How I Access Retirement Money at 54—Before 59½

Retiring before age 59½ creates a challenge that many people do not think about soon enough: You may have enough money to retire—but can you actually access it? _________________________________________________________________________________________ 📊 PLAN YOUR RETIREMENT WITH BOLDIN I use Boldin to model retirement scenarios, spending, taxes, and other long-term financial decisions. If you want to build and test your own retirement plan, you can check it out here: https://go.boldin.com/scottunlocked Disclosure: This is an affiliate link. If you purchase a paid Boldin plan through my link, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. _________________________________________________________________________________________ In this video, I walk through seven potential ways to fund an early retirement before age 59½, including the method I personally used when I retired at 54. We will cover straightforward options such as cash and taxable brokerage accounts, along with more complicated strategies such as the Rule of 55, 72(t) distributions, Roth IRA contributions, Roth conversion ladders and delayed HSA reimbursements. I also discuss the simplest—but potentially expensive—option: withdrawing the money and paying the 10% additional tax. The important lesson is that early retirement is not only a savings question. It is an access question. Which of these seven strategies could be part of your early-retirement plan? Tell me in the comments. Chapters 00:00 Retiring before 59½—the access problem 01:02 Cash and taxable brokerage accounts 02:32 The Rule of 55—the method I used 03:10 72(t) and substantially equal periodic payments 04:44 Accessing Roth IRA contributions 05:46 Building a Roth conversion ladder 06:52 Paying the 10% early-withdrawal penalty 07:27 Reimbursing old medical expenses from an HSA 08:39 Which early-retirement bridge might fit you? Related Scott Unclocked videos How I used the Rule of 55 to retire at 54: https://youtu.be/-_q5Q1SeVD