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    ATC's Avatar
    ATC Posts: 1, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Jul 10, 2008, 04:14 PM
    401k for child college tuition
    Is it possible to withdraw funds from my IRA to use for my child college expenses? Would there be any penalties, would I be taxed, do I need to re-pay it?

    This was a rollover from a previous employer and was invested through morgan keegan as an IRA. Two years later, instead of growing, it had lost over $4600.

    Now, my thoughts are withdrawing all of it, put it to good use before I lose everything.

    Please help!
    smokedetector's Avatar
    smokedetector Posts: 368, Reputation: 56
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    #2

    Jul 10, 2008, 04:27 PM
    Everything they told me in college about 401ks was to leave them alone in almost all cases. Apparently a lot of people make this mistake, so they push it when you go to the financial adviser. Maybe it's different in your case, but that's been my experience with the topic.
    ebaines's Avatar
    ebaines Posts: 12,131, Reputation: 1307
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    #3

    Jul 11, 2008, 06:52 AM
    ATC - assuming you are under 59-1/2 years of age, any withdrawal you make from that rollover IRA will be taxed as ordinary income (federal as well as state/local if applicable where you live), plus you will owe a 10% early withdrawal penalty.

    If you have other sources of income or savings to pay the tuition bill you should use them rather than your IRA. Remember that your IRA is for your retirement, and you should stay invested for the long term. Depending on your age, you can expect that before you reach retirement the markets will go up and they will go down, but over the long term your investment should make a positive return. Make sure that you are properly diversified between stocks and bonds, with large cap, small cap, and foreign stocks as well, and you should do OK.
    MukatA's Avatar
    MukatA Posts: 7,110, Reputation: 176
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    #4

    Aug 9, 2008, 06:59 AM
    If you withdraw from Trad IRA for child college expense, then you do not pay early withdrawal penalty.
    If distributions are not more than your qualified higher education expenses related to enrollment or attendance at an eligible postsecondary school. It includes tuition and fees, books, supplies and equipment.
    Read: Your U.S. Tax Return: Traditional IRA and Roth IRA
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