Back in the Great Depression, one of the biggest sources of entertainment was the circus. In this modern—not so much depression, but recession or dip or slump or whatever your word of choice is for the economy—workers find themselves jumping through new and different kinds of hoops than circus performers did in the 1930s. What hoops? For many people the hoops of the 401k regulations are starting to look pretty attractive.

The biggest hoop—and this isn’t a loophole, mind you, it’s a legitimate, government- and employer-endorsed financial option—is the loan. Often, you will be allowed to take loans out against your 401k. These 401k regulations are in place to allow individuals to take advantage of the money they have set aside without incurring the tax requirements that cashing out their 401k would entail. Now, when you take a loan from your 401k, you still have to pay it back—and you can’t use payments toward your 401k loan to go above and beyond your 401k contribution limits—but this is a hoop that allows you access to your funds if you need them now.

Another of the 401k regulations that makes for a popular hoop is the ten percent penalty. Surprisingly, many people look at cashing out their 401k early as a viable option. The rationale behind this apparent madness? Well, it’s not the lead-based makeup on the clowns of yesteryear, it’s actually the fact that if your tax bracket is low enough, it might be worth having that cash in hand rather than trying to toss a pittance towards it in the way you would continue doing as you worked the corporate grind for years on end. Having cashed your 401k, you can spend that money toward emergencies (though in a real emergency, you can usually avoid the ten percent penalty), directly invest it, or spread it somewhere between the two.

Of course, not all 401k regulations are fun and games. It can be quite frustrating to someone further along in his or her corporate career to find that he or she has enough left over at the end of the year to contribute beyond the permitted limit for a 401k. Extra, unneeded money? Well, believe it or not, some people just might supposedly suffer from that. Usually, though, they are quick to find another debt they can get to work on. But setting aside the regret of not being able to over-contribute to a 401k, the real tragedy in that situation is that there aren’t a lot of ways to work around a need to catch up from previous years of indigence. If in your youth your 401k contributions weren’t at the max, it’s only once you reach the age of 50 that you can start making catch up contributions—and in some cases, those won’t be enough.

Even so, 401k regulations should not be looked at as impassable walls. Some definitely are (you don’t want the lion getting out!) but the rest are hoops, and if you follow them in sequence, you can make your 401k work for you.

Third, the 401k questions rules simply by existing. Few are the progressive financial advisors who can look at so tempting a prize without thinking of ways to take the most advantage of it. So when you question 401k rules, know what the rules are and then see how they work for you.