Should You Open a Roth IRA at a Bank? - NerdWallet (2024)

FAQs

Should you open a Roth IRA through your bank? ›

Bank Roth IRAs are insured by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for up to $250,000. Brokerages may offer a broader range of Roth IRA investment options than some banks. In most cases, buying a Roth IRA from a brokerage makes more sense when you're trying to fund a comfortable retirement.

Should I Open an IRA at a Bank or Brokerage Firm? Whichever you're comfortable with, but you'll have more investment options—and higher potential earnings—at a brokerage firm. Banks tend to offer minimal, low-yield investment options, such as savings accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs).

You can set up an IRA at almost any bank, brokerage, or other financial institution. When picking a place for your account, consider the fees and costs attached to the IRA. Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs are the two major types of IRAs available to individual investors.

Roth individual retirement accounts (IRAs) offer several key benefits, including tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawals in retirement, and no required minimum distributions (RMDs). One key disadvantage: Roth IRA contributions are made with after-tax money, meaning there's no tax deduction in the years you contribute.

If you contribute 5,000 dollars per year to a Roth IRA and earn an average annual return of 10 percent, your account balance will be worth a figure in the region of 250,000 dollars after 20 years.

A Roth IRA is meant for retirement savings, while a taxable brokerage account is better for investing money that you may need before retirement. It can also be a good way to supplement your retirement savings if you're already maxing out your retirement accounts.

Imagine you wish to amass $3000 monthly from your investments, amounting to $36,000 annually. If you park your funds in a savings account offering a 2% annual interest rate, you'd need to inject roughly $1.8 million into the account. This substantial amount is due to savings accounts' relatively low return rate.

Do banks charge fees for IRA accounts? ›

IRAs typically don't come with account setup fees, but you'll likely have to pay transaction and advisory fees when applicable, as well as fund expense ratio fees which cover operational costs.

After opening up the right IRA for your needs, you can choose from a wide range of investment products, such as mutual funds, stocks, ETFs and bonds. When it's time to withdraw from your Roth IRA, we're here to help.

The safest place to put your retirement funds is in low-risk investments and savings options with guaranteed growth. Low-risk investments and savings options include fixed annuities, savings accounts, CDs, treasury securities, and money market accounts. Of these, fixed annuities usually provide the best interest rates.

If you're over 70 ½, you can no longer make contributions to a traditional IRA, but you can make rollover contributions. If you're under 70 ½, you can keep on making those contributions.

You have too much earned income.

At the other side of the spectrum are individuals who make too much money to contribute to a Roth IRA. The phase-out ranges for Roth IRA eligibility in 2023 are $218,000 – $228,000 for those filing married/joint, and $138,000 – $153,000 for single filers.

Bottom Line. If you hold your IRA or Roth IRA with an FDIC-insured depository bank, and if that account holds qualified depository assets, it will receive FDIC coverage.

You can open an IRA at most banks, credit unions and other financial institutions. However, IRAs are also available through online brokers, mutual fund providers and other investment companies, such as Vanguard and Fidelity.