Most people think a Roth IRA is a locked box until retirement. It is not.

You can legally Access your Roth IRA before retirement. So there's a big misunderstanding about Roth IRAs. People think the money's locked up until retirement. The fact is you can withdraw your contributions but not your earnings anytime you want to, tax and penalty free. Why is that? Well, think about it. You've already paid taxes on that money. You didn't get a tax deduction when you put the money into the Roth IRA. So let's say you contributed 7,000 a year for 10 years. That's 70,000 of your money that you contributed. If your account grew to let's say it's worth 120,000, you can still pull the original 70,000 out whenever you want without penalties. The extra 50,000 in earnings is what's locked up until you're 59 and a half and your account is five years old. So if you took the money from a conversion, that has its own five year clock too. And whatever you do, report it properly on IRS Form 8606. That's how you show what's your contribution and avoid triggering taxes.