Less than a year ago I crossed a magical line in the legislative sand.
I turned 59.5.
Yeah, I know, that’s kind of an odd number, isn’t it?
Tell that to Congress though. They made that age a critical milepost in letting us access our own money from tax-deferred retirement accounts such as traditional IRAs and 401(k) plans.
If you’re younger than 59.5 and want to make a withdrawal from your non-Roth 401(k), beyond the income taxes you’ll owe on the portion of the withdrawal that comes from investment returns, adding insult to injury, you’ll also need to pay a 10-percent penalty.