### Comment:
Because he wants to buy puts in his retirement account (and not pay taxes on the potential gains on said puts).  Ain't no way to do that in a 401K. 
  
 *EDIT:* looks like all them finance goons who manage 401K and collect their juicy free-ride 1% fees for basically just using index funds that a monkey could use are getting cranky about people suggesting others taking their money elsewhere.

### REPLY:
True, but if he's going to convert his 401k to an IRA, assuming he can even take a non-hardship withdrawal, he would put it in a traditional IRA, not a Roth. Contributions to a Roth IRA are taxable upfront. Traditional IRA is taxed at withdrawal.

### END.