If you watch heist movies, you know that even best-laid schemes rarely go according to plan. Luckily, if life throws your grand financial plan off track and you need to withdraw money from your retirement savings, Roth IRAs offer flexibility. The principal — the money that you deposited into a Roth IRA account — is always yours to withdraw penalty-free. If you need to withdraw some of the interest earnings — the money earned from the principal — you will have to pay an additional 10% penalty to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on earnings you withdraw before age 59 ½ or before the account is five years old. This 10% penalty is in addition to any taxes you have to pay on the withdrawal as normal income.