This will muddy the waters a bit, but:
I have had most of my investments at Vanguard for a long time (over 30 years) and they are very good for my needs. But when I got to investing for my kids, I discovered that Vanguard doesn't really cater to small accounts just starting out.
I looked around, wanting to find a place where my kids could open Roth IRAs with low initial investments, zero to low fees and was a place I felt I could trust for the long term.
My kids ended up with their Roth IRA accounts at Schwab.
I was thinking that when their accounts got big enough they could move them to Vanguard to save money on fees, but now with Schwab being so competitive on fees, it really won't make sense for them to move their money for a long time, if ever.
I’d like to open Roth IRAs for my kids but they are all under 9 years old and aren’t close enough to “have a job”. I don’t know a work around for that.
Should I just open a taxable account for them? Input and feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Taxable accounts are good too. But any earned income counts for Roth contributions. For example, I pay my daughter to pet-sit my cat for me when I'm on vacation. I pay her what the vet would charge, my cat is happier being at home rather than in a strange environment, and she has earned income that qualifies her for a Roth contribution. Below a certain amount (I don't recall what it is offhand - $400? $600?), neither income nor FICA taxes are due.
My older son had summer jobs this year landscaping and car detailing, so those earnings count too.
It's harder with younger kids, but even money earned from household chores would count as far as I understand things.
Another thought would be to open taxable accounts for them now and then when they are teenagers with higher paying jobs, liquidate some of the taxable accounts to make the Roth contribution. For example, earn $2K from a summer job, put that $2K in their pockets, sell $2K of the taxable and use those proceeds to fund the Roth. Perfectly legal.