Ordinarily, you must pay a 10 percent penalty when you withdraw your money from an IRA or other retirement account before you reach age 59 1/2.

This is in addition to paying the regular income tax in the case of tax-deferred accounts.

But there have always been exceptions.

If you’re one of the millions of Americans who’d like to get their hands on their retirement money early, there is good news: The SECURE Act 2.0 passed by Congress in late 2022 adds several more exceptions to the 10 percent penalty tax on early retirement account withdrawals.

Many of the new exceptions start in 2024.

Unfortunately, most of these exceptions require that something bad happen to you, such as a financial emergency, domestic abuse, terminal illness, or a disaster.

The new law allows you to combine some of the penalty escapes.

For example, you could take a penalty-free emergency personal expense distribution and domestic abuse distribution the same year, for a maximum of ... Log in to view full article.