I've done what you've described. I still have a 401k, and like a lot of other people I have seen it fall, fall, fall...I know when it's low like it is now you're supposed to buy, buy, buy....but I don't know, with how things look for this entire year of 2009 I figured it might fall some more (in my opinion), how far it's going to fall is beyond me. But I kind of got tired of it all, and being in the construction industry like I am there's no telling what might happen to my job, so I said to heck with the 401k. What I did at the end of January was told my employer I wanted to cease further contributions at this time. What I did then was I went to the bank and opened a savings account and called it 410K, now the money that I was contributing to the 401K is now going into this savings account. Of course I'm taxed a lot more than I was but I figured if I get laid off the money in the bank will come in handy...and if I don't get laid off then lord only knows how much "this old house" could use some work. So for now, I didn't get out, I left the remaining money there in hopes that things will get better...and in the mean time I'm doing something different for awhile. I'm 47 and there ain't no gaurantee's I'll ever be able to retire anyway, heck I might not even live that long....