<prompt> Human: LOC: KYI am just trying to see what you all think about this plan. My wife 29 and I 37 are currently own a house that we really like, but we are trying to find ways to decrease our monthly spending while increasing our net worth. So an opportunity has come along for us to buy a duplex for a decent price 135k, that is big enough for us and our 2 small children. It is 2 BR, 2 BA on each side with attached garage, one side is currently vacant and the other has a long term tenant. My biggest problem with doing this right now is that we are cash poor. We make about 120k combined, but all our cash has gone to our businesses and paying off hospital bills from having our son this year. Ive got around 100k in my 401k, so we have been talking about taking an early distribution of 25k to make a healthy down payment on the duplex. The income from the occupied side of the duplex would then cover the full mortgage cost. Then we plan to sell our current home and use the equity to pay off our credit cards and a couple of other bills. That would leave us with only student loans 25k and one small business loan that my side business covers easily. Once our house is sold and our debts paid, we plan on spending the next 1-2 years saving up for a large down payment on another duplex. We would like to accumulate 3-4 properties and use the income stream as a basis for building a new home to our liking. I know its almost taboo here to take out any kind of money from 401k, but i feel like we have an excellent opportunity to use that money to drastically lower our cost of living and savings potential. Would love to hear your thoughts! I appreciate all the advice and knowledge from this forum!  <response>: Investigate if your 401k administrator permits loans for these purposes. 