A Rollover is when you take receipt of your assets for up to 60 days before reinvesting in a new retirement plan. For example, John (age 40) has a traditional IRA. He takes $30,000 of those funds, payable to himself, and places the money into his personal bank account. Within 60 days he finds a custodian that he wants to work with and writes a check from his personal account to them and establishes a new IRA rollover account.