Has anyone here successfully implemented the MMM-approved 5 year pipeline rollover plan of annually transferring 401k money into a Roth IRA prior to age 57 without paying the early withdrawal penalty, and then withdrawing the money tax free from the Roth five years later?
I ask because I'm a federal employee with access to the TSP instead of a 401k, and it's not at all clear from reading the TSP literature that this rollover wouldn't be considered a partial disbursement, in which case I would be limited to one-time-only event and thus unable to do the annual rollovers to build the five year pipeline. So I'm skeptical that this apparently brilliant plan is actually going to fly, and I'm not prepared to risk my future financial security on a hypothetical plan that no one else I know has actually made work.
There are other ways around the 10% early withdrawal (like 72t withdrawals and buying an annuity) but they don't provide the same level of income after we quit working, and would thus require us to save a larger portion of the stash in taxable accounts. If I'm going to be stuck with those plans, then now is the time to start reallocating savings so as to minimize the tax bite.