If I fully vested in my 401K but no longer with the company may I take it. Even if I had a hardship Jan 2006?

Answer 1

been there done that! if you are aren't expecting much income to file for 2006 you will be alright, its pretty easy to avoid the 10% penalty to get the distribution in the first place and you can use the hardship withdrawel again...tax time is when you got to watch..if it is truly a hardship you will be alright because of the income level. check this out...401khelpcenter.com

Answer 2

Not sure what you mean by a hardship early this year, but if you're fully vested in your 401K, it's your money and you can do whatever you want with it, within limits. Since it's a retirement account, you SHOULDN'T touch it until you're 65 -- depending on the rules of the particular investment company that manages your 401K, there are any number of fees for early withdrawal. No longer working with the company only means you're no longer making contributions to your 401K, but it still continues to accrue interest until you retire, at which time it is considered "mature." The other thing you can do is roll it over into another retirement account like an IRA; the money's always yours, but transferring money between retirement accounts means it never passes through your hands and there should be no penalty.

Answer 3

You can certainly rollover the funds into a different 401k.

But if you are going to withdraw the funds before retirement, you had better meet the IRS tests for hardship if you want to avoid the penalties. Find the IRS booklet on 401k withdrawals first.