Best Roth IRA Investment Accounts

best-roth-ira-investment-accountsChoosing the best Roth IRA investment account to save for retirement can be confusing and daunting. Investment is essential to every individual’s present as well as future financial security. It is very important to remember that investing is the only way through which you can grow wealth as well get another income stream. Depending on your investment goals, financial stability and the major purpose of savings, you will need to choose the investment broker platform that would best suit your requirement. The money you get out of investments helps in providing great financial security and income for your future.

Investments can be done through stocks, bonds, real estate, mutual funds, ETF (Exchange traded fund). If your desire to retire and remain financially independent investment is a great way to achieve that. Remember to estimate your average gross income and the amount of money you can contribute towards savings annually. This estimation will help you in choosing the right investment tools to being your investment journey.

Let’s review some of the top-rated Roth IRA accounts and compare their unique feature, pricing, pros and cons, so you can figure out which one is right for your retirement investing.


Compare the Top Roth IRA Investment Accounts in 2020

Here’s a list of the best Roth IRA investment accounts to help you invest, plan, and save for retirement.


Betterment

betterment-roth-ira-investment-accountBetterment financial institution is one of the most successful investment institutes in the last 10 years. The biggest motive of Betterment is to make sure that people save and spend their money with full confidence. They are also well-known for their extensive customer service which has made millions of people extremely happy. They also never compromise on the security of the customers investment accounts.

Betterment does this by following the optimized encryption, secure data storage and many more security practices. Another uniqueness of Betterment is that their expert customer service can provide you detailed advice regarding the different ways you could invest your money.

Account Features

Some of the standout features of the Betterment investment account includes excellent built-in financial guidance and a very minimal annual fee. Betterment provides you a varied range of options which you can choose based on the returns you desire. In addition, Betterment also provides you valuable expert advice regarding the investment plans based on your purpose of savings.

Be it for education, retirement, investing and saving to buy a house or organize a wedding or an emergency, Betterment provides you interesting options based on the purpose of your savings. With Betterment, you can opt for an individual, joint or a trust investment methodology.

Pricing

The Betterment investing and retirement will have an annual fee of 0.25% per year on the balance that you maintain. Your accounts do not require a minimum balance every. The only requirement is that you need a minimum deposit of 10$.

Pros

  • Varied range of investment options with precise pricing details
  • Excellent data protection and encryption methodologies being used to protect the privacy of the customers investment accounts.
  • Reimbursement of ATM fee and no minimum balance policy

Cons

  • Betterment offers in depth advice packages that would provide all the information to the customers starting at 199$ which is slightly on the higher side.
  • A slightly higher annual fee when its comes to retirement savings.

Bottom Line

People who are new to the investment arena and would like to start their investment with less annual fee, Betterment would be an excellent option. You can opt for the Betterment investment account especially when you are looking to invest for education, buying homes or for some emergency. The expert customer service team along with the precise plan details on their official website will make your investment journey a successful one.


wealthfront-roth-ira-investment-accountsWealthfront

Wealthfront is one of the oldest financial institutions that till date has continued to provide excellent investment options to customers. The PassivePlus technology that was introduced by them 50 years ago is still going strong. This software-only solution ensures that the money can be managed easily and completely automated and ensuring that the cost and taxes are low.

In addition, their software also offers excellent trade strategies that helps customers to lower their tax obligation to a great extent. This ensured that customers continued to reinvest their savings.

Account Features

Wealthfront offers different investment account types with extensive range of useful and interesting benefits to their customers. You can invest for your retirement which would include the traditional IRA, SEP IRA and the 401(k) rollover.

In addition, you can also invest for education and for emergency purposes as well. Wealthfront also provide you a feature known as the high interest cash account which would be very helpful to customers who are looking for short-term investments. The PassivePlus software introduced by wealthfront provides interesting investment strategies, pricing and other details to the customers easily.

