[enraged_camel]

This shouldn't matter at all, since there are huge penalties associated with taking money out of your retirement funds before you're 59 and a half years old.

If your job is not secure, you should account for that by increasing your emergency funds (typically a savings or money market account).

[T-hawk]

There's not always penalties. Look up what's called the Section 72(t) distribution. This is a "retire early" option, where you can start taking a monthly distribution at any age, without penalty (income tax still applies), as long as you maintain that distribution for the longer of five years or until age 59.5.