I cashed out an old 401K to pay off my car. I’ll take the 10% hit to get out of the market (yeah, I know long term blah blah blah and I still have 30 years to retirement) and not have the car payment. (Ex has been out of a job for 9 months now..child support still coming but for how long- and my company has been doing rolling lay-offs since last December.)
I wish you well, but I don't applaud your decision. It might be correct, IF you anticipate losing your income in the very near future. But in fact, debt is an ADVANTAGE in the face of high inflation because you will be paying it off in cheaper dollars - and unless the interest rate is adjustable, the lender will not be able to recover the full value of the loan.
Also, there has been quite a bit of talk about appropriating IRA’s and other such accounts into the Social Security system, which has been hemorrhaging money for years. The seizure might be "sweetened" by restoring the balance to its level just before the debacle, but I believe that would be a drop in the bucket compared to the losses going forward with the current clowns in charge