Second, if you're relatively young, none of the methods is going to net you anything near a living income.
A 40-year-old with $100,000 in retirement savings, for example, could withdraw a maximum of $4,468 a year, or about $372 a month, Slott calculates. A 50-year-old would be able to take out $5,025 a year, or about $419 a month.
There are some calculators on the Web that can help you estimate the amount you could receive based on your age and assets, but before you play with real money, hire a professional to confirm the numbers.
Finally, you've got to keep taking these "substantially equal" payments until you are 59 1/2 . If you fail to take a distribution before that age -- or change the amount you take in any way -- you get slammed with penalties.
And the penalties are steep, Slott said. The IRS will go back to the date of the first distribution and retroactively impose early-withdrawal penalties and interest on every dollar withdrawn, even if you've been taking the withdrawals without a hitch for 20 years.
"One misstep and you're in a big hole," he said. "The younger you are when you start taking distributions, the more likely you are to make a mistake."
What are the other options? That depends on the type of retirement plan you hold.
If you've got a workplace retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or a 403(b), and you're over the age of 55 when you separate from employment, you can start taking retirement distributions right away. If you choose this option, you'll pay income taxes on the distributions, but no penalties.
The catch: If you separate from employment before age 55, this exception does not apply to you. You can't, for instance, leave your job at age 53, leave the money alone for two years and hope to start taking penalty-free withdrawals at age 55.
So what do you do if you're younger? Slott suggests you roll your 401(k) into an IRA, which allows more penalty-free withdrawal options.
IRA assets can be withdrawn without penalty for three reasons: to pay college tuition, to handle a permanent disability and to pay medical insurance premiums if you are unemployed.
Beware the disability exception, though. Slott said that the tax code's definition of disability is stricter than those that will qualify you for disability insurance payments. If you ever work again, the IRS will say that earlier disability-exception distributions were improper and are subject to penalties.
Of course, withdrawing only enough to pay tuition or insurance premiums isn't going to be sufficient to handle all of your expenses. But it can at least get a portion of your savings out of retirement plans penalty-free.
Any additional money should be taken out solely as needed, Slott said. The less you withdraw, the less significant the tax hit and the easier it will be to restore your savings when these tough times pass and you go back to work again.