It's your money. If you want to cash out your 401(k) you can do it if you want to but beware the financial costs. Most experts will tell you it's one of the most expensive ways to get cash.
One of those experts is financial advisor Vance Barse, who cautions against permanent withdrawals from IRAs and 401(k)s because the taxes will "eat up" much of the money people are trying to get to.
Most of the people who are cashing out are already leaving their current jobs and don't really have much in those 401(k)s anyway, according to a Vanguard study.
But there's an affordability crisis today, and Barse says for the same reason some people are running up their credit cards paying bills, so some folks need access to cash and will look longingly at their savings plans.
"But you want to be very wary of permanent withdrawals from retirement accounts because of the very tax expensive cost of accessing that liquidity," he says.
There are ways to borrow from or against savings plans, and even that would be preferable to withdrawals -- but the inflation of the past four years has hit some people hard.
"And those who are doing it really are saying it's because of the costs of living that they're having to pay given the affordability crisis in the country."
There are two kinds of debt, Barse says, "good debt and bad debt. Good debt is debt on which you can get a tax deduction, such as a mortgage for example.
"Bad debt, like credit card debt, is very expensive and will stick with you for the long run."