Establishing a new IRA Account

 

IRA Accounts can be established with a number of companies including banks, mutual fund companies, brokerages, credit unions and insurance companies.

Remember a IRA is a tax advantaged vehicle to hold investments.

Think of it as an envelope for your investments.  The range of investment choices to fund your IRA is extensive-including mutual funds, stocks, money markets, and CD's.

Also, most companies will set up IRA accounts and then allow them to be funded at a later time.  Generally, you can gave your IRA linked to a checking account and have money automatically deposited into your account.

Americans currently hold about 3.5 trillion in IRA assets. 

There are a lot of choices so how do you select the custodian who will be right for you?

 

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How To Choose the Right IRA Custodian

 

  1. Choose a IRA custodian that offers a wide range of investment choices including mutual funds, CD's, money markets, individual stocks and bonds...It will be much easier to create a diversified portfolio if your IRA offers extensive choices.
  2. Pay attention to fees.  Many custodians charge annual account maintenance fees and may charge load or commissions to buy investments.
  3. Self Directed or Advisor?  If you are relying on an advisor or broker you'll generally pay commissions or loads on fund purchases and or you may pay an annual fee as a percentage of assets.
  4. Tell me about service, will I be able to use a toll free line to monitor my accounts, view it on the web or deal with the IRA custodian face to face?
  5. Can they give me help when I do distributions at 59 1/2 and at age 70 1/2 for MRD's?   You'll want a custodian that understands the calculations and can help you with the distributions.
  6. Can they help my with inheritance issues ?  The federal tax regulations are complicated-make sure your custodian understands these regulations.

 

 

 

 

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