<prompt> Human: This might be a stupid question but Im struggling to grasp something. My understanding is that with many retirement accounts, you cant withdraw money before 59 12 without taking a penalty. So, if you wanted to retire at 45, where should you be investing some of your money to have access to before you can draw from your 401kRoth 401k at 59 12? Would a simple brokerage account suffice? If Im missing something obvious please let me know!Thanks!  <response>: Head over to rfinancialindependence and read the side bar. They explain all of it. 