Hello,
I've been reading lots of interesting things on this board, and some of the debates I've seen about different kinds of retirement accounts (IRA, TSP, 401k, etc.) have puzzled me.
If a normal retirement account doesn't actually let you access any of its contents (with exceptions for education, 1st home purchase, or withdrawing principal from a ROTH IRA) until you're more or less at the traditional retirement age of 60+/-, then how are they useful to someone who wants to retire earlier than that? I mean, yes, obviously being able to reinvest your profits tax-free (or tax deferred) will earn you more than doing the same thing in a taxable account, but how is a non-taxable account I can't touch until I'm 60 going to help me if I want to retire at 45?
I feel like I'm missing a vital part of this equation. Perhaps some of you helpful folks can point me in the right direction?
Josh
I've been reading lots of interesting things on this board, and some of the debates I've seen about different kinds of retirement accounts (IRA, TSP, 401k, etc.) have puzzled me.
If a normal retirement account doesn't actually let you access any of its contents (with exceptions for education, 1st home purchase, or withdrawing principal from a ROTH IRA) until you're more or less at the traditional retirement age of 60+/-, then how are they useful to someone who wants to retire earlier than that? I mean, yes, obviously being able to reinvest your profits tax-free (or tax deferred) will earn you more than doing the same thing in a taxable account, but how is a non-taxable account I can't touch until I'm 60 going to help me if I want to retire at 45?
I feel like I'm missing a vital part of this equation. Perhaps some of you helpful folks can point me in the right direction?
Josh