During challenging financial times, people often consider withdrawing money from their 401(k) plans. Balances in 401(k) plans are deceiving. They are not like checking accounts where what you see is ...

So, you’ve done a good job of saving for retirement and have a nice balance in your retirement account. Then a problem comes up and you are unable to pay a rather large financial obligation. There ...

For most Americans, saving for retirement means opening an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan and contributing to it regularly. Ideally, those contributions will continue for decades, with no need to tap ...

If you’re thinking about how to withdraw money from a 401(k) before retirement, you’re not alone. Life happens — from job loss to medical bills — and sometimes you need to access your retirement ...

We've received several e-mails from readers who say they're facing difficult times financially and want to know the status of Obama's pledge to ease penalties for early withdrawals from 401(k) ...

Readers have asked us regularly over the last few weeks about penalty-free 401(k) hardship withdrawals. Taking a chunk from their retirement savings would tide them over through the recession, they ...

Typically, the IRS prevents you from cashing out your 401(k) until you reach the age of 59½ years old. How they do this is by sticking a 10% penalty on early 401(k) withdrawals, and that’s on top of ...

Tapping into your retirement savings early may seem like a risky idea, but there are many reasons why you may have to take money from your 401(k) before retirement. These accounts are meant to support ...