on your 401(k) provider’s website.

Before calling, have your Social Security number, other key pieces of personal information like your full name and address, and even your Employee ID number or other unique access numbers you may have been given throughout your employment.

3. Check your 401(k) balance in mailed statements

Many people still opt to receive paper statements from their 401(k) plan provider. If you’ve opted in to mailed statements, you can reference your monthly statement to see your 401(k) balance. If you’d prefer to access your 401(k) account online, you can contact your 401(k) plan provider and reference your account number found on your statement to regain access to your account.

How do I find my 401(k)?

If you don’t know where your 401(k) account is, you have a few options to locate it. Your 401(k) retirement savings plan – either traditional or Roth – is most easily located by logging on to your 401(k) provider’s website. If you don’t know who your 401(k) provider is, you can check with your employer’s human resources department, current plan administrator, or previous plan administrator, or by looking it up using your Social Security number (SSN) with Capitalize’s free 401(k) finder. If you want to try this, you can search on your own using the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits, which maintains a database of lost or forgotten retirement plans.

Even if you’ve left your old employer, checking your old 401(k) provider’s website is still the easiest way to find your retirement savings in your old account. It doesn’t matter if you left by choice or were laid off; your 401(k) should still be located in the same place.

If you had a small balance (less than $1,000), you may have been cashed out from your former plan. If you had a slightly larger balance (less than $5,000), you may automatically be rolled into an IRA. In either case, you should have received documentation if either of these happened. 

Note that checking your 401(k) provider’s website won’t be helpful if you’ve rolled your 401(k) retirement savings into an IRA at an outside provider after leaving your old job if you’ve liquidated your account, or if you haven’t contributed any money to the plan (though some employers do provide small amounts of money to 401(k) plans by default, so it’s worthwhile to check your account even if you haven’t put any money in yourself.)

Nevertheless, the most common way to check your current or new 401(k) account is to check online through your 401(k) provider’s website. Alternatively, you can check your 401(k) account by phone if you don’t have access to a computer and don’t want to use your phone’s browser.

Finally, if you’ve lost access to any of your 401(k) retirement accounts – which can happen if you left an employer many years ago and never took any action – there’s no need to worry. The team at Capitalize has created a 401(k) finder tool to help you find it.

You’ll need the name of your old 401(k) provider to find it, but the more detail you have, the better. If you don’t have the name of your old 401(k) provider, we can help you find it by using your former employer’s name. If you can’t find your 401(k), we can take additional steps to help you locate it.

What should I do once I’ve found my 401(k)?

Success! If you’ve found your old employer’s 401(k), you have a few options:

Do nothing

This works if you’re happy with the 401(k) as it’s currently invested, and you’re satisfied with the account in its entirety (this includes fees, customer service, etc.)

Best if:

You have an inexpensive, simple 401(k) plan that serves your needs adequately, and you also don’t have many other accounts.

Cash it out

You always have the option of cashing out your 401(k), or taking your retirement funds out of the account to use in any way you wish. But be aware that the IRS will come knocking: you’ll be on the hook for federal, state, and local taxes, plus a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you’re under the age of 59.5. Doing so before then will incur an early withdrawal penalty.

Best if:

You have a small balance (only a few hundred dollars or less) and don’t want to take the time to go through with a rollover.

Roll it over to an Individual Retirement Account (also known as an IRA account)

Consider rolling over your 401(k) to an IRA. Most IRAs will offer a wider range of investment choices than most 401(k)s, sometimes even including index funds or mutual funds. Some IRAs may also have significantly cheaper fees, depending on the 401(k) provider. You’ll want to be aware of IRA contribution limits if you’re looking at opening a new IRA.

Best if:

Your 401(k) plan is unnecessarily complex or expensive, or if you want to invest in securities other than mutual funds. Also can help you bring brokerage accounts under one roof. Rollovers generally indicate that you’re keeping on top of your finances, even though they aren’t mandatory.

 Merge it with your current 401(k)

This could be for you if your current employer offers a 401(k) plan, and one that allows 401(k) “roll-ins”. If so, you can bring your old 401(k) over to your new plan, which keeps things under one roof.

Best if:

You value the 401(k) structure and believe your new employer’s 401(k) plan is superior to your previous one. Merging your 401(k) can also simplify your finances and make management easier. Note that you may miss out on some investment choices and options, like mutual funds or index funds, depending on your current 401(k) plan provider.

Additional considerations

No matter what you decide to do with your nest egg, give it some thought first. Generally, fewer accounts will be easier to maintain and invest optimally, but you might not need to move your 401(k) if it’s serving its purpose in its current location. Always have your retirement goals top of mind before you make a call. It can even be helpful to get investment advice from a financial advisor, who can better help you understand your investment choices and craft an investment strategy with you.

Consider exploring your investment options and strategy

Beyond checking your balance, consider reviewing how your money is invested and the investment options available to you at your company. From there, take your 401(k) balance in the context of your broader financial picture to determine how much risk is appropriate.

The process looks the same whether you have a traditional, tax-deferred 401(k), or a less-common Roth 401(k). If you have both, you might see the balances broken out by tax status once you locate your account.

Consider consolidating your retirement funds

From there, you’ll have slightly different options when it comes to moving the accounts (i.e., you’d only be able to roll over a Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA), but to check your balance, there’s nothing more to think about.

If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it. You can either reach out to your 401(k) provider directly, or you can seek the help of a qualified fiduciary advisor, like a Certified Financial Planner (CFP(R)) practitioner. They can help you make an informed decision on rolling over your 401(k).

Regardless, be sure that the advice you choose to follow is in your best interests as an investor. Specifically, be sure that you understand – explicitly – all services you’re entitled to receive and all fees you’re expected to pay as a client.

Find and access your old 401(k)s with Capitalize

If you think you might have lost your 401(k) – or perhaps you don’t remember if you had one in the first place – Capitalize is here to assist. Using your Social Security number, you can try locating your old 401(k) or use the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits. You can also search the U.S. Department of Labor’s Abandoned Plan Database. Best of all, these tools are free to use.

The cost of a forgotten 401(k) retirement account can approach $700,000 for an individual over their lifetime. That’s no small sum – which is why we’re here to help. We can manage the entire 401(k) rollover process for you – from finding your old 401(k) to helping you pick a new IRA that best fits your needs – we’ll do it all for free.

Get started today to find your lost 401(k).

Consulting a financial planner:

If you feel you need more advanced advice on investment strategy, please consult with a qualified tax advisor or financial planner.