Can Your 401(k) Be Part of Your Emergency Fund?

April 11, 2013

One of the results from our recent research report that has gotten a lot of attention is that we saw an increase in the number of employees’ accessing their 401(k) balances through loans and hardship withdrawals from about a quarter in 2011 to about a third in 2012. The conventional wisdom is that this means employees need to do a better job with money management and in particular, building an emergency fund of at least 3-6 months of necessary expenses and maybe even more. For someone just starting out, I think this is absolutely true.  Continue reading “Can Your 401(k) Be Part of Your Emergency Fund?”