Been having a hard time using search engines to get the exact answer I need. If you and your spouse have a joint acct, when can you start drawing? When one or both of you reach 59.5?
I’ve never heard of a joint IRA, it’s an individual retirement account.
You’re right, I was under the impression it was a thing because you always hear the contribution limits for an individual, or double that for a couple. My bad.
Yes. You can’t do it. Any IRA is for an individual only. Husband and wife each have their own.
And to finish answering the question explicitly, each spouse may draw from their own IRA starting when they become 59-1/2 regardless of the age of the other spouse.
There are also some ways you can get money out of the Roth IRA early:
- You are allowed to withdraw your contributions from a Roth. So if you put $1000 in your Roth and it grows to $1500, you can pull the $1000 out. This is unique to a Roth IRA. A normal IRA doesn’t have this feature.
- Withdraw under the “Substantially Equal Periodic Payment” rule. The SEPP is a way where you can take a fixed $X out of the account per year up to 5 years before you reach 59½. $X is decided by you and must be the same for each year.