<prompt> Human: Im 22 years old and Im considering opening a Roth IRAFrom my understanding, you can withdraw the total contribution from a Roth IRA at any time, while all earnings will be taxed until one of the exceptions or 59.5 years are met. This means that in order to deposit into a Roth IRA you are forgoing interest from a savings account 1 at best, Immediate earnings from stock, and any personal use or business venture that money may be used in during the period of time that contribution is held in a Roth IRA.However if say 2 years down the line, I get an act together for a business venture, or have a non-exception emergency that my emergency fund cannot handle, I can withdraw all 10k max contribution for 2 years, and leave the earnings in the account without paying a dime in taxes.Is this correct?If that is correct, assuming I dont care about the earningsinterest on my contribution, but I do care to be able to use the principle after liquidating as emergency money or as capital for my business, is there a reason not to park my money in an IRA assuming markets are good and Im investing in an index fund like SP 500.Thanks for your help  <response>: I can withdraw all 10kmax contribution for 2 yearsThee current limit is 5500year so it would be 11k.Is this correct? Correct, but if the stock market is in a slump, you may not still have 11k in the account.With that said, you should still leave the IRA alone and finance other venturesemergency fund separately. I do not want to risk my retirement for speculative ventures. Some people do and are tremendously successful, while others bankrupt themselves. I would rather leave it alone and find other funding. 