topic Roth IRA Penalty? in Retirement tax questions

Roth IRA Penalty?

jamesnj — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 14:22:31 GMT

If I withdraw contributions from my Roth IRA will I get penalized? I have a small amount in there and have only lost money. I haven't made anything so want to put it in a high yield checking/savings instead. I was under the impression I won't get penalized on withdrawing contributions from my Roth IRA.

Re: Roth IRA Penalty?

DavidD66 — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 02:10:20 GMT

If you withdraw your contributions to a Roth IRA you will not have to pay a penalty. You can withdraw contributions you made to your Roth IRA anytime, tax- and penalty-free. However, you may have to pay taxes and penalties on earnings in your Roth IRA. In order to avoid a potential 10% early withdrawal penalty:

Withdrawals must be taken after age 59½.
Withdrawals must be taken after a five-year holding period.

Re: Roth IRA Penalty?

dmertz — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 04:04:16 GMT

Instead of taking the money out of the Roth IRA, why would you not just do trustee-to-trustee transfer of the funds to a fixed-income investment in another Roth IRA?

Re: Roth IRA Penalty?

fanfare — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 05:09:59 GMT

You can put your Roth IRA into a money market fund currently paying over 4% (last time I looked).

you need a self-directed Roth IRA account.

@jamesnj