Can I withdraw unsettled funds?
Yes, via a margin account, one can trade or transfer on unsettled funds. These are tight regulations that begin with the Federal Reserve, extend to FINRA, and downward. In a cash account, this is not possible. Since speed is a necessity, a margin account can actually be approved nearly instantly.
You can't both enforce saving and have access to the money -- from what you say, it's clear that if you can access the money you will spend it. Can you find an account that allows one withdrawal every six months but no more, which should help to cut down on the impulse buys but still let you get at your money in an emergency? India has Foreign Exchange Management Act. Under the liberalized scheme, there are limits for individuals to move funds out of India for specific purposes. Any such transfer require a CA certificate, so it would be advisable to talk to a CA to understand the specifics of your case. Why would you even accept 75K in cash? If anything is going to trigger an audit, this will be it. 75K in cash deposited will look like money laundring, so you better have a paper trail ready to prove this is legal or this won't end well. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think it would be considered a free ride. The idea of a free ride is that you are engaging in a transaction when you do not actually have the money available to cover it, since the broker is technically giving you a 3 day loan whenever you purchase your stock (3 day rule to settle.) However, if you are using a margin account, and you have enough credit available, then you are not actually using unsettled assets, but rather an additional line of credit which was granted to you. You would just need to make sure that your total transactions are less than your purchasing power. That's my take on it anyway. I hope that helps, and hopefully someone can confirm or reject what I have said. It's not your money. What does your wife think of this?  You know, the withdrawal is subject to full tax at your marginal rate as well as a 10% penalty. That's quite a price to pay, don't do it. "I would call the bank and ask how the person is on the account.   If they are an owner, or are an authorized user, or what type of owner they are, etc.    If the bank makes the distinction between ""user"" and ""owner"" then most likely, your funds are not able to be seized.  If they are a joint owner, then, typically, 100% of the money is yours and 100% of the money is theirs and either of you could withdraw all the money, close the account, or have the money seized as part of a legal action." This happened to me in the mid 90's. I wanted to withdraw enough cash from my account to buy a new car and they nearly panicked. I took a bank draft instead.  I discovered afterward that they can require up to a week's notice for any withdrawl. "The issues of trading with unsettled funds are usually restricted to cash accounts.  With margin, I've never personally heard of a rule that will catch you in this scenario.  You won't be able to withdraw funds that are tied up in unsettled positions until the positions settle.  You should be able to trade those funds.  I've never heard of a broker charging margin interest on unsettled funds, but that doesn't mean there isn't a broker somewhere that does. Brokers are allowed to impose their own restrictions, however, since margin is basically offering you a line of credit.  You should check to see if your broker has more restrictive rules. I'd guess that you may have heard about restrictions that apply to cash accounts and think they may also apply to margin accounts.  If that's the case and you want to learn more about the rules generally, try searching for these terms: You should be able to find a lot of clear resources on those terms.  Here's one that's current and provides examples: https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/trading-investing/trading/avoiding-cash-trading-violations On a margin account you avoid these issue because the margin (essentially a loan from your broker) provides a cushion / additional funds that avoid the issues.  It is possible that if you over-extend yourself that you'll get a ""margin call,"" but that seems to be different than what you're asking and maybe worth a new question if you want to know about that." The name of this type of investment is Capital Guaranteed Investment, and yes they do exist, some financial institutions do offer them from time to time and they can be better than putting money in the bank. Unlike what someone else said, your money is not is not locked for the five years. You can take out your investment at any time, but if you do take your money out before the term (5 years in your mother's case) the capital gurantee is void. So you would only withdrawal your money if the investment is currently in proffit, because if it is at a loss when you go to withdrawal, you get hit with the loss. In many cases you will get a third party, usually a large bank, being guarantor for the capital guarantee, and they in turn get paid for this obligation. "Yes.  This article describes opting-out: http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/overdraft-fees-what-banks-charge/ It is true, I think, that most banks will offer this as a ""courtesy"" by default, but I believe that they must offer an option to opt-out. I checked my bank's webpage, and they explicitly describe how to opt-out by calling a number or visiting a bank branch, but it required digging carefully to find that information. That being said, are you sure that you'd really want to opt-out?  The bank can still charge a fee for non-sufficient funds (NSF) and whoever was expecting the payment may also charge you late fees and service fees.  It's much better just to make sure that you don't overdraw through careful planning." "I've done exactly what you say at one of my brokers.  With the restriction that I have to deposit the money in the ""right"" way, and I don't do it too often.  The broker is meant to be a trading firm and not a currency exchange house after all.  I usually do the exchange the opposite of you, so I do USD -> GBP, but that shouldn't make any difference. I put ""right"" in quotes not to indicate there is anything illegal going on, but to indicate the broker does put restrictions on transferring out for some forms of deposits.    So the key is to not ACH the money in, nor send a check, nor bill pay it, but rather to wire it in.  A wire deposit with them has no holds and no time limits on withdrawal locations.  My US bank originates a wire, I trade at spot in the opposite direction of you (USD -> GBP), wait 2 days for the trade to settle, then wire the money out to my UK bank.  Commissions and fees for this process are low.  All told, I pay about $20 USD per xfer and get spot rates, though it does take approx 3 trading days for the whole process (assuming you don't try to wait for a target rate but rather take market rate.)" Your math is fine, except employers might not permit the withdrawal. You'd have to go back to their rules or contact HR to understand the withdrawals permitted. you can actually send them an email and they will lift the pending balance. I have tried it and they were able to help me. Goodluck In the Anti-Money Laundering World ( AML) , structuring consists of the division ( breaking up) of cash transactions, deposits and withdrawals, with the intent to avoid the Currency Transaction Reporting ( CTR) filings.  In your case the issue is not structuring but the fact that you have another person ( unknown to the bank) depositing cash , event if it is above the CTR threshold, for you to withdraw later .  The entire scenario raises a lot of questions. Merrill charges $500 flat fee to (I assume purchase) my untraded or worthless security. In my case, it's an OTC stock whose management used for a microcap scam, which resulted in a class action lawsuit, etc. but the company is still listed on OTC and I'm stuck with 1000s of shares. (No idea about the court decision)