How Do We Access Retirement Savings Without Penalty

[dian_love]

Hello All

I a newbie but I have read these boards non stop for days on end getting information and doing calculations. I am 30 and my husband is 32. We are on plan to retire at 55 and 57 respectively.

The one thing I have not quite figured out from reading the boards is how are the early retired folks accessing their retirement funds before 59 1/2 without the hefty penalties.

[REWahoo]

Google 72t.

[kat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dian_love Hello All I a newbie but I have read these boards non stop for days on end getting information and doing calculations. I am 30 and my husband is 32. We are on plan to retire at 55 and 57 respectively. The one thing I have not quite figured out from reading the boards is how are the early retired folks accessing their retirement funds before 59 1/2 without the hefty penalties.

Others can say more about the tax rules about accessing retirement money early.

I just want to say some of us, like me, are using taxable savings to retire early. I'm letting tax deferred and tax free retirement money grow (hopefully) to access much later. Since you're planning so far ahead, you may find it easy to save the money you need for the few years (55 to 59) before retirement funds become available.

[Coach]

dian_love, here's a useful article: Early Withdrawals.

Coach

[RetireeRobert]

What kind of emloyer pension plans do you have? Some plans may let you retire and take pension benefits with no penalty at ages 55 or older.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireeRobert What kind of emloyer pension plans do you have? Some plans may let you retire and take pension benefits with no penalty at ages 55 or older.

Most folks today don't have traditional pensions........

[LOL!]

Although it is possible to do so, I think it is very rare for early retirees to access their pseudo-off-limits-before-59.5 retirement investments before age 59.5. They almost always have some other investments or gig that gets them to that age and beyond.

It could be taxable investments, a military pension, another pension that started early, an inheritence, a working spouse, etc.

Maybe we need a poll to find out?