You need to roll your 401(k) to either you new companies 401(k) or move it to an IRA account at a brokerage firm. I usually rolled my 401(k) to my IRA account. There aren't any restrictions as to what funds, stocks, or bonds you can invest.

Using a post-tax 401(k) isn't the best idea in terms of saving for retirement. There isn't any tax benefits for you, instead more of a tax penalty when you withdraw. Instead you should have been investing post tax into a Roth IRA. Either way, your post tax contributions is your money.

You can't withdraw any 401(k) money until you reach 59.5 years. You should have a beneficiary set up when you first enrolled into the plan. Depending you manages your account, you probably need to speak with the company to see if that's a viable option.

Best thing is to roll it over into an IRA. The company managing the 401K can probably take care of the rollover and you can leave the funds in the same investments.

You can change the beneficiaries to your kids but I think that takes a sign off by your spouse.

Don't take any cash withdrawl. You will have to pay a 10% early withdrawl penalty for withdrawls before age 59-1/2. You will also have to pay income taxes.

Totally depends on how the sale was structured. If you're given the opportunity to take a distribution then you were essentially terminated from your old employer and rehired by the new one. If that's the case then you can take any distributions penalty free. If you terminate services from an employer after the age of 55 then you can withdraw from your 401k penalty free. This is not an option from an IRA.

You can leave your 401k with the plan administrator of your former employer but eventually they will be hitting your account for heavy fees as they try to distribute the funds. Better to look now for a better alternative. One of the alternatives might be your new employer's 401k. Depends on the funds offered if this is a good idea. I tend to like keeping them with new employers as it's easier to track, but sometimes the fund expenses are so high as to make this not a good idea (front end loads are prime examples). Again, if you can take a distribution then yes, you can take your post-tax money. Likely you can take it even if you can't take the distribution...check your SPD for this one.

Lastly...can you distribute to your children. Check tax rates...if you do it now then it's subject to YOUR tax rate and is limited to gift limits. Possible that it could be double taxed. You can avoid that if you name them as beneficiary and they receive it after you pass. If it's passed to them as a death benefit then it's treated as income to them but more importantly they can roll it over and postpone the tax for a period of time.

You need to find a financial advisor that will work on a fee basis. You're right in that your balance isn't very big but they still should work with you on a fixed fee basis (ie $125/hour) and not rely on the trail...those that want the trail are greedy lil buggers!