<prompt> Human: Im not exactly sure how they work to be perfectly honest, I was just told to invest the max in them every year until Im an old man. And to be honest Im not entirely sure why Id want to take away what is a rather large chunk of my money right now.Can someone help me? When would it be okay to invest less? Am I missing out by not investing less? Isnt there an IRA I can withdraw from early without penalty, or am I mistaken?  <response>: Im not entirely sure why Id want to take away what is a rather large chunk of my money right now.At some point you will stop working, whether that is because you no longer want to work or because you are physicallymentally unable to do so. Once that happens you will need to have money to live. Thats what retirement savings are for. Maxing out your Roth IRA contributions is a decent start toward achieving that goal, however it does mean that you cant spend the money on other things. Its not the end of the world if you dont max out your contributions, but at the same time you cant focus exclusively on present desires either. You can make educated guesses as to what youll need to save, but ultimately theres no formula. People who want a greater chance of a comfortable retirement will save more now; people who dont care will live more in the present. Ideally you will place an equal emphasis on each, otherwise you will end up miserable now or later. 