Avoiding penalties on IRA withdrawals before age 59½

Description

Abstract: IRA owners can withdraw money from their account at any time and for any reason because the owner is in total control of this account. But most withdrawals from traditional IRAs will be at least partially taxable, and the taxable portion of a withdrawal made before age 59½ will be subject to a 10% penalty tax (or as high as 25% on early withdrawals from a SIMPLE IRA). There can even be a 10% penalty tax assessed on a nontaxable portion of some early withdrawals from Roth IRAs. However, this article notes that there are some ways to avoid the penalty tax.