Clear Money Guide
What this guide covers
A quick view of the questions and evidence developed below.
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.
Access opening is not a plan. The order and the taxes are the plan.
The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you – useful at exactly the moment your accounts unlock.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
The Kapitalwise form opens here — you stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions — age, investable assets, location — then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
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.