Generally, the answer is no. You must wait until the retirement age specified in the pension plan. However, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, some unscrupulous operators have come up with the idea of a “pension advance.” In order to get some ready cash, future pensioners can use as collateral some or all of their as-yet-unreceived pension payments. This only eats into your retirement fund, and the offers usually come attached to high fees and interest rates. If you have a military pension, the offer is actually illegal.