I'm researching if the full cash savings route is possible for us. I'm UK sponsor, my hubby is US & we're currently in Australia hoping to get back to UK ASAP.
We have 3 regular savings accounts (US, AU & UK) that I believe are all good to use, just subject to exchange rate fluctuation.
We need to use hubby's US Individual Retirement Account for the balance & I wanted to clarify a couple of things as I've had conflicting advice & the gov guidelines have me questioning my rational sanity at this point

The IRA has been partly held in mutual funds (with monthly statements) but we sold it all at the end of last month & it's now sitting as 100% cash, immediately accessible but subject to 10% penalty if we withdraw it.
Can I clarify if:
1) this is an acceptable investment account to use ?
2) the cash can remain in this account & does not need to be transferred to a regular cash savings account?
3) if yes to both above, do we still have to subtract the 10% penalty amount & use that as the cash total?
Thanks in advance!