Sara, from what you say:

1.
As has been mentioned, you may want to move the money to an
IRA, then withdraw strictly for the purpose of covering your
medical expenses. This way you will not owe a penalty on
amounts withdrawn.

2.
You should seriously consider a Rule 72(t) distribution
plan. It might be a good fit. See
http://www.meafs.com/Retirement/Rule72t.cfm and
http://www.moneymanagment.info/72T.htm, among other sites.

3.
No more jeeps. They are costly to maintain and the fuel
mileage is appalling. Buy a used, low mileage Honda Civic or
Toyota Corolla or similar Honda or Toyota. Ask at the Honda
and Toyota newsgroups about any in particular you have your
eye on.

I am sorry about the medical expenses.

Have you computed how much money you expect to need in
retirement? How far you are from actually retiring? How much
you need to save for retirement?

How much do you have in your 401(k) right now? How is it
invested?

Do you have your monthly expenses on a worksheet? Are your
monthly expenses less than your salary? If not, where can
you reduce costs? You owe yourself a good quality of life.
Hopefully, through careful planning, you can get out of your
bad housing situation soon. Lurk here and ask a question any
time.

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"sandybeth" <sandyhb6[at]yahoo.com> wrote
- quote -

Sara,
As has been suggested first put the ESOP money in a money market
traditional IRA - such as Vanguard Prime MM - call Vanguard they
should be happy to help you with this. You can withrdraw all or a
portion at anytime subject to taxes, etc. Please note that if you
withdraw a large sum in one year it could jump you into a higher
tax bracket.
In the meantime I would suggest that you seek financial counseling.
Many localities provide free counseling from volunteers with the
Cooperative Extension Service. Check with your local government - it
is the same office that has the 4H Club and Master Gardener programs.

Good Luck,
BeachBum

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- quote -

Indeed, I see where you could really use the money right now.
However, you have to follow the rules to get the money, there's no way
around it. There are only 2 types of IRA's that I know of--the
traditional and the Roth. There is not another "type" where you can
get your money in 6 months without taking the penalty. Re-read all
the advice in the posts above and do some research on getting Equal
Periodic Payments Exception or pay the penalty for each withdrawal
(you still will get 90% of the money). Also check out the Roth as an
alternative. You need to be more pro-active about your situation and
stop being the victim or expecting a magic IRA to appear. No one can
fix this except for you.
SandyBeth

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Thank you to everyone who has replied to my post..I shall provide a
bit more detail if it helps anyone change their advice...I am 51 years
old and I do have a 401K plan at work in addition to the ESOP stock
and will be rolling that over to the new companies plan...The ESOP
plan administrators say they are ONLY distributing funds by putting it
into any sort of IRA plan we may have...They have someone from Ferris
Baker Watts (Spelling?) coming around in a few weeks to go over or
options with us but I can only assume he or she will be pushing their
company and long term investment.....

Here is basically why I want to have the money in my hands asap:
While I know it`s wiser to put it away as I`m getting older this
amount of money could change my life radically right now...My Jeep is
always on the verge of breaking down and I could make repairs and/or
get a new one or at least feel comfortable knowing the cash is there
if anything goes wrong...I have health issues that aren`t covered by
my companies medical plan and I could address those...I am staying
with relatives as I had a very hard time of it for a long time and am
just now starting to slowly get some savings going...If I moved out
into my own place right now I would just break even financially each
month and save nothing..Even living here it would take me 12 years to
save that much money...I HAVE to move out of here..My brother has
crack-addict girlfriends who come around..The place is full of
roaches..Mice..Parts of the ceiling is coming down..The furniture is
all ripped up..I can`t have any friends over..I need to sleep with ear
plugs in all night as the people here and neighbors are noisy til all
hours and my ears are getting sore from the plugs for years...I would
be SO happy living in my own little place and knowing I have that nest
egg in the bank and at my finger tips would give me the comfort level
to do so and not worry I was just breaking even each month
I know most of this may seem silly...I suppose even having it in
any sort of IRA if things got bad I could close it and just accept the
penalty...I guess my main question was is there some sort of IRA that
gets me my money in say 6-9 months and avoids any penalty?...I would
be willing even to wait that long so long as I know the money is there
and in my name and is under my control and in a disaster I could grab
it...Thanks again for all the prompt and helpful input!

