Thought this post was interesting:
http://www.smartmoneybetterlife.com/eat-your-cake-now-or-when-you-are-59-5-addressing-the-conundrum/
Basically states that if you put money into a pre-tax retirement account and withdraw the INCOME prematurely every year you'll come out ahead of doing the same in a post-tax retirement account, even after accounting for the penalty. Seemed like an odd thing to do, but just goes to show there are ways around the withdrawal penalty..depending on your assumptions.
http://www.smartmoneybetterlife.com/eat-your-cake-now-or-when-you-are-59-5-addressing-the-conundrum/
Basically states that if you put money into a pre-tax retirement account and withdraw the INCOME prematurely every year you'll come out ahead of doing the same in a post-tax retirement account, even after accounting for the penalty. Seemed like an odd thing to do, but just goes to show there are ways around the withdrawal penalty..depending on your assumptions.