Author Topic: Best IRA Account?  (Read 4980 times)

V

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Best IRA Account?
« on: July 16, 2014, 07:11:00 AM »
Hello everyone,

I am in need of some help.  I am 22 (23 next month) years old and not really savvy in terms of investing.  I know I want to open a Roth IRA, but I'm not really sure who to use to open this account.  I think I want to invest in Vanguard, but you have to have $3k to open an account with Vanguard.  My husband and I are actually putting an offer in on a home today, so most of the savings we have will go towards the 20% down payment.  Saving for a house is actually why I haven't previously opened an account, but now that we have that money I want to start investing for the future.  Any ideas on who I can use to open an IRA that will let me invest in Vanguard without having to have a lot of money to put towards it initially?

welliamwallace

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Re: Best IRA Account?
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2014, 07:15:15 AM »
I would recommend Vanguard as well. Look again, I believe some of the funds (Particularly the Target 2055 Retirement fund, which would probably be perfect for you), only require $1,000

matchewed

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Re: Best IRA Account?
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2014, 07:22:04 AM »
You need to think of it less than who and more as who meets your needs.

Low expense ratio and low minimum investment requirements while maintaining a broad index fund I assume meets your needs.

As you saw Vanguard has a 3k minimum on most of their index fund investor class.

Fidelity has $2.5k minimum on some of their Spartan funds.

Either way you're looking at saving up some money. I'd just save up that money and go with the lowest expense ratio (Vanguard).

GGNoob

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Re: Best IRA Account?
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2014, 07:51:43 AM »
Betterment.com is great for first time investors (in my opinion). They charge a small fee (0.15% to 0.35%) on top of the ETF expenses, but they allow you to invest as little as $10 while diversifying across up to 12 ETFs! So Betterment may be a great place to open up an IRA for you and you're husband. Then once the balance is high enough, you could roll it over into Vanguard. Personally, I plan on keeping my money at Betterment for a long time and enabling tax loss harvesting once my account is large enough. I have my safety net, savings, and Roth IRA there. My wife also has a Roth IRA there.

If you do both create an account there, make sure to e-mail support and them them know both you and you're husband have an account there and give them the e-mail address of both accounts. They will "household" the accounts to make sure that the total balance between the two accounts count for the fee.

Scandium

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Re: Best IRA Account?
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2014, 11:13:21 AM »
This is why I went with Schwab when I started out. Among other things. Their bank offering is pretty great too (refunded all ATM fees!)

I believe the minimum is $1000 to open an account. Funds are similar to Vanguard. Some funds have a $100 minimum. So far I'm pretty happy with schwab.

ArtieStrongestInTheWorld

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Re: Best IRA Account?
« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2014, 09:59:19 AM »
TD Ameritrade lets you invest in a wide variety of Vanguard ETFs with no minimum balance and no commission fees.  I have several accounts with them and have been happy with their service.

Fidelity has a similar option for iShares ETFs.


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seattlecyclone

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Re: Best IRA Account?
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2014, 11:38:07 AM »
Hello everyone,

I am in need of some help.  I am 22 (23 next month) years old and not really savvy in terms of investing.  I know I want to open a Roth IRA, but I'm not really sure who to use to open this account.  I think I want to invest in Vanguard, but you have to have $3k to open an account with Vanguard.  My husband and I are actually putting an offer in on a home today, so most of the savings we have will go towards the 20% down payment.  Saving for a house is actually why I haven't previously opened an account, but now that we have that money I want to start investing for the future.  Any ideas on who I can use to open an IRA that will let me invest in Vanguard without having to have a lot of money to put towards it initially?

It sounds like you eventually want to end up with Vanguard, but the minimum balance is your main hesitation at the moment. In that case, why not wait to open the account until you have enough saved up? You have until April to make IRA contributions for this year. I would happily forgo the expected return on a couple thousand dollars for a few months if it meant avoiding the hassle of switching IRA providers.

I recommend that you first get your house purchase finalized and wait a few months after you move in to see if any unexpected house-related expenses pop up. Once you're settled into the new house and have a good handle on your new financial situation, then open up an IRA account with Vanguard for the long term.

Also, do be aware that while Vanguard's minimum for most funds is $3,000, you can invest in their target retirement funds for only $1,000.

milesdividendmd

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Re: Best IRA Account?
« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2014, 12:25:35 PM »
TD Ameritrade lets you invest in a wide variety of Vanguard ETFs with no minimum balance and no commission fees.  I have several accounts with them and have been happy with their service.

Fidelity has a similar option for iShares ETFs.


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+1 TD ameritrade.  I use them through HSA bank for my HSA and their fee free ETF offerings are terrific.  Almost any vanguard index fund you could want can be purchased in small denominations as an ETF with fees at the level of admiral class funds. 

Nice trading platform as well.

Best of both worlds.

gimp

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Re: Best IRA Account?
« Reply #8 on: July 18, 2014, 12:43:28 PM »
I use both schwab and vanguard. Both perfectly decent. Also, schwab's ETF is cheaper than Vanguard's for a broad total market index fund (0.04% vs 0.05%) but the question of which tracks the index better is one that's not really been answered. Schwab for 401k at work, vanguard for IRA.