Pricing

Wealthfront is renowned for their very minimal annual fee. They charge only 0.25% annual advisory fee on the money that you investment. This amount is actually just a quarter of the entire industry’s average. Wealthfront charges about 0.06-0.13% which is very low in comparison to its counterparts. In addition, you will not be charged for your withdrawal. There will be no trading commissions, or any transfer fees.

Pros

  • A diverse range of investment options for both long-term and short terms with very minimal annual fee.
  • Easy transfer of investments to Wealthfront from other places. This process will be very simple, free as well as tax efficient.

Cons

  • Lack of precise and detailed information on the different investment options for education, retirement and for emergency.
  • Wealthfront would require a minimum of $500 to being your investment account.

Bottom Line

For people looking for short term as well as long term investments, wealthfront would be a brilliant option for them. The minimal annual fee would help people who are looking to investment for the very first time for their education, health or to save money to buy homes. The software technology helps in getting the right investment strategies thereby reducing your tax obligations.


m1-finance-roth-ira-accountM1 Finance

M1 Finance is very popular for their excellent smart money management policy. This financial institution ensure that their customers find it extremely easy to take full control and thoroughly personalize their finances. The customers can invest, borrow as well as spend without any interruptions, all in a single platform.

The basic M1 software can be used for free and for people who are looking for long-term investment and require expertized investment strategies to reduce their tax obligation can opt for the M1 Plus software solution for even more perks. M1 Finance is a renowned technology-first institution that employs the latest technologies in the information security.

Account Features

With M1 Finance you can easily build a portfolio of stocks as well as the exchange trade funds (ETFs) for free, without any cost. M1 Finance provides you a different range tools that would make your investment plans really fruitful. Some of the trademark features of M1 Finance investment includes customization, fractional shares and automation.

With reference to more than 80 expert portfolios, you can build your own portfolio, customizing it with your investment options. You can make sure that you are fully invested by owing the stocks as well as the ETF’s with the fractional shares. With M1’s automation feature you need not worry about the manual trades at all.

Pricing

There is some significant difference in perks between the M and M plus finance solutions. You can choose one of them based on your preferences and major purpose in trading and investments. To enjoy the Mplus perks, you need to pay $129 per year. With M plus, you can enjoy 2 daily trading windows and some more cashback perks in your checking accounts.

Pros

  • A huge list of financial benefits to M and Mplus users especially when it comes to M1 investment accounts and borrow flexible line of credit.
  • You can always remain fully invested with fractional shares.

Cons

  • Lack of more model-based interface options in their software that depicts a customer’s investment plans.
  • Not enough clarity is provided to the users regarding the retirement plan options.

Bottom Line

People who are extremely interested in long-term investment in a completely automated environment will find M1 Finance excellent. With M1 Finance, you can enjoy the perks of fractional shares that ensures that you remain fully invested. People looking to build really good investment portfolios will find it easy with M1 finance as they offer several customization options.


ally-invest-roth-ira-retirement-accountAlly Invest

The primary slogan of Ally investing is automation in investment. Ally investing offers you four major portfolio choices. You can choose any one of them based on the purpose of your long-term or short-term investments and your financial stability. The four choices are income, tax optimized, core and socially responsible.

With Ally invest, you can open an investment account in minutes as a very systematic automated approach is being used to build investment portfolios. The suite of digital tools owned by Ally investing would help you in viewing your performance and goals to ensure you stay on track of your investment goal.

Account Features

Ally invest is well known for its very intuitive trading platform, excellent customer service and support for seamless transactions. Ally invest provides you two major investment approaches namely Self-directed trading and Managed portfolios. Managed portfolios is the most commonly chosen investment approach in recent times.

This is because, ‘Managed Portfolios’ ensures that you are not charged any annual or re-balancing fee. You will need a minimum of 100$ to being your investment with the ‘Managed Portfolios’ approach. Continuous monitoring and automated re-balancing of your portfolio to ensure your investment plan stays dynamic and on track is the highlight of ‘Managed Portfolios’.

Pricing

Ally invest follows a commission-free trading on the US stocks, Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) and the optional trades that are priced 2$ or higher. For the stocks that are less than 2$, a base commission fee up to $4.95 plus 1 cent per share will be charged. Ally invest never accepts stocks that are below 1 cent per share.

