<prompt> Human: Im very new to the personal finance world havent graduated college, and just got my start by reading I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. Theres tons of useful advice in here, but I couldnt help but notice that all his investment advice was to use 401ks and Roth IRAs, which are both retirement funds. In my naivety, I had assumed that when people invested, they were able to get their money whenever they wanted or at least within 10 years or so. I guess this doesnt seem to be the case. Am I misunderstanding about investments? Why do you need to invest in stocks within a Roth IRA rather than just investing?Assistant: Follow-up question: Is there a reason that Ramit doesnt include much about brokerage accounts in this book? Is it considered a bad idea to have such an account?  <response>: I dont know why Ramit doesnt mention brokerage accounts, but reading the Amazon reviews, they seem beyond the scope of this book.Brokerage accounts are not bad or good. They are a tool to use as part of investing. If you want to hold a mix of assets, say funds, etf, bonds, and individual stocks, you will need to have one. Id say it has more to do with your investment experience level - starting out you may just have a few mutual funds, but someday you might want more options.I have a taxable account brokerage, ROTH IRA, Traditional IRA, and Rollover Traditional IRA for my old 401k accounts. I hold individual stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs. 