And the post-tax contributions will come to you as cash, to do with as you choose

I have a question regarding this process. If I leave at the age of 30, say, and have a mixture of pre- and post-tax contributions to my 401k, I can rollover the pre-tax funds to a Rollover(Conduit) IRA, right? Any earnings from these funds will be rolled over as well with all taxes deferred until distribution. But what about the post-tax contributions? The way I understand it, the reason for contributing post-tax funds is because the earnings are tax exempt, similar to a Roth. Is that true? What about the post-tax earnings?

In the scenario Phooley mentioned it seems that all pre-tax contributions and ALL earnings will be rolled over to a Conduit IRA, while post-tax contributions will be distributed. Am I understanding what you are saying? Also, Phooley, would those post-tax contributions be distributed as a qualified distribution?

Sorry if these are old questions, I am attempting to figure out what I should max out in terms of retirement money. Please point me to the posts or links if these have already been answered multiple times. Thanks

Gabe