Best place to open a Roth IRA

[sweeps]

There's been a lot of discussion about the best places to open bank accounts. Any suggestions on good places to open a Roth IRA? For example, does anyone offer a bonus for opening an account, etc.

[PRICEPLUS]

As I did not have all the money to open a Roth I went with an asset builder account with T.Rowe. I build it up a bit at a time. There are others that allow you to do the same. Vanguard is good but I don't know if you have to put a minimum up!

[BAGAGT1]

A Roth IRA is just a shell account. Within that shell account, you can put your money into investment vehicles like mutual funds, stocks, ETF's, money market funds, bonds, etc.... I doubt you will find any "bonuses" for opening a Roth IRA, as typically it is used as a means for investing for retirement.

So what you really need to look into, is how do you want to invest the money that you are going to place in a Roth IRA? If you are interested in mutual funds, then look at the various mutual fund companies like T.Rowe Price, Vanguard, etc. If you are looking at investing directly into stocks, bonds, ETF's, then you might want to look for a brokerage account companies like Schwab, E*trade, Scottrade etc.

The benefits of the Roth IRA, is that the earnings portion of the account is tax free within the limitations of the plan (cannot remove the earnings until 59 1/2). You also have access to the contributions portion of the account should you ever need it. Since the account is funded with after tax dollars, there is no immediate tax benefit like there is with a traditional IRA.

[akaivyleaf]

I like T.Rowe Price

Sharon

[BAGAGT1]

If you are interested in a discount brokerage account, I like Scottrade.

[jmjj215]

I like Vanguard - just to balance things out here

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by BAGAGT1

A Roth IRA is...

I know -- I'm probably going to choose Vanguard as I like their low-cost index funds. I just want to make sure there aren't any bonus deals out there that I should be aware of.

[gakline]

Don't forget Fidelity

[TBH]

A second vote for Fidelity. Lots of good low-cost funds, and they waive your annual fee if you receive your statements online. But the best part is their online interface is really, really easy to use.

[Tree0164]

I had my Roth at Vanguard. But everything else is at Fidelity.