If you roll it into a Traditional IRA it should be done by the plan custodian with a direct trustee-to-trustee rollover which will avoid the mandatory 20% tax withholding if you receive the funds and deposit yourself into a IRA.
Once in a Traditional IRA (if a self directed IRA such as Charles Schwab) you can invest in any securities that you want and can take distributions any time that you want, only paying tax on that distribution until age 70 1/2 when you must take Mandatory Minimum Distributions (RMD's).
(The procedure would to be to open an IRA account with a IRA custodian or financial institution of your choosing and then inform the 401(k) plan custodian that you want a direct transfer of the 401(k) funds to that IRA account. They would either make an electronic transfer of the funds or issue a check to you in the name of the IRA account and IRA custodian for you to deliver to the IRA custodian - either way it is a direct transfer and the check is not payable to you but to your IRA so no 20% withholding is required).
**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**