Pros

  • No advisory or annual fees for your investment. In addition, 30% of your managed portfolio will be kept apart for the purpose of interest-earning cash buffer.
  • Automated rebalancing of your portfolio to ensure you stay on track of your investment plans.

Cons

  • A maintenance fee and other charges when people looking for long-term investment by mutual funds and bonds.
  • Not enough information and tutorials on the different software suites provided by Ally invest.

Bottom Line

People who love automated investment must definitely try Ally invest. With Ally invest, you will be able to constantly customize and manage your portfolios with the expert advice regarding your investment strategies. Continuous monitoring and rebalancing the portfolio will help you to not waste any unwanted fee while you invest.


personal-capital-roth-ira-investment-accountPersonal Capital

Personal Capital is one of the renowned digital wealth management platforms that allows the customers to manage all their accounts at a single place. It is often referred to as the 360 degree investment platform as one could go deeper with many planning as well as analytical tools provided by Personal Capital.

Personal Capital makes sure that the customer’s sensitive data is kept secure, safe and private by following multiple layers of security mechanism. In addition, you can also talk about your investment goals, retirement plan to the experts to get an idea on the different investment options that would best satisfy your requirements.

Account Features

With Personal Capital, you can easily know and track your net worth, get the accurate view of the amount you have and the amount you owe. This often helps you in making significant decisions about investing money.

Personal Capital works following the tax optimization strategies and dynamic portfolio allocation. The most famous wealth management tools include Investment Services ($100K-$200K investment assets), Wealth Management (over 200$k- $1M investment assets) and Private Client (over $1M investment assets). You can choose the investment tool based on your financial investment goals, financial stability and easily build a tax-efficient portfolio with Personal Capital to being investing.

Pricing

With Personal Capital, you will require a minimum of $100,000 to being your investment. The wealth management fee for the first 1$M will be 0.89%, for $1M-$3M it will be 0.79%, for $3M-$5M it will be 0.69%, for $5M-$10M it will be 0.59% and for over $10 million it would be 0.49%. Personal Capital offers promotions for free.

Pros

  • Personal Capital also allows you to link all your external financial accounts like IRA’s, 401K, credit cards, savings, and checkings.
  • All the clients will have access to a team of financial advisors and for those people who have invested at least $200,000 will be accessible to two dedicated financial advisors.

Cons

  • You must be having a minimum of $100,000 in your investment account which is pretty high.
  • Personal capital charges you a management fee of about 0.49%-0.89% which is quite high in comparison to its counterparts.

Bottom Line

Personal Capital platform would best appeal to two sets of people, people who are new to investing and the high net-worth investors as well. The extensive set of wealth management tools, dynamic portfolio management will be very helpful for people who are very new to investing. On the other hand, the high-net worth investors will find Personal Capital extremely good as they will have access to the dedicated financial advisors as well as more services.


stash-roth-ira-investing-accountStash

Stash functions on the motto ‘Investment Simplified’. This app was launched in the year 2015 and allows investors to start investing with just $5. Stash also makes it very easy for its customers to choose the investment options.

Stash, being a registered investment advisor uses 256-bit bank grade encryption to keep the customer’s sensitive data secure, safe and private. Stash also allows its customer to maintain a Stash account on behalf of someone who is under the age of 18. This is referred to as custodial investment account. Stash provides some cool and interesting features, especially for beginners.

Account Features

Stash offers you an extensive range of stocks and funds (ETFs) for its customers to invest fruitfully. Once you get access to a Stash investment account, you can also access Auto-Stash which is a suite of automated saving and investment tools. With these tools, you can use analytical data to arrive at your investment plan and goals.

