5 tips to protect your lump sum

— -- Will you outlive your savings? Building a nest egg was tough enough. Managing it is an even bigger challenge. Here are five tips that might help you protect your retirement savings.

•Don't be hasty about rolling over your money. If you want to transfer your money to an IRA, but don't know how to invest it, move it to a money market fund at a discount brokerage firm until you figure out the appropriate mix of investments, advises Sheryl Garrett, founder of the Garrett Planning Network of hourly, fee-only advisers.

And make sure you do a direct rollover, also called a trustee-to-trustee transfer, which moves money electronically to your financial provider of choice. The alternative is to get a check for your lump sum. The problem is, you'd have to get this money into an IRA within 60 days; otherwise, you could face taxes on the distribution and a 10% tax penalty for early withdrawal.

•Find a competent financial adviser. Check out the websites of the Financial Planning Association and the Garrett Planning Network.

Financial planners in the Garrett Planning Network usually offer fee-only, pay-by-the hour advice, and might be a good fit if you are a do-it-yourself investor and want a one-time check-up or regular financial reviews. Financial Planning Association offers planners for investors of all levels of financial sophistication.

Ask the adviser for references and a copy of his or her ADV form — get both parts I and II — to find out about fees and qualifications, as well as disciplinary or legal issues against him or her.

Also check a broker's background, free, at the website of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-regulatory body for brokers. Or pay $49 for a report from Investor's Watchdog, a company started by Pat Huddleston, a former enforcement branch chief in Atlanta for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Huddleston says his firm's report contains information not necessarily in FINRA's database, including investment cases that were settled and expunged from the broker's record. The report also assigns a "safety rating" to the broker of between 40 and 80 — with 80 being best — based partly on the broker's education, employment and disciplinary history.