If I don’t cash out...what then? At least if I build a business now it has a chance to succeed in the future. If I wait until the stolen 401k/IRA money can’t be paid back, I’m screwed. To whit, if you cash out your 401k early, why do you have to pay the penalty to the IRS? You have to pay the tax to the IRS, but why the penalty also?
Because they said so. And they want ultimate control of your money ... which they have ... and we let them have.
Ultimately it is our fault for going along with such ‘rules’ about our own money to begin with.
Because it’s the IRS.
[but why the penalty also?]
So they can hold back a place to rob like Illinois did with their lottery money they have to re-budget for now?