I think there is some sort of penalty for early withdrawl. Check in with your HR at your company and see what your options are that they provide.
If your loosing your job because of disability, you may have an insurance plan you are covered by. Best bet is to start with your employer and fan out looking for options from there.
If it is a lay-off, you should be protected under unemployment laws and be able to draw from that.
Working that long at one place, there surely is something you can survive on for a while.
If your still able to work, find another job and roll your 401K over.
Good Luck and best wishes!

there will be a penalty if it is a 401(k) qualified plan. If you are under 59.5 you are too young. it does not matter how long you have worked at the company. If you withdraw the money there will be 20% mandatory federal withholding. a state tax (% depending on state) and a pre-mature distribution penalty. You may rollover the funds into a new retirement plan at another company or into an IRA and not get penalized or taxed on it. If you need the money you will get hammered. If you do not need it roll it into an IRA or into another retirement plan if you are getting another job. If you roll it into another retirement plan check on their vesting schedule and eligibilty requirements and see if they allow loans. If you do not need the money then it does not matter as much. If you roll into an IRA you will not be able to take loans on it.

The short answer is you don't have to do anything until you are ready to do so. So don't touch that money. I have been in your position a few times and there are easy optons.

There is a penalty for early withdrawl but there is absolutely no reason why you should touch that money. You can either 1) leave it where it is (I've done that in 2 past jobs) or 2) open up an IRA account with the company of your choice (Vanguard has low fees) and roll it over there (no fees for that); 3) roll it over to your new employer when you join there.

For now, just do option 1 unless you dislike the range of options in your 401k. Take time to figure out where it should go.

I like to keep my life simple, so I would then roll it over to my new employer so that all the money is in the same place (unless you don't like their options either). While you may not be eligible to put money into their 401k until you've been there a year, you can usually roll your money over to it without any problem.

If your current 401k is managed by the likes of Vanguard or Fidelity you can also call them. They don't want to lose your money and will help you set up your own IRA without having to do much work at all. You proably will have similar options as to what you have now- maybe even more.

But there is no rush here. Take the time to figure out what's right for you.

BUT DON'T WITHDRAW THE MONEY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. If you do move the money, have them send the check right to the new IRA or 401k account so you never touch it. If you touch it, then you unleash a bunch of new paperwork and possible pitfalls. But if you still insist on getting a check sent to you be sure you tell them NOT to deduct taxes since you'll be reinvesting it (and then put it in another IRA/401K so that doesn't come back to haunt you since that withdrawl will be noticed by the IRS). IF you take the check see below for the details (but don't do it- there's just no reason!!).

59 1/2 is not material here...if you are over age 55 when you lose your job then you will not face a 10% EXTRA penalty. However, you will a) still get taxed on any withdrawal and b) lose out on the gains that you would otherwise be seeing over the next 10 years or so...the last few years your account will be growing like you wouldn't believe if the market is favorable.

So, try to avoid taking the money out if you can. If you know you won't need the money for the next few years, roll it into an IRA at Vanguard and put the money into a 60-20-20 split with the INDEX 500 fund, an international equity fund and a Bond Fund.

If you're unsure whether you are going to need it but don't think you will...leave it at your old employer.

But if you know you're going to need some money over the next few months then take only as much as you may need over the next year and then put the rest in the IRA. Once it goes into the IRA then you WILL get hit with a 10% penalty for taking it out. That's why you leave it at your old employer, so that you can preserve the right to take a withdrawal penalty free.

In the meantime..go out and get a job that you can survive on until your 401k is large enough so that you can live on about 5% withdrawals a year or until you can begin drawing social security.

Again, if you're over age 55 when you get let go then you will not get hit with the penalty if you take the money from your employers 401k. But, if you ahve to get it from an IRA you will....choose what you plan on doing wisely.