Using MEC to shelter assets, pay for college

srparent15
Wed, 21 Jul 2021 22:59:26 +0000

Roth IRA’s allow you to take qualified education expenses and there are no penalties. Also, you can withdraw contributions to a Roth IRA at any time for any reason without penalty. So, when some people have a traditional IRA the best vehicle at that point is to convert it to a Roth. However, you do need to have a Roth for 5 years to avoid any penalties so for some it may be too late. There are some great articles about this and also on the IRS website one can read about this.

But bottom line, no one should sacrifice retirement savings to pay for college. You can’t get that money back once it’s gone.