T. Rowe Price vs Vanguard

[PatronWizard11]

I see so many recommendations for Vanguard throughout the forum. What advice would you give a novice like me who just finished my Roth for 2015 and finishing my wife's traditions IRA Monday ($2500). I was getting her Roth started with $1k and then realized we should be doing traditional, so she has a Roth with 1k and the rest will be regular IRA to help lower our taxable income.

Anyways, to my question. I see recommendations for Vanguard Index funds so should I continue with T. Rowe or switch allegiances? If I switch, what do I do with my money that is in TR, keep it there? Should I not finish with that $2500 and open up a Vanguard account asap?

thanks for your help

[PatronWizard11]

Will also Max 2016 IRA's in 3 months or so. But I want to be putting them in the right place. If T Rowe is perfectly fine, then I am ok with that.

[tj]

People tend to like Vanguard because of the low costs and the theory that active management is generally tough to recoup the costs of the management.

TRP is certainly a reasonable enough firm though. I recall our 401(k) adviser suggesting that TRP had 2nd best Target Date funds after Vanguard.

You'd certainly be better off with any number of balanced funds at TRP then putting your IRA in a bank CD or something like that. With the $$ amount your talking about, the savings rate is more important than the investment selection. If you are comfortable with TRP, stick with them. I'd go with Vanguard myself, but even I started at Fidelity and I'm doing just fine. I didn't consolidate to Vanguard until maybe last year, having opened my first IRA (at Fidelity) in 2010...

[PatronWizard11]

People tend to like Vanguard because of the low costs and the theory that active management is generally tough to recoup the costs of the management.

TRP is certainly a reasonable enough firm though. I recall our 401(k) adviser suggesting that TRP had 2nd best Target Date funds after Vanguard.

You'd certainly be better off with any number of balanced funds at TRP then putting your IRA in a bank CD or something like that. With the $$ amount your talking about, the savings rate is more important than the investment selection. If you are comfortable with TRP, stick with them. I'd go with Vanguard myself, but even I started at Fidelity and I'm doing just fine. I didn't consolidate to Vanguard until maybe last year, having opened my first IRA (at Fidelity) in 2010...

Ha, I guess if the best is Vanguard I do not see why I shouldn't go with them. Now what should I do with my funds in TRP? Leave them there or roll them to Vanguard? Is that a ton of work to do something like that too?

It's going to be 2 Roths and 1 Tradition I'd need to move to Vanguard.

[MDM]

I was getting her Roth started with $1k and then realized we should be doing traditional, so she has a Roth with 1k and the rest will be regular IRA to help lower our taxable income.

You have time to change your mind and recharacterize that $1K as traditional.  See https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/IRA_recharacterization.

Any of Fidelity/Schwab/Vanguard have good no-load low-fee options.  All will be happy to do the majority of the work needed to transfer your funds.  E.g., see https://investor.vanguard.com/account-transfer/transfer-ira.

But before you transfer, check your costs at TRP.  If you are already in a good low-cost fund, why bother?

[ltt]

It is okay to leave money at TRP and then start something new with Vanguard.

[PatronWizard11]

I was getting her Roth started with $1k and then realized we should be doing traditional, so she has a Roth with 1k and the rest will be regular IRA to help lower our taxable income.

You have time to change your mind and recharacterize that $1K as traditional.  See https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/IRA_recharacterization.

Any of Fidelity/Schwab/Vanguard have good no-load low-fee options.  All will be happy to do the majority of the work needed to transfer your funds.  E.g., see https://investor.vanguard.com/account-transfer/transfer-ira.

But before you transfer, check your costs at TRP.  If you are already in a good low-cost fund, why bother?

I greatly appreciate the links, they are going to help a bunch. Yeah, I think with Vanguard being h best, I want to follow a lot of people's advice on certain investing options and they always reference Vanguard. So since I'm a novice, I think it's best.

It is okay to leave money at TRP and then start something new with Vanguard.

I think I am going to leave it there for now and do the move when I have more free time in life. thanks