re: Question about a Roth account

quote:

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was told I could only take it out after 5 years

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This probably refers to "seasoning" and it only applies to earnings, that is, money above your contributions. The amount you've contributed can always be withdrawn without penalty, full stop. No need to delay, no seasoning period required.

However, seasoning probably doesn't apply in your case b/c you normally have to have some sort of justification like disability. Paying off student loans probably doesn't count.

You could do it with contribution money though. Whether it's a good idea to do this or not is your call, but personally a 7.5% guaranteed return (or higher) is pretty good. OTOH you'd have to balance it against how long the loan is projected to last. If you're due to pay it off fairly soon anyway it might be better to keep the money in the Roth because even though your return might be lower you get to keep it in there until you retire.

OTOH if you're looking at many years of 7.5% debt I'd carefully consider doing that.