Vanguard’s How America Saves 2026 report found the most common reasons for tapping a 401(k) in advance were to avoid ...

Learn the essential withdrawal rules for Roth 401(k)s to prevent taxes and penalties, ensuring you're optimizing your ...

Dipping into your 401(k) before age 59½ usually means penalties, taxes and lost earnings. But there are some exceptions.

Some experts recommend the “guardrails” approach.

Early withdrawals are generally subject to a 10% penalty, in addition to normal income taxes. But there are lots of exceptions—including some new ones. Here’s the latest. One source Americans consider ...

There are more ways than ever to use your retirement account as an ATM. But those transactions come at a cost.

You can take withdrawals from your 401(k) before you retire but in most cases you will pay a penalty in addition to income ...

You’ve saved, invested and planned — and now you’re finally ready to retire. But in some ways, the hard work is far from over because you still need to answer a very important question: How do you ...

You spend your entire career saving for retirement. Unfortunately, once the time for retirement comes, many people who have diligently saved end up making a major mistake with the money they've put ...

Zina Kumok is a freelance personal finance writer based in Indianapolis. She paid off her own student loans in three years. She also offers one-on-one financial coaching sessions at ConsciousCoins.com ...

Generally, you should only make 401(k) withdrawals as you enter retirement, but there are certain situations in which you may do so earlier in life. Generally, withdrawing money from a 401(k) can take ...

More Americans are digging into their retirement savings for emergency expenses, research from Vanguard shows.