In addition, Stash also provides you Stash learn, Stash Coach and Stash Way tools. These tools helps in educating yourself on different modes of investments and their standout features. Stash also has a Stash Retire feature, a retirement investment account option for both traditional and Roth IRA’s

Pricing

If you hold an account balance that is less than 500$ through Stash, you will be charged a monthly fee of 1$ to use the app. And if your account balance is more than 500$, you will be charged an annual fee of 0.25%. The fee mentioned is just for using the app. Once you begin the investments, based on the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) the fee will fall in the range of 0.07% to 0.95%. The average expense ratio with Stash will be 0.39%

Pros

  • Stash allows its customers to buy fractional shares of a stock, even if don’t invest huge sum of money. This feature is a boon for people who are new to investment and has less funds.
  • Stash also provides in-app as well as email education to ensure that the investors know the investment basics to get excellent rewards.

Cons

  • Stash does not provide any kind of 401K assistance preventing you from making retirement investment plans.
  • Stash does not manage your portfolio and you will have to reach out to robo advisor or financial advisor as you grow and build your portfolio.

Bottom Line

People who are beginners to the investment world will find Stash extremely useful and easy to handle. The service just requires $5 to being investing. In addition, if you are looking for a little hand-holding, as you build your dynamic portfolio of stocks as well as the Exchange Trade Funds, Stash would be the best investment option.


acorns-roth-ira-investing-accountAcorns

The Acorns investment app is targeted at a younger and tech savvy generation. The entire process of investment can be created and managed well from a smartphone. Recently, Acorns has released a Desktop version of the app. Acorns functions on the motto “Invest your spare change and grow from there.”

Acorns successfully functions, has an extensive range of features and has over $1 billion investors already has The Acorns app is widely lauded by many so many professionals and investors as it has made the millennial interested in investment. Acorns in one of the most popular micro-investment app that is targeted at a younger millennial generation.

Account Features

With Acorns app, you can constantly monitor and track your performance in investment and review your investing goals. In addition, Acorns app will also offer you valuable financial expert advice regarding your investment ideas and goals. You will also find easy-to-understand articles on all aspects of investment. Acorns major services include Acorns Later, Acorns Spend and Found money. Acorns Later is an individual retirement investment account that you can use to save money for retirement purposes. Acorns also has a cashback program which functions very much similar like the rewards credit system. If you make any purchases through Acorns Found Money partner, that company makes sure that the amount is invested automatically in your Acorns portfolio.

Pricing

Acorns will charge you about $1-$3 per month to continue with your investment. Acorns costs $1 a month for accounts that have a balance under $5000. If your investment account has a balance of over $5000, Acorns will charge you an annual fee of 0.25 percent of your assets. If you are a student, Acorns is completely free.

Pros

  • There is no minimum amount set for you to being your investment with Acorns. This encourages the college students to try investing their savings.
  • Acorns completely hides the complexity of investment. You do not need to understand and master the modern portfolio theory to use the Acorn application.

Cons

  • There is a slight possibility that you can lose the principal while you invest with the Acorns application.
  • If you decide to move your investments out of Acorns anytime to another provide, you will have to pay a steep fee which is $50 per ETF to transfer the investments.

Bottom Line

People who are beginners to investing will find the Acorns app interesting as it provides you very useful guidance to make the right investment choices. If you are under 24 and a college student, Acorns is completely free and all the fee charges will be waived. Acorns will be best suited for the young millennial generation who are beginners in the investment world.


vanguard-roth-ira-retirement-investment-accountsVanguard

Vanguard is popularly known among people for low-cost investing. Vanguard stands tall among its counterparts when it comes to attracting high-net worth investors and cost-conscious investors. Vanguard’s dynamic automation portfolio building and management services have attracted people to invest through various investment options like mutual funds.

Vanguard broker platform also offers services like robo-advisors, two mutual funds and two ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) for all the socially conscious investors. The enormous amount of educational as well as planning resources provided by Vanguard makes it very easy for investors to learn intricate things about investment and to set up an easy-manageable investment plant to track their investment goals.

Account Features

Some of the notable features of the Vanguard investing platform includes the commission-free trades, low-cost as well as socially responsible mutual funds. Vanguard is also well-known for the enormous 3100 mutual funds options which people find it as a very interesting investment option. Low-cost funds is the standout feature of Vanguard. Admiral shares is another popular class of Vanguard’s mutual funds that supports extremely low expense ratios.

