Consolidating IRA funds

[Berridge Thomas]

Hello all!

I am in the process of searching for a rental property and am getting my finances in order to be able to make cash offers. I have an IRA account from an old job. I no longer contribute to the account, so it just sits there. There is approximately $40k in the account which is not much nor will it make or break me. I believe I can put the money to better use now and understand I will pay about 20% in fees and taxes. This is not my only retirement vessel as I work a full-time job that I pay Into a pension for. So my question is, aside from the early withdraw fees, what's the downfall to using this money now to invest in my future?

[John Woodrich]

Your taxes and fees will be a higher than 20%.  The early withdrawal penalty is 10% ($4,000) and depending on your tax brackets and where you are located you may pay 30% tax on top of that (24% fed and X% State tax).  Using my numbers that would leave you roughly $24k after tax to invest which isn't a lot.

You could talk to @Dmitriy Fomichenko about investing your retirement funds into real estate.  That wouldn't provide you access to the cash but you would be able to invest the entire $40k.