<prompt> Human: Background info first:I am 31 years old and currently employed working for the Federal government. I have been working there for 8 years and have contributed the max or almost the max to my Thrift Savings Plan TSP retirement account every year. For those who dont know, the TSP is like a traditional 401K retirement account for the government.I currently have 149K in my TSP and about 25K in a regular savings account with less than 1 interest. I have been looking into a separate Roth IRA and Vanguard really caught my interest. I read somewhere that I could do the following:- Open and fund a traditional IRA select non-deductible on the form- Once the account is funded, convert the new IRA account to a Roth IRA by submitting the brokerages form or calling customer support- Result: you now have 5500 to invest on which you will pay no taxes on gains, you can withdraw your principal the 5500 at any time with no penalty, and you can withdraw gains prior to age 59 12 to buy a home or for higher education expensesCan anyone confirm if this is accurate? I am thinking of taking 5,500 out of my savings account and following those steps to open up a Roth IRA and letting it grow each year at a faster rate since my savings account is hardly making me money. I am just nervous though as I do not know much about investing which stocksbonds to invest in and what rules are in place if I ever want to withdraw money from my Roth IRA account for home projects, kids college tuition, a down payment on a car, etc. For my TSP, I just put 50 in the C fund and 50 in the I fund and let it do its job.Hopefully some or most of you have a Roth IRA through Vanguard and can shed some light on this for me. If you need more info about my finances, let me know. Thanks!Edit: I make 70K a year if that mattersEdit 2: Okay so now I know I can just open a Roth IRA directly. I guess I was confused on what a backdoor Roth IRA was, so that does not apply to me. Got it.Edit 3: Can anyone please clarify on this wiki rule? What does it mean when they say you cannot put past years contributions back in your Roth IRA unless you return the money within 30 days? 13. Can I take money out of my Roth IRA without penalty? You can take out your Roth IRA contributions without penalty whenever you want. Taxes and penalties may apply if you want to take out earnings. You should also be aware that your investment company may have a minimum balance. However, since you cannot put past years contributions back in your Roth IRA unless you return the money within 30 days, strongly consider avoiding such a withdrawal.  <response>: This is called a backdoor IRA, and you only need to jump through these hoops if you are high income. Depending on your income, you might be able to just open a Roth IRA.The Vanguard part is irrelevant to the tax rules. 