In addition, Vanguard provides a wide range of retirement planning tools as well as resources on their official website. With these tools, the investors can learn in-depth details to prioritize their investment options and estimated their savings.

Pricing

For Mutual fund-only accounts through Vanguard brokerage, you will need to pay a small amount of $20 for each mutual fund with the amount that has a balance under $10,000. In addition, Vanguard brokerage will charge you 10$ wire fee for each holding you are redeeming from. There is no fee for electronic bank transfers.

Pros

  • Vanguard broker offers an enormous number of commission-free Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) which is more than 1800.
  • With Vanguard, there is no account minimum. In addition, to use the mutual fund investing option, there is no need for you to pay transaction fee.

Cons

  • Vanguard trading platform is very basic as it lacks advanced analytical tools that are usually offered by brokers usually.
  • Vanguard does not offer any sort of bonus to its customers while opening a new investment accounts.

Bottom Line

People who are interested in long-term investment and looking to pair a buy as well as hold strategy, will find the services and investment options provided by Vanguard extremely useful and awesome. The Vanguard broker, being a fee-free fund investing approach is definitely a must try option for long-term investors.


fidelity-roth-ira-retirement-investing-accountFidelity

Fidelity Investments is highly reputed for its mutual funds. The biggest highlights of Fidelity investments that has attracted many investors includes the 0$ trading commissions, a large selection of nil transaction-fee funds and no expense ratio. Fidelity also allows investors to pull all their non-Fidelity accounts into the full-view with which you can analyze all the assets that you possess.

Fidelity also offers an online learning center that contains useful articles, videos, webinars on many investment related topics like options trading and fixed income selection.With your portfolio, you can constantly monitor and track your progress in investment towards achieving your investment goals.

Account Features

Fidelity has a pool of extraordinary features that includes high cash sweep rate, low/nil cost commission fee, mutual fund options and the highly interactive platform and tools. Fidelity can automatically direct al the cash in new retail as well as retirement accounts into the Fidelity Government Money Market Fund which is very helpful for the investors.

Fidelity was the first broker to ever bring the market index funds to the investors with no expense ratio at all. In addition, Fidelity offers the customers an enormous range of assets to trade that generally includes both the fixed income as well as the international stocks.

Pricing

To begin investing with Stocks and ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), the standard pricing would be $4.95 per trade. For the optional trades, the pricing would be 65 cents per contract and $4.95 base. There is no account service fee, IRA closeout fee, reorganization fee, late settlement fee or account transfer out fee.

Pros

  • Fidelity investment platform offers an extraordinary customer service and allows its investors to select different research providers and investment plans form a large pool of options.
  • With Fidelity there is no commission fee for the stock investment as well as for the optional trades.

Cons

  • In comparison to the other investment brokers, Fidelity has a relatively higher broker-assisted trade fee which might be difficult to afford for some people.
  • Lack of precise information on how to navigate to find details about investment options and their pricing on their official website.

Bottom Line

For people whose major priority is retirement investment will find the investment options provided by Fidelity extremely useful. In addition, if Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) and commission-free stock is something your are looking, Fidelity would be an excellent investment broker option. In addition, Fidelity also has stock research from nearly 20 3rd party providers from which you could obtain investment strategies.


charles-schwab-roth-ira-accountCharles Schwab

Charles Schwab is one investment broker that both the beginner investors and active traders would appreciate a lot. Many beginners like the policy of 0$ account minimum to begin their investment journey without any pressure. The 0$ commission for stock, exchange traded funds as well options attracts a lot of active traders who does trading on a very regular basis.

In addition, Charles Schwab is highly appreciated for its research offerings and enormous options of mutual funds with nil transaction fee. This investment medium also provides its investors a set of sophisticated tools and trading platforms that would make their investment journey much easier.

