During my benefits training sessions, we focus on the various options for taking distributions from your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) when you retire. Usually, someone asks about getting access to their money before retiring and mentions that they’ve heard there is a penalty. Someone else in the class will tell us that they’ve been told of a mysterious rule called 72(t) that is supposed to provide exceptions to the penalty. Let’s take the mystery out of the rule by discussing the nine ways to avoid an early retirement penalty.