In debt, recently divorced and unemployed. want to withdraw money to pay debt and expenses until find job. sug

Question

about 50, granf in debt and 100k in 401 k

any suggestioins

Answer 1

Get rid of the debt entirely by paying it all off at once, cut up the credit cards and call the companies to close them.  At that point, you have zero debt (except house and utilities) and you can breathe alot easier and go looking for a job without worrying too much about the pressure of other debts over your head.

Answer 2

rollover the 401k balance to an IRA and then take out as little as possible because you'll have to pay taxes and 10% penalty on all withdrawals (including any extra you have to take out to pay the actual taxes if you don;t have enough extra withheld from jobs thru the year

Answer 3

Eek your 401 is gonna get hit with mad tax. It also depends on how old you are. If you're say under 40 you still have some time to re-earn what you've lost. You'll forfeit the contribution room forever but you can pick up where you left off.

First things first, dust yourself off and get a job.