[Michael]

Like Rule of 55 or IRS 72(t).

I just found out these existed, I always thought I couldn’t retire until 59.5 without penalty. Or I assumed people were retiring with money saved outside of retirement accounts.

[Brad]

That’s why we Roth IRA. We can pull back out our contributions at anytime without penalty. Plus brokerage accounts. And of course the two you mentioned.

[Jackie]

I retired in 2019 and have used funds from:

1. Brokerage account.
2. Income from passion projects (variable, not real estate).
3. Roth contributions (no penalty).
4. At 55 I have a small pension that I can turn on monthly payments (current lump sum is only about $50k but I decided the monthly payout options were way more attractive than rolling the lump sum to an IRA).
5. It would not bother me to pay a 10% tax penalty if needed (I’m still in a much lower tax bracken then I ever was while working).

I looked at the 72(t) and haven’t ruled it out. If I did do it, I would segregate an IRA just for this and have it represent the distributions I needed.

[Frank]

Brokerage accounts and other money outside retirement accounts, with Rule of 55 as a back up.

[Rolf]

You could keep enough in a non retirement account to bridge the years between retirement and 55 (or 59.5).

[Sandra]

I used rule of 55 instead of 72t because I didn’t want to be locked into regular payments. I didn’t retire so much as decide to take a sabbatical when my entire work group got laid off. You have to leave the company in the year you turn 55 (or after).

My company 401k allowed rule of 55, it’s up to them if they 1) allow you to keep your money in the 401k after you leave, 2) allow rule of 55 withdrawals. Mine did. Turns out they had weird (to me) rules about order of funds from which to withdraw.

I had to exhaust traditional prior to withdrawing from Roth.

Don’t miss: For those that are planning on retiring early

[Elizabeth]

We cannot get enough into my husbands 401k to even want to draw from it before 59.5! I don’t work and we are way over Roth max. So really, we can’t sVe remotely enough for retirement in retirement accounts.

So, to answer your question, we plan to fund 55 to 59.5 from our brokerage account.

[Mark]

Bridge account. Cash, CDs, I bonds, treasury bonds, brokerage account. Usually a combo of these is what ppl use to build a bridge account ( money to access b4 retirement age.

Explore these too: What is more important: retiring 5 years sooner, or having the retirement home of your dreams?

[Martin]

We retired four years ago at 50 and had a non retirement brokerage account for the early retirement years.

Part of our plan was to keep the retirement accounts growing until at least 59.5.if we needed to pull retirement accounts we would have kept working.

[Nicole]

I am definitely interested in the 72(t) to pull money out of my tIRA and reduce Roth conversions later. I also only recently learned about that amazing little rule!! I don’t need to access, thanks to a hefty 28 year military pension.

[Author]

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