Ames 401k

[DebWV]

Does anyone know if the money we had in our 401k is gone? When I worked there, it was my first job, where I had the opportunity to participate in a 401k, so I had ZERO knowledge about how it worked. So, after working there for over 10 yrs, I quit in 1999 and as we know, they closed a few yrs later. I NEVER gave my 401k a single thought until recently cause retirement age is rapidly approaching. And I remembered, hey! I had money in 401k with Ames. Any answers or info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
DebWV
special38@hotmail.com

[TheFugitive]

A 401K is your money.  Ames or the fund administrator would not be allowed to just keep it.
If the amount you had in the fund were very small they likely would have just cashed you out and sent you a check when they went out of business.  But aside from that, unless you rolled it over into an IRA at some point the money should still be invested with some fund manager under your name.

I left Ames in 1992 so offhand I don't recall even who the fund manager was.
It is American Funds in my current job. It is curious that you appear to still have
the fund but the fund manager has not been sending you any updates regarding the investments or fund balance.  American Funds stuffs my mailbox with correspondence
all the time.

Do you have any old tax records from before you left Ames?  If so they likely would have a 401K statement with them, as you would have had to demonstrate why those earnings were not being taxed.  That documentation should include the identity of a fund manager whom you can contact (although it may take some research as after this many years they may have been involved in a merger or acquisition).

I also found this article on the subject which might be helpful.  Good luck!

https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/how-to-find-previous-401k-accounts.aspx

[DebWV]

Thank you for the link. I've sent them an email to see if they can help me. I do have the last financial report when I quit Ames in Sep 1999. I find it strange, that I never received any correspondence from Ames or the IRS concerning my 401k. Anyway, if I'm understanding correctly, the American Express was who my 401k was through. They put my money into the different funds. Of course, when I try to contact American Express online, they think I'm talking about their credit card. I'm going to give the National Registry time to reply back to me and if I don't hear from them or they can't help me, I guess I could always contact the IRS, right?
Thanks again for your help!

[TheFugitive]

What happened to me at Hills was that they had sold the company to Ames (by which time I had
already left and gotten out of retail).  As part of consolidating the 401Ks of the two firms they just
closed out any that were below a certain amount that was allowed by law.  I did not get any prior
warning on this, just a check showing up in the mail one day.  I was not happy because I got nailed
on the taxes.

Are you sure this did not happen to yours at some point?  Perhaps around the same time of the
Ames-Hills merger?