Wall Street has done a remarkably thorough job of brainwashing investors into rolling their old 401(k) accounts into individual retirement accounts.
IRA rollovers are certainly a better option than cashing out, which is the stupidest thing you can do with a 401(k) account other than not fund it in the first place. But moving money from a workplace retirement plan to an IRA when you switch jobs or retire can be a really lousy idea.
In my latest for Nerdwallet, why you need to think twice before rolling over a 401(k).