Is there a "best" Roth IRA company? I keep hearing a lot about Vanguard. Right now I'm just putting in 10% (changing to 5% since I only get matched up to 5%) into 401k and want to start up a Roth IRA and max it out for the year. Is there a general consensus on which one is better than the next? I probably will be doing some fund juggling, but not on a regular basis (maybe or twice a month). I'm 25, not sure if that matters or not in this case.
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What do you mean "depends on what I want"? I'm not going to be investing in individual stocks, only indexes. If I decide to trade individual stocks at some point I'll do that outside of an IRA.
mikhailtech said:What do you mean "depends on what I want"? I'm not going to be investing in individual stocks, only indexes. If I decide to trade individual stocks at some point I'll do that outside of an IRA.
He means if you want a Fidelity index fund then Vanguard is not the place for your IRA. if you want any type of specific index fund then Vanguard is the probably your best bet (if they offer that specific index) because they have some of the lowest fees. If you want a specific loaded fund then that company would be your best place.
1) Figure out which funds you want. 2) Check 3 or 4 places that offer it and decide what is the cheapest way for you to invest in it 3) See if there are minimums to invest 4) Open IRA
mikhailtech said:What do you mean "depends on what I want"? I'm not going to be investing in individual stocks, only indexes. If I decide to trade individual stocks at some point I'll do that outside of an IRA.
Swivelguy said:mikhailtech said:What do you mean "depends on what I want"? I'm not going to be investing in individual stocks, only indexes. If I decide to trade individual stocks at some point I'll do that outside of an IRA.
Vanguard is the best place to invest in an index.They have some of the best index funds but sometimes it can be better in buying their funds through another broker. For the ETFs, it really doesn't matter who you have the brokerage account with.
The ETF may be a better deal than the mutual fund, if you are going to buy and hold with it for a while. For example, for the Vanguard Total Market Index, the regular ETF has a expense ratio of 0.07%, while the stock version has an expense ratio of 0.15%, plus the $20 fee if you don't do the electronic package or meet the minimum balance. Therefore, a Scottrade with free IRAs and $7 a trade might actually be better for larger amounts, provided you don't go and start trading (since more than one trade a year will wipe you out). For $1,000, the difference is basically 80 cents a year. ETFs also have the flexibility of purchases at the market price during the day, rather than that at the end of the day, and other nice features. I hold Vanguard ETFs in my Zecco account and some in a regular Vanguard account, and each serves its purpose.
calwatch said:The ETF may be a better deal than the mutual fund, if you are going to buy and hold with it for a while. For example, for the Vanguard Total Market Index, the regular ETF has a expense ratio of 0.07%, while the stock version has an expense ratio of 0.15%, plus the $20 fee if you don't do the electronic package or meet the minimum balance. Therefore, a Scottrade with free IRAs and $7 a trade might actually be better for larger amounts, provided you don't go and start trading (since more than one trade a year will wipe you out). For $1,000, the difference is basically 80 cents a year. ETFs also have the flexibility of purchases at the market price during the day, rather than that at the end of the day, and other nice features. I hold Vanguard ETFs in my Zecco account and some in a regular Vanguard account, and each serves its purpose.
The other benefit is being able to invest in particular sectors compared to what vanguard offers as mutual funds.
mikhailtech said:Is there a "best" Roth IRA company? I keep hearing a lot about Vanguard. Right now I'm just putting in 10% (changing to 5% since I only get matched up to 5%) into 401k and want to start up a Roth IRA and max it out for the year. Is there a general consensus on which one is better than the next? I probably will be doing some fund juggling, but not on a regular basis (maybe or twice a month). I'm 25, not sure if that matters or not in this case.
As far as vanguard is concerned, that is fund juggling. I don't have the link right now, and I'll look for it tomorrow, but they don't want you selling and buying the same fund within 60 days I believe. If you do want to change your positions on a monthly frequency, you may have to look elsewhere, but as calwatch pointed out, with more than a trade or two a year, you will be eating into the funding money pretty heavily.
So the idea then is to get Vanguard, select a fund, max it out, and forget about it (like with 401k)? Is there a recommended "semi-aggressive" fund from Vanguard? Right now I'm on "option 4" out of 5 with my 401k, 1 being the most conservative, 5 being the most aggressive.
ElectricSavant said:Check out Scottrade....no fees there that I can see and you can buy what you want...
ESI have an IRA with them. Their customer service is poor and all they say is "We're a discount broke, what do you expect?" They don't know anything about IRAs. I would recommend getting an IRA somewhere else to save yourself some headaches later. Most online brokers offer free IRAs and the commission are not that much more.
Just remember that when shopping check for the fee for "closing the IRA account" and ACAT transfer fees... also some brokers reimburse for ACAT transfers.
When I phone Scottrade it gets routed to my local office...maybe some local offices give better service than others...I am a low maintanence client (This is not my trading account)...so I do not rely much on CSR's...but when you need them they better be good! agreed!
ES
SegaRob said:ElectricSavant said:Check out Scottrade....no fees there that I can see and you can buy what you want...
ESI have an IRA with them. Their customer service is poor and all they say is "We're a discount broke, what do you expect?" They don't know anything about IRAs. I would recommend getting an IRA somewhere else to save yourself some headaches later. Most online brokers offer free IRAs and the commission are not that much more.
mikhailtech said:Is there a "best" Roth IRA company? I keep hearing a lot about Vanguard. Right now I'm just putting in 10% (changing to 5% since I only get matched up to 5%) into 401k and want to start up a Roth IRA and max it out for the year. Is there a general consensus on which one is better than the next? I probably will be doing some fund juggling, but not on a regular basis (maybe or twice a month). I'm 25, not sure if that matters or not in this case.
Vanguard is a special type of company, it's more like a credit union than a bank/brokerage. It's a subsidiary of the various funds which all have their own entities. For it to go bankrupt all its stock/bond/metal funds would pretty much have to go to 0. If that happened, you have more problems than a losing an IRA. If BAC or C goes bankrupt, it wouldn't matter much.
I hope your right for your sake...I think diversification may be right for my sake....and never say never...but really the guy wants a broker not a company of funds...
I try not to recommend a broker to anybody and my one line post about Scottrade was simply an observation...I have several brokerage accounts for diversification...I even have a Vanguard account...along with Fidelity....the Brokerages are for ETF's and such...Scottrade is just one of them well suited for IRA's...but not for trading....Scottrade has the Lipper info...and other keen little tools for analysis that is pretty kewl too!
ES
MyDiscoverSucks said:Vanguard is a special type of company, it's more like a credit union than a bank/brokerage. It's a subsidiary of the various funds which all have their own entities. For it to go bankrupt all its stock/bond/metal funds would pretty much have to go to 0. If that happened, you have more problems than a losing an IRA. If BAC or C goes bankrupt, it wouldn't matter much.
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