OK, so apparently I need to do a little more digging into the details since I wasn't aware there were three options :-). What I was referring to is what I've seen about converting money five years in advance from a 401K to Roth and continuing to do that every year, paying simple taxes on the money as it becomes Roth but not a penalty. I guess a 10% penalty (as I believe it would be) is not the end of the world, but it would certainly make an impact if you're relying on a significant portion of your retirement income coming from this method. As you both commented, anything could happen and we certainly need to be thinking of things in case it does, which was the purpose of my question here, as it seems that since the money is sequestered into a retirement specific account, the government could eliminate any loop holes and make you take a penalty to withdraw it early without much recourse on our part if they so desired.