If you’re asking about 401k distribution rules, you fall into one of two categories. Either you are a very wise, sage, and experienced corporate worker who is starting to nudge the retirement ceiling, or you are a very young, capable, cash-strapped individual who just might want to cash out that 401k. Even if you fall somewhere in between, coming to understand two very basic 401k distribution rules will help guide you in your efforts to appropriately approach your 401k distributions.

These rules are easy to remember by remembering the numbers. You can even associate them with your corporate experience; the individual who has had less time at work to stock up on that 401k plan needs to know the smaller number, and the individual who discovers himself or herself memorizing more grandkids’ names than corporate memos needs to remember the bigger number. The first number, for the first rule, is 10. The second number, for the second rule, is 70 ½.

Of these 401k distribution rules, the first has to do with the withdrawal penalty associated with cashing out your 401k early. If you are young in your corporate career and are wondering about your 401k distributions, it’s possible you’re looking for a hardship withdrawal, a loan against your 401k, or some other way to take advantage of those funds sequestered away until retirement. Ten percent is the Internal Revenue Service–imposed penalty for withdrawing the funds early. As you know, your 401(k) is tax-deferred, which means that you haven’t yet paid any tax on the money sitting in there. As you also know (or really ought to know), as soon as you withdraw some of that money, you will have to pay those taxes. (There are exceptions, but they aren’t really worth considering unless your house has been hit by a tornado. Or possibly by a hurricane.) What you need to remember about the 401k distribution rules is that if you are under 59 ½ and you withdraw from your 401(k) account, you have to pay an additional 10% penalty to the IRS for that early withdrawal. It’s a slap on the wrist for not letting your retirement fund be used toward retirement; after all, the tax takers think, if you use that money now, you’ll come begging for food stamps come sixty. (Now, if you’re smart with your money, that obviously won’t be the case, but the deterrent is still there.)

On the other hand, if you are starting to approach retirement age, 70 ½ is the age you need to know. The 401k distribution rules applying here say that at 70 ½, you have to start taking out your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)—using an IRS-provided table to calculate your corresponding life expectancy with the money in your account, you have to start withdrawing a certain sum of money each year and paying the appropriate taxes (but not the ten percent penalty—that’s for the younger folks) or else start forfeiting portions of the entire sum to the government. With those two 401k rules in mind—ten percent and 70 ½—you’re set to know what to do.