Need A 401(k) Loan? It Just Got Less Dangerous

[notadoc]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2018/01/16/new-tax-law-liberalizes-401k-loan-repayment-rules/#7ce0c66e40f7

[jhwkr542]

But still not much less terrible.  I have a colleague who took out a loan last year, thinking it was their money and it'd be cheaper than a private loan.  Well, with the stock market up 20% last year, I'd imagine they'd regret their decision if they knew how much it cost them.

[Tabaxus]

I've occasionally toyed with the idea of taking a 401(k) loan to invest into the market.  Like a form of margin investing, but using my own money and paying myself interest. Have thought it could be particularly beneficial if I had a Roth 401(k) (which I don't, though I'm toying with flipping over in 2019--too late for me to flip over this year).

 

Edit:  I did take a 401(k) loan to accelerate my student loan repayments, i.e., maxed out my 401(k) contributions to get the tax deduction and then borrowed what I could to pay down my 6.8%/8.1% loans. Then burned the 401(k) loan at a similar speed that I was burning my student loans. Didn't end up being a good idea in hindsight because the market outperformed my student loan rates, but still a decision I'm comfortable having made.