pa href="https://news.yahoo.com/9-ways-avoid-401-k-fees-penalties-203838936.html"img src="" width="130" height="86" alt="9 Ways to Avoid 401(k) Fees and Penalties" align="left" title="9 Ways to Avoid 401(k) Fees and Penalties" border="0" /aAvoid the 401(k) early withdrawal penalty. If you withdraw money from your 401(k) account before age 59 1/2, you will need to pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty, in addition to income tax, on the distribution. There are a couple of exceptions to the 401(k) early withdrawal penalty.pbr clear="all"