I’m lowering my contribution. I’ve been putting money into it…got like 35k in there and I went to withdraw some of it (I’m only 24 - so to me it’s hardly a big deal being that I have 40+ more years to work) to use for my wedding at the end of summer and they told me I have two options:
Take a loan from my account (which will cut into my take home pay as it gets paid from each of your checks)
or
Do a hardship withdrawal.
Problem is…hardship is like eviction, medical bills, etc. Not weddings.
It’s MY F’IN MONEY + the match that I have EARNED from my company for working there so many years! WTF does the IRS have to do with what is sitting in my 401k? I’ll gladly take it out and pay the necessary taxes on it so they get their ‘uncle sam cut’ but the rest of it should be able to be used by me whenever, or however, I damn want.
chose choice number 1. reduce deductions so that when paying the 401k your take home stays about the same.
when you take a loan from your own 401k the interest you pay on it goes into your 401k. its hard to explain, but taking a loan from your 401k is not a bad thing to do. your basically taking a loan from yourself and all the interest your paying back goes into your 401k.
oh also, i believe you can only take half off whats in the 401k. least with mine. ive never taken a loan on it, but guys i work with have used it to buy cars and what not. because like i said the interest goes back to you. and if your putting in 10% a week, after the loan you put in 5% a week youll never miss that 5% going to pay off the loan and your take home will stay close to what it was.
I’ve taken a 401k loan before…but even if you lessen your deductions…you’re still not going to make back the $300/month you’ll be paying yourself via the loan (depends on loan amount obviously). I dropped my deductions from 10% to 4% which is only going to give me like $50 extra per check or whatever.
Taking out a $4k loan like that is fine…but a $15-20k loan (weddings ain’t cheap lol) will kill you and your take home pay can almost get cut in half. That’s why I’d rather just take out 20k, pay $2k in taxes or whatever, and be done with it. Deductions stay the same, pay stays the same, and you can pay for the wedding with ease without going into debt (to yourself or someone else).
I love my career. I wouldn’t say that I would never do anything else, but this is pretty awesome. The people I work with are very eclectic and great people to be around. I had an offer to be a commercial tuna fisherman in the PNW when I was getting out of high school that I like to fantasize about. When it comes down to it, if I had gone there, instead of going to college and dropping out, the chips may not have landed where they did.
+1 for slow and steady
+1 for REAL retirement benefits
That’s me anyways.
+1 for love4boost, even though I don’t necessarily agree with what he does, at least he’s loving it.
well i don’t really fit in this thread because the reason i’m 26 and am just now in my last semester of my bachelors is because i didn’t want to end up in a job after 10 years that i hate and wanted to murder everyone i work with.
Hahah…I have a degree in my field, am turning 25 in June, and used to LOVE computer/network support…now I can’t wait till 4:30 each day. But, it’s easy…pays the bills…and I don’t bring it home with me for the most part.
If its the RR around my area that he came from I can understand why. They offered me a job doing the same thing I am now for $16/hr. Pack it in your ass.
Are you a car knocker for CSX?
Thats one thing I will NEVER do is borrow from my 401K. Unless it was life or death.
Well, I think it’s better than borrowing from a bank and paying 3-15% interest to someone else (could borrow from yourself and pay yourself)…but it still sucks. It’s my f’in money! :lol
I’ll still have a typical wedding and all, but I kind of had this money ear marked for it but I guess lesson learned…always check WAY beforehand :lol.
So you want all of the benefits of a 401k but without the restrictions? Seems like a legit request, eff those unfair 401Ks giving you 40 years of compound interest on untaxed money.
Im a mechanic and while it has def been a stable pick that has put me in a very good financial position it will never make me rich. Though I cant look back at my life and name any specific event that I can say I would have done totally different to lead me to riches.
Buy two tickets to Las Vegas.
Spend weekend in Vegas.
Go to roadside wedding chapel.
Get married via an Elvis impersonator.
Fly home.
Have the most memorable wedding ever.
I would totally get married in Vegas…how cool would that be?
Ah, you guys obviously haven’t had positions where you’re essentially glorified accountants yet? LOL. That’s most of the mechE’s I run into, some of them have been pretty miserable.
Thats a lot of what my boss does and he loves it since he still gets to support the engineering team. On the other hand, I didn’t even know my upper level boss had an engineering degree until I was in his office last week. He still seems to enjoy what he does though.
political science, so i’m in school to continue school, and hopefully in the form of law school. or else i gotta figure out what else you do with a political science degree because i don’t want to get a masters in it and end up teaching and publishing papers my whole life.
What are you interested in doing after school? I looked at law school, took the LSAT’s twice, decided that I had no interest in actually practicing law and that while it was helpful I didn’t need a law degree to get into what I do now. I saved probably $200K when it was all said and done and instead got my masters in poli sci at Rockefeller. Law school is a pricely and timely investment, and unless you really WANT to be a lawyer, I’d err on the side of caution.
If someone is willing to withdraw money and pay the necessary taxes on them, the IRS should have ZERO say in what I use the money for. It’s not like I’m trying to withdraw money I didn’t pay taxes on and not pay taxes still. Trying to loophole a withdrawal under a hardship is an entirely different matter and yes, that, I frown upon as well.
