401K Question

[SavingBucks]

My son (who is finally thinking about finances) has an old traditional 401K when he worked at Jamba Juice. Per the only statement he knows about, this account is being held by Wells Fargo and the investment itself is in Vanguard Target Retirement 2055 Inv. The balance is very low -- $350 or so and fees are way too high -- $19 per year. This should be the time that my son rolls this account elsewhere and also converts this into a Roth IRA since his income is low.
There is contact info on the last page of the statement for rollovers, etc.
1. Can he go to Vanguard.com and open an account and transfer and convert this fund directly to them?
2. DH and I have funds both at Vanguard and Fidelity. At a Fidelity center near my home, it was indicated that the fund could also be under their umbrella as well at no extra cost. Or he could switch to a Fidelity no-cost fund.

It just does not seem productive leaving the 401K with Wells Fargo. For my son's future employment, he will probably be working in the public sector and will be contributing to a 457b.

Any opinions? Thank you in advance.

[Petunia 100]

I would just call either Vanguard or Fidelity (your choice), tell them what you want to do, and have them help with the paperwork. Yes, you can roll directly into a Roth IRA.

For sure your son should roll it; there is no good reason to allow that annual fee to eat into his account balance.

BTW, Schwab also has low-cost target date retirement funds built with index funds, and the funds have no minimum. Vanguard has a 1k minimum for their target date funds; I don't know about Fidelity. Of course, your son can go the ETF route to get around the minimum. But if he really wants to stick with mutual funds, the Schwab target retirement index funds are a fine choice.