[x2drich2000]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

I believe you can withdraw without penalty from a traditional 401k without penalty if you replace it within 90 days.

So many kids over on blowout using credit cards to buy modern boxes from panini, grade the cards on their credit card, just to flip and pay the card off before interest accrues. A dangerous game of hot potato.

But cards only go up

Assuming you're right about replacing the money in 90 days, that's still a dangerous game. Come day 91 Uncle Sam isn't going to care what you were doing with that money.

However, this does touch on another point to consider. As I understand it, once you take money out of the retirement fund, you're going to struggle to put it back in down the road. In the Roth example, if you withdraw the contributions, you can't put those back in later. You can make new contributions, but you're still limited to the yearly maximum and can't go over it. So in 1, 5, 10 years, when cards are no longer a "good" investment, you're stuck with those funds being outside the retirement umbrella.