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On Mar 7, 4:39*pm, kastnna <kast...[at]auburnalum.org> wrote:
- quote -

I agree about the bank and the fee-based planner. You don't want to
hire someone for advice who stands to benefit from the advice he
gives. You need to try to assess whether your advisor has any kind of
conflict of interest. Depending on their certifications, some advisors
may be held to a fiduciary standard, which requires them to give
advice that is in your best interest; others are held to a much lower
standard of suitability. Finally, if you want, check out their advice
with us here at misc.invest.financial-plan. We have no conflict of
interest and we love to help.

Dave

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On Mar 7, 11:45*am, Noem...[at]blank.com wrote:

- quote -

Sorry, but I gotta nit-pick this one. Going to a bank for investment
advice is like going to a podiatrist to have your heart examined. They
may loosely be in the same business, but that doesn't mean they are
experts at all facets of said business. Do it yourself or use a
certified fee-based financial planner.

- quote -

Seconded.

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"sandybeth" <sandyhb6[at]yahoo.com> wrote
- quote -

I second this advice in particular. It sounds like it may be
particularly appropriate here. Though like Kastnna wrote,
more facts would be helpful to those trying to give guidance
here, as you are willing to offer them.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rule72t.asp provides an
overview of what Sandybeth suggests considering above.
Google also for {Rule 72(t)}, since it is this law under
which you'd be operating.

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...The owners say they will only
- quote -

How old are you, Sara? It would make a big difference if you were 59
1/2, since you could start withdrawing from a traditional IRA right
away. However, if you are younger, there are also circumstances where
you could withdraw from it without penalty (first home, medical,
etc.). Also, you could check into the Equal Periodic Payments
Exception clause for withdrawing under age 59 1/2. Google "IRA
withdrawals" on the web to research. All of your IRA would grow tax-
free, but you'd pay taxes on the withdrawals, and penalties if you
withdraw without accepted reason.

A Roth IRA may be better if you are young. You'd have to pay taxes on
the whole 50K when you put it in, so you'd lose 15%+ of it right away,
but you could withdraw the principal at any time (but not the
earnings). Withdrawals would be tax-free.

This is my limited knowledge, maybe someone has better info.

SandyBeth

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On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 04:05:49 -0600, Sara Brown <SaraTGinMD[at]aol.comwrote:

- quote -

Yes, make sure it is a traditional IRA (not a Roth). That way you can
take out what you need and only pay taxes and penalty on the withdrawn
amount rather than the entire 50K. Most banks will be more than happy
to open one for you. Make sure you have the check made out to that
financial institution and NOT to you (this is importent to remember).

Remember to put aside money to pay the additional income tax that you
will owe and 10% penalty when you file your 1040 in 2009. Depending on
where you go, the financial institution can take the withholding right
off the top (20% for federal) and deposit that with the IRS, however
that's your choice.

You need to make some decisions as to what you want to put the rest of
the money into so you may want to do some research into various
investments (mutual funds, ETF's etc).

In your situation it may be prudent to keep the remaining money as
liquid as possible, that is, invest in something that can be sold
quickly or just find a good money market account.

Good luck!

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Sara Brown wrote:
- quote -

Sara, ask your employer if it's possible to distribute the stock to you
from the ESOP, before the buyout. It probably isn't, but if it is that
could open up other possibilities.

Early distributions from an IRA will be subject to taxes and a 10%
penalty, unless you meet one of the exceptions - here's the IRS
publication on the topic:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p590/ch01.html#d0e8325

How soon to you plan to retire?

-Tad

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"Sara Brown" <SaraTGinMD[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:79406ca9-fef4-4e56-9561-33b928bec1a1[at]n58g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

I have
- quote -

Do you have other retirement savings, or is this it? I'm asking, because
this amount of money saved and compounded for the future will have a
profound effect on how you live in your older existence. Do not touch it
now.

Elizabeth Richardson

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On Mar 7, 4:05*am, Sara Brown <SaraTGi...[at]aol.com> wrote:
- quote -

Generally no, but before I jump to conclusions we need a little more
info.

"How old are you" and "how soon do you want the money in hand" will be
a good place to start.

Your intentions for these funds may also provide some insight. I will
take no offense if you say "it's none of my business", but some
expenditures allow you to get at the cash earlier and without penalty.

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Hello..I work for a company that untill now has been 42% employee
owned..Recently it has been announced the company is being sold and
our shares of stock are being bought for about $50 a share..I have
roughly 1,000 shares so that`s $50,000...I have lived a very poor and
week to week life and that amount of money could change my life
greatly right now or perhaps not far in the furture..I`ll save all the
details and get to the point...The owners say they will only
distribute the payouts into IRA accounts...Is there a specific type of
IRA that will allow me to get my money in hand sooner without paying
any more of a penalty than I need to?..Thanks in advance

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