Account Features

The standout feature of Charles Schwab investment platform is that it provides its investors access to more than 3500 mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFS). Nearly 600 funds available on the Charles Schwab’s platform will be having an expense ratio of 0.50% or below. Another standout feature from this investment platform is its research offerings.

Their research offerings is one of the best that can be available from the online brokers. Charles Schwab provides its own equity ratings and also reports from Ned Davis, Credit Suisse etc. Schwab broker also provides many robust trading platforms that can be freely accessible by all its investors. 

Pricing

With Charles Schwab investment platform, there is no trade commission fee for the standard online stock as well as for the option trades. There is 0$ cost online for the Schwab funds which is definitely a highlight. The cost would be only 0.65$ per options contract which is quite affordable in comparison to its counterparts.

Pros

  • Charles Schwab investment platform provides two major platform with no minimum or any sort of transaction/ commission fee.
  • Schwab has no account minimum at all. In addition it provides access to around 4000 funds with very less investment requirement of 100$ or less

Cons

  • Low cash sweep rate is one major cons that has often been experience by its investors. Uninvested cash in the brokerage accounts is actually swept into the accounts that pay less than 0.50%. This is one major cons of Schwab broker.
  • Lack of precise information on the various investment plan options, pricing and analytical information on their official website.

Bottom Line

Charles Schwab literally checks all the boxes that every investor would dream of. Features like 0$ trading commissions, presence of sophisticated platforms, research offerings will highly benefit the stock traders. The presence of enormous inexpensive and low-cost mutual funds, index funds would benefit the beginners and fund investors to a great extent.


Common Roth IRA Investment Account Questions

There are the most common questions that people have about starting a Roth IRA and investing in one.


What is a Roth IRA?

A Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account) is a thoroughly tax-advantages retirement savings account that has become very popular in recent years. Being very similar to the traditional IRA, Roth IRA stands different when one considers how they are taxed. The Roth IRA’s are completely funded with after-tax dollars and the contributions are never tax-deductible. This is in contrast with the traditional IRA.

Remember, once you start withdrawing the money, it is completely tax free. Definitely opt for Roth IRAs when you feel that your taxes will be higher in retirement than they are right now. Roth IRA is a special retirement savings account where you only pay taxes on the money that goes into the account and completely no taxes for any of the future withdrawals.


Roth IRA vs 401k – What’s the Difference

The major difference between a Roth IRA and a 401K retirement savings account is the way the two accounts get taxed. Remember, with 401K, you invest the pretax dollars and with Roth IRA, you invest after-tax dollars. With 401k, you can lower the taxable income for that year while with Roth IRA, you investments will grow completely tax-free. Another striking difference between these two accounts is that there is no employer contribution for Roth IRA while many employers offer some amount based on gross income with 401k.

Contributions are deductible with 401k and not deductible with Roth IRA. There is also a difference between the two when it comes to contribution limits. If your age is 50 or more your contribution limit would be $6000 or $7000 with Roth IRA. With 401k, your contribution limit when your age is 50 or more would be $19000 or $25000. You can also smartly invest your money in both the plans to enjoy their individual benefits.


Can I open a Roth IRA and other retirement account?

Yes, you can have a Roth IRA and also another retirement account. The retirement accounts could be 401k, SEP or Simple IRA. You need to remember that you can contribute to both the Roth IRA account as well as an employer-sponsored retirement plan which can be 401k or SEP, but subjected to income limits. Opening retirement investment accounts in Roth IRA and other retirement plan is definitely allowed and you can take full advantage of their benefits.

Remember to contribute maximum to any employer’s retirement plan in order to take complete use of the matching contribution of your employer’s offer. Know the income, contribution limits and tax benefits of the Roth IRA and other retirement plan, before you decide on the contribution amount to these plans.


How do I open a Roth IRA?

The foremost step is to know whether you are eligible to open a Roth IRA. The only simple eligibility criteria to open a Roth IRA is that you must have earned income for the year. Compare your income with the Roth IRA income limits for confirmation and also know the maximum amount that you can invest in a Roth IRA each year. Next decide where to open your Roth IRA account.

