<prompt> Human: I have a co-worker whos considering withdrawing early from her 401k to clean her credit card debt and is asking me for my thoughts on it. I dont feel comfortable enough about 401k withdrawals to give her an educated opinion, so I figured Id ask here for experiences you all have had.Her and her husband dont use credit cards now, but have around 60k in credit card debt 9 interest from previous bad choices. Theyre both working freelance in entertainment industry, and they have 2 kids 4-6 years old. They havent start saving for college yet because of the cc debt, but theyd obviously like to. They make decent money when they work, but the kids and the freelance nature of their careers means theyre basically week to week and the credit card debt is a huge shadow. She wants to withdraw enough from their 401k to wipe the slate so they can start setting aside money for college, hes very much against it because I didnt work my ass off for that money just so they can take it away from me. They both realize they have no idea what theyre doing about their finances. Anyone that can present a brief layout of the risks of early 401k withdrawal or maybe offer an alternate plan?  <response>: Early withdrawal means paying income taxes on the amount you take out PLUS a 10 penalty. So you definitely have to take out much more than 60k to be able to wipe out the debt. And not all plans offer hardship withdrawals, so the particular plans details would need to be checked.Then there are 401k loans. If a company offers them, they will most likely have a provision that you cannot take out more than 50 of your total balance. You will pay interest still, but that money goes back into the 401k, via payroll deductions. One big problem with a 401k loan is that if you quit or lose your job while you have an outstanding loan, you are required to pay it back in full usually within 90 days of leaving your job. So this obviously leaves you with a huge risk, especially in the fickle entertainment industry.The alternate plan would be to start throwing as much money towards those debts as possible. Cut out unnecessary expenses. Call the credit card companies and try to negotiate a lower interest rate. 