Let's say I'm young, with at least 3 decades to retirement. I've got a LTBH portfolio with consisting of strong companies I think will do well a decade from now. Now let's say I would like to invest a bit more on the "speculative" side. There are a lot of highly volatile but interesting companies I would like to take a position in, but only for the short term, as I think their long-term success isn't certain. Wouldn't it make sense to buy these companies using money from an IRA? That way I could sell them, and regardless of the time I held them, pay no capital gains taxes. It seems to me this could be a good way to quickly build up a large portfolio. Of course the strategy seems a bit contradictory since I would be focused on the short term but the money couldn't be withdrawn for the long term. This seems to especially make sense since the maximum annual contribution to an IRA is so small. At least it'd be a good way to quickly build up an IRA portfolio, and then maybe use that profit to buy shares of good solid companies. Of course I realize I could easily lose my IRA investment, but if you're young you've got time to spare. What do you guys think?