Liquidate 401K or self directed account?

[Michael Garrett]

Hi all,

So I'm looking to fund my REI adventure and am having trouble. My original plan was to get rid of my retirement accounts (I have $35K in an IRA and 401K combined), take the early distribution penalty and use that to invest. I started reading about self directed accounts but they don't totally make sense to me.

Will they allow me to invest all of the money into my chosen strategy (BRRRR)? Are there overall tax savings differences between the two? Is there any way to use the profits as regular income to live off of or will it act as a normal retirement account and I can't truly use the money until 60?

I ask all this because a self directed account seems like a path to having more money to invest now but at the expense of achieving early retirement.