My wife and I took out max loans, not because we needed to, but because it maximizes our flexibility. It's that much less of a drawdown of our bank accounts. We can use that money for other things if needed/wanted. I'm not worried about appreciation of my 401k since that money would be sitting in a money market anyway, and probably would be for years. We took it because it was available, and we have up to 20 years to pay it off. Compare that to a hardship loan, where you have to jump through hoops to prove a need, and then you get I think 5 years to pay it back, as if that's not a hardship on its own. If such an emergency pops up now, we're already covered. We've always been very disciplined financially, and I couldn't find a good reason not to do it.