401k

We have been in your shoes and let me tell you about it. Since our housefire, my hubby had rolled his retirement into some account he could touch. We in the three years since he has dipped into it and used it just because we were tight. We now have no retirement and don't know where it will come from other than working later in life. May not be able to and therefore a lousy retirement time. If at all possible put it away for when you cannot work. Communicate with people you owe and work something out with them. Protect youself.

I cashed one out from a job early in my career to reinvest in some real estate and I regret it now. The best thing to do is roll it over and not touch it. You'll be glad you did 20 years down the road. I know it might be tough now, but my wife and I have recently gone on a budget and slashed our monthly expenses. It's really fun trying to find places to cut back and has actually improved our communication as a husband and wife. We are getting so into it, our goal was to do this for twelve months and now we don't see ourselves stopping anytime soon.

If you're not old enough to start withdrawing from it without penalty, do not do it! You will lose 50% of what you withdraw to taxes and penalties from the IRS and the state. If you withdraw $10,000 to pay bills, then plan on owing $5,000 of that in taxes and penalties. That's pretty steep and not worth it in my opinion. That is your retirement and you need to leave it alone. I know things are tight for you financially right now, but I don't think using your 401k is the answer. You are really hurting yourself in the long run and just handing your hard earned money over to the government for no good reason. Sorry. Hugs to you!

Melanie and tiffsmom are right. The penalties are high. If it is possible to roll it over do it. It would only be 25% at one of those quick loan places and no taxes on it. If you have a person that does your taxes, call them or go in and ask them because with out knowing personal information no one can give you a good answer. Even if they charge you a few dollars it will be worth the cost in the long run.

Wow that is a lot of money what are you going to do with all of that. No I am sorry I do not know the way that it works for you in the United States, I only know here in Australia but good luck and I do wish you luck with that amount of money to do the right thing for yourself.

Usually I think there is some hardship clause, you should check it out before you start work. I don't know too much about it but that's how I got mine when I was out on disability..two times now..lol

I worked for a financial planner in FL. The best thing to do is talk to one where you live. Make sure that the first (and hopefully only) meeting with him/her is free of any charges. Find out what is best for you to do in YOUR situation. Everyone's situation is not the same. I see that you are under the age where you could draw it without a penalty, so be prepared for that if you do pull it out. If you look up 401K on the internet, I'm sure you will also find some good information. Be sure to check into a hardship case...I think they consider those now.

Just the ira's. Or, perhaps a bond. I would make sure I could have it handy though, for an emergeny.

Is it possible to cash in some of your 401K to pay off the outstanding bills(remembering there is a tax on it)and roll over the rest?It does take away some of your retirement money,but will relieve you of some stress and worries now.

Your 401k is either handled by your own firm (work) or by someone else who represents them. Contact them. The information should be on your statements you get regularly from the 401k. They should be able to direct you. To be honest, if you don't have to take the money don't. The taxes you pay are exuberant. There may also be some ways to avoid taxation if it's used to save your home, such as if you're in foreclosure or they are threatening foreclosure but I'm not 100% on what the rules are. You definitely want to consult a professional and my guess is that the company that holds the 401k will be best as they will most likely lend support for free.

I had to cash half my 401K plan into pay off debts that were NOT mine this was in 2006 and I had to pay interest on it. When I filed my taxes I did not have the 1099 form for it so I forgot about it. Then at the beginnign of Feb I got a 1099 stating I had paid $4,000.00 in taxes so I had an amended income tax return done and now I am waiting on another refund of $368.00 and it can't come soon enough. If you need that money to live on while things are tough then there is not much you can do about it. The rest of what was left on mine I rolled over into an IRA accounts and it is earning a little. So if you have anything left I would suggest your roll it over.

I see this is a month old and it may be too late to give this advice but here it is anyway. We just borrowed 5,000 from our 401K and it the interest paying it back is high. If we take ours out early, the government taxes it and takes a percentage of it. WE would end up loosing nearly 1/4 to 1/2 of it. Be very careful adn check to see how much you will loose. We had to borrow it to pay some of my hospital bills and what we borrowed did not even pay 1/4 of what we owe but at one hospital, they offered me a deal that we could not pass up. If we would pay 1/2 of the bill we owed to them, they would consider it paid in full so we saved over $5,000 by borrowing the money from our 401K.

If you do cash it in, please make sure to pay the taxes up front. meaning, have them take it out of the amount instead of you paying at the end of the year.

elusive please promise me that you are not going to cash out your 401k, you will seriously regret it. Your profile says that you are 49 years young. That means that you are about 16 years from retirement. That money needs to go towards your retirement. the problem is that there are so many people in this country that are not ready for retirement and end up working until the day that they die. i dont want you to have to do that. here is what you do. Go to an invesment website ie: Fidelity, and roll your 401k into an IRA account. By rolling your money into an IRA you can roll the money over without any penalties, and your money will remain tax deferred. I hope that all works out, and I know you made this post some time ago, and I really hope that you have not done anything with that money yet.