Anyone here ever cash out a 401K, etc.. early with penalty?

Ive never done it but I have had friends and clients who have done so.

The penalty is so severe that almost anything is always a better option.  Of course, circumstances my not give you a choice, but if you can think of another means, its worth giving it a try.

I dont counsel people to take out loans or credit, but even a home equity loan or family loan would be better if you just need a short-term gap filler.  If its something you need all of right away, I can see raiding your 401k.  Also - I may be getting it confused with something else, but I am 99% sure you can take out a loan against your 401k, instead of actually taking out your 401k early.  You will still have to pay it back and pay interest on it, but its no-where near the early withdrawl penalty.  I think one of my best friends did that a couple of times although he eventually cashed out his 401k anyway (worst person ever with money.  I was lending him my financial aid money in school).  Anyway - that may be worth looking into.  If it doesnt work out, you can always do like him and cash it out anyway later.  I would just do it as a last resort.

Good luck and I hope your back issue resolves. 

You can take out a loan against your 401K. One oof the guys at work just did so. It just needs to be repaid in a prescribed time.

Yes, it's called a hardship loan, and it's set up to be repaid with a deduction from paychecks usually...so if the jobs changing, that may not be an option.

As to the garbagr man thing, I can attest to it being one of the best exercise regimens out there...I used to have some guns years back.