With the economy in recession, we are sometimes asked whether it makes sense to take an early 401(k) withdrawal. The answer is “no.”Thank you for reading this week’s column.Okay, we’ll elaborate. When it comes to taking an early 401(k) withdrawal, meaning withdrawing funds before the age of 59 ½ and incurring a 10% penalty on top of applicable taxes, there are bad reasons to do it, and worse reasons.

When talking about retirement income, we often describe it as coming from three buckets. One bucket is any pensions you may be entitled to. Historically, these have been a critical part of retirement for many workers, but they are becoming less and less common. This means that the other two buckets will become more important over time.

Many companies include stock options in employee compensation packages, and if you’ve been offered stock options as part of a compensation package, it’s important to understand the types of options you are being offered. We'll cover some key mistakes to avoid when exercising non-qualified stock options (NSOs), termed “non-qualified” because they do not meet all of the IRS requirements to be deemed incentive stock options (ISOs).

As the weather heats up, there’s one other unfortunate thing that also heats up: road construction. With $680 million slated to be spent on road and bridge projects throughout Iowa in 2017, it’s likely that you will experience some roadblocks when travelling throughout the state.