moving a ROTH account?

[deca]

I have a 401k through my employer currently getting 9% income contributions. I would like to start putting an additional 6% of my income into a ROTH. Ultimately I want to have this account at Vanguard, where I already have rollover IRA, but they require a 3,000 minimum to open an account and I don't have that on hand (don't want to pull $$ from my emergency fund).

I can open a ROTH at my credit union right away and earn 5%, then contribute say $500/month until I get to the $3000 required by Vanguard. Is it complicated to then transfer the account over? I guess I could save up the money in my efund account at emigrant because I'm already getting 5% there as well, but I'd rather put it straight to a designated retirement account right away.

[Scanner]

Is it complicated to then transfer the account over?

About one, one and half page form to fill out and then it kind of sits in "la-la" land for 10 days where it's earning yield from neither but I'll tell what I would do.

Your tax liability is so low on $3000 or lower, I would just keep it in vanilla savings account until it hit $3000 (6 months @ $500/month) and just pay a few bucks in tax.

I probably wouldn't want the hassle either.

But. . .this is the "frugal and savings" forum so if you are really concerned about sheltering it, you could

A. Do what you propose and fill out a 1 - 1.5 page form to transfer

B. Go with T. Rowe Price and open an almost identical account for $50 and put it on automatic contribution.

Try not to get too hung up on the "Fund Family" and focus more on the prospectus. I use T. Rowe Price's Blue Chip Fund for my domestic equity and although it's not entirely analogous to Vanguards S&P 500 (that's an index fund), it's pretty close - it invests in blue chips. But I'm positive Price has index funds if you are dead set on an index.

Then, if you really get a bug about switching from Prices' Index fund to Vanguard's Index, you can.

Good luck.

[autoxer]

I've been trying to get my Roth transferred to Vanguard since February. It's not difficult, but in my case my current brokerage (wachovia sec) is very frustrating to deal with...

Just save it up in your current savings account, until you have the $3000 & open it with Vanguard when you are ready.

[deca]

Okay, sounds like it's easiest to accumulate the 3K in regular savings and then open the ROTH at Vanguard. I'm going to stick with Vanguard because I'm already thoroughly overwhelmed by the number of various bank/credit/investment accounts and website logins I have. I don't need another place to keep track of my money.