Compare the fees, investment plans and customer service before deciding on the company to open a Roth IRA account with. Then, you need to fill out paperwork. Mostly, you will need a photo identification or driver’s license, your social security number, bank’s routing and account number and name, address of your employer. Once your application is turned in successfully, you can make your investment choices and build a strong portfolio to being investing with Roth IRA.


Are there income limits to make a Roth IRA contribution?

Yes, there are income limits to make a Roth IRA contribution. Every year, the income limits to make a successful Roth IRA contribution differs. You need to be aware of the income limits every year to decide on your Roth IRA contribution. Remember, as a single filer, you can make a full contribution to a Roth IRA provided your gross income is less than $122,000 in 2019 and for the year 2020 it is $124,000.

If you file your tax married filing jointly, you are allowed to make a full contribution to a Roth IRA, provided the adjusted gross income (AGI) is less than $196,000 for the year 2020. If  your the modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is more than $196,000 but less than $206,000, you can make a partial contribution for 2020 . Remember, to find the income limits for the year based on your filing status.


What can I invest with a Roth IRA?

You can invest almost whatever you desire with a Roth IRA from mutual funds, stocks, bonds or real estate. If you decide to invest in stocks, it is highly recommended that you go with a discount broker to ensure that you get the right returns for your investment. If you desire to invest in mutual funds, you can definitely go with a fund company. And for the money-market accounts, it is recommended that you go through your bank to ensure you do the investment techniques to get the right returns. Rookie investors can probably start investing with the Roth IRA by sticking to the mutual funds that invest in stocks. You are allowed to invest in mutual funds, bonds or stocks with a Roth IRA.


What’s a Roth IRA conversion?

Roth IRA conversion is completely turning a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA that has excellent long-term tax benefits. The major steps involved in IRA conversion to pay the taxes on your IRA gains and then convert to a Roth IRA with the help of IRA administrator. .A Roth IRA conversion will be a brilliant option, if you desire to lower the taxable income in retirement and want to avoid required minimum distributions. Roth IRA conversion will also be a great option if you    want to continue to add contribution to your account after the age of 70.5 which is currently not allowed with Traditional IRA.


How do I access money in my Roth IRA?

You can take money out from your Roth IRA anytime, just be careful of how much you withdraw. Remember, you can withdraw your contributions to a Roth IRA penalty free anytime, but you will be penalized if you withdraw any investment earnings for 5 years before the age of 59.5. You can access your money from your Roth IRA. Also don’t forget that there are exceptions to the early withdrawal penalty. For situations like first-home purchase or college expenses, you can access the money in Roth IRA without any penalty by just accessing it from your IRA account by withdrawal transaction.


Are Roth IRAs subject to required minimum distributions (RMDs)?

RMD indicates the minimum money that you must take out from your retirement savings account every year. Roth IRA does not require RMD (Required Minimum Distributions) during your lifetime, but your heirs must take them for sure. Unlike the traditional IRA, Roth IRA has no RMD’s during the lifetime of the account owner. This is one of the distinguishing points between the traditional IRA and Roth IRA. In order to avoid the penalties, your account beneficiaries will be required to take the RMDs. Remember, if the Roth IRA account owner dies within the five year period, the earnings from the Roth will be included in your income for tax calculations.


Summary

If you look forward to a very secure, safe financial future and retirements, you must definitely start investing with Roth IRA. Individual Retirement Account (IRA) investment is very significant as you might need a lump sum of money once you retire, be it for some medical, emergency, for building a home or for your family expenses. Roth IRA is a brilliant retirement savings option which offers excellent tax benefits and access to funds. Roth IRA, being a tax-advantaged savings option, you can go ahead making contributions to your IRA account based on the income limits for the year.

In recent years, so many IRA investment brokers have come up with multiple investment options through mutual funds, real estate, bonds,etc. Some of the highly reputed financial investment brokers are Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, Acorns and Personal Capital. Based on your net worth, gross income, financial stability and retirement investment goals, you can choose the broker investment platform that gives you’re the best features for your retirement savings account.