Take a look at
http://www.retireearlyhomepage.com/wdraw59.html
If you have retired after age 55, then I think you can take withdrawals from the 401k. *Your options for withdrawals are to take withdrawals from the 401k or to roll it over to an IRA and take withdrawals from it. *There are advantages and disadvantages to each way. *
Personally, I rolled the pre tax portion of mine over to an IRA, and the after tax portion to an after tax account. *I am 50, so the age 55 withdrawal from a 401k was not an option. *And I find 'forever' type paperwork and tracking a real nuisance, so I seperated the pre and after tax portions. *Now I live on the after tax portion, with a small annual SEPP withdrawal to move money from the IRA to after tax. * The withdrawal was sized to keep me near the top of the tax bracket, without going into the next one. *That decision was based on analyzing output from ORP and seeing what it was recommending (i-orp.com)
Wayne
(edited by admin to fix typo in URL)