Retirement Funds 401k

[Dalton Checketts]

Hello BP,

I am toying with the idea of pulling my 401K money out of my retirement account from my previous employer. I am 30 and have $20-$30k in the account. I have talked to some people that set up Self-Directed IRA's and that is an option but that doesn't give me money to use outside of the IRA. I know there are penalty fees and taxes that have to be paid if this is done. Has anyone done this? I figure I'm young enough that once I've built a portfolio I can open a new Self-Directed IRA for future retirement if I wanted to. The reason I'm leaning towards doing it is I don't have other capital to get started, and this would give me enough to get the ball rolling!

Thank You BP in advance for any advice or info on the topic!

Dalton Checketts