re: 401k Loans

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The Disadvantages of a 401(k) Loan

While a 401(k) loan clearly has some advantages over traditional borrowing, let’s not forget that there are plenty of disadvantages that should have you thinking twice before borrowing from your retirement nest egg.

Don’t ignore fees. These loans usually aren’t free, and as mentioned above there is typically a loan origination fee of anywhere up to $100. In addition, there may be an annual maintenance fee. If you are borrowing $1,000 and they charge you a $75 origination fee that’s 7.5% of the loan. If there’s an additional $25 annual maintenance fee and you require three years to repay the loan you just spent another 7.5%. That $1,000 loan that seemed like a good idea actually cost you $150 in fees, or 15%.

If you default on your loan it won’t hurt your credit score, but it could be even more damaging to your finances. Defaults are treated as a distribution, which means your money is then taxed and you must also pay the 10% early withdrawal penalty if you’re under age 59.5. If you already spent the loan proceeds and wasn’t planning on having a major taxable event this could lead to big problems come April 15th.

There’s also a significant opportunity cost when taking a loan. If you pull money out of your retirement account you’re pulling money out of the market and/or safe fixed accounts as well as temporarily eliminating the tax-deferred growth that money would have otherwise been earning.

The market can also move between when you take a loan and when you repay it. If you’re unfortunate enough to take a loan while the market is at a bottom and then begins going back up you’ve done even more damage to your retirement account as you’ve cashed out some money at a low point and will be buying back in over the coming years while the market is high. Of course the opposite is also true, but this is a game you shouldn’t be playing with your nest egg.

You are also repaying part of the loan with money that has already been taxed. As you know, one of the benefits of contributing to a 401(k) is the fact that the money is invested pre-tax. When you take a loan you aren’t taxed on the proceeds, but the money used to repay the loan has already been taxed so your additional interest going into the account will effectively be taxed twice–at the time of contribution and again when eventually withdrawn from the account in retirement.

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