3 ms·

I imagine they mean not in a retirement account that has restrictions (penalties for drawing money out early) but also has tax benefits

• mjevans 8y ago
  Precisely that, as far as I am aware* (and I am not a financial adviser) the tax code in the US does not understand a mostly or easily liquid account that will only be touched for major life "investments" (such as a house) or during 'crisis' such as medical or employment hardships.
  • rryyan 8y ago
    IRAs do have exceptions to the early-withdrawal penalty for just the sort of reasons you note: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-tax-on-early-distributions https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employ...
    • mjevans 8y ago
      With limitations on the contributions at once and also on the withdrawal (first time home buyers (semi-ok), 10K USD limit - you call that a down-payment?)... Yeah this is just some silliness and I don't understand why there are so many different types of vehicles. It seems like there should be a given list of things that are OK for any tax exempt or deferred use, and I don't see why artificially limiting the case of that use is a good thing for society. The exception should be based around one of two concepts. Either "investing" pre-tax, and being taxed when pulling from the pool, or post-tax and being allowed to spend for allowed uses without any tax. Any profits should be forced to go back in to the same type of pool. Given the fact that taxes are assessed at some point, transferring (at current taxes) from the not-yet-taxed pool type to the already-taxed type should be allowed.