Where Should I Put My IRA Money Now?
IRAs are tax-advantaged investment accounts designed to help you save for retirement. You can open one at any bank, mutual fund company or brokerage firm.
For hands-on investing, find an IRA provider offering no transaction fees on thousands of stocks and ETFs – this might be better.
Tax-deferred
An Individual Retirement Account, or IRA, can be an essential savings vehicle for people without employer-sponsored retirement plans. Offering tax-deferred growth with access to an array of investments and flexible withdrawal capabilities at any time you like – brokerages, banks and robo-advisors often offer these plans and many offer commission-free trading of stocks, ETFs and options – it even caters for self-employed accounts such as SEP and SIMPLE IRAs!
Contributions you make to a tax-deferred account are deducted from your taxable income, lowering the amount of taxes due each year. This can be particularly advantageous for young adults earning modest salaries with lower tax brackets in their future.
Target-date mutual funds offer an effective strategy for investing IRA funds: they’re tailored specifically towards the year you expect to retire, automatically adjusting and rebalancing risk as you near your goal.
Tax-free
Investment in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) can be an attractive strategy, since contributions qualify for tax breaks while growth occurs tax-deferred until withdrawal time. Furthermore, tax-free withdrawals will allow for optimal withdrawals at retirement time.
IRAs can be found through banks, mutual funds, stockbrokers and life insurance companies. They typically offer a wide selection of stocks, bonds and ETFs; some even enable you to invest in real estate or precious metals.
SEP IRAs offer self-employed people and small business owners another way to save for retirement, with higher contribution limits than traditional IRAs, which can be funded both by employers and employees.
If you don’t have the time or expertise necessary to manage your own IRA, consider seeking professional management instead