Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: 59½ is an exact date — your birthdate plus 59 years and 6 months — and on it the 10% early-withdrawal penalty on IRAs and 401(k)s ends. It is not “the year you turn 59” and not your 60th birthday; a withdrawal one day early is penalized in full. (Compute your date.)
What actually changes — and what doesn’t
Penalty ends; tax does not. Traditional-account withdrawals are ordinary income at any age — 59½ only removes the 10% surcharge. Roth earnings need TWO tests: 59½ AND the five-year clock on your first Roth contribution — a Roth opened at 58 does not deliver tax-free earnings at 59½. Your current 401(k) may still say no: in-service withdrawal rules are plan documents, not statutes; plenty of plans restrict access while you are employed. And annuities carry the same 10% federal penalty before 59½ on their own track: how the annuity penalty works.
If you need money BEFORE the date
The exceptions form a ladder: the rule of 55 for a 401(k) after separating in the year you turn 55, 72(t) substantially-equal payments at any age (rigid, and busting the schedule is retroactive), and narrow statutory exceptions. What order to draw accounts once access opens is its own computed decision: the withdrawal order calculator.
Access opening is not a plan. The order and the taxes are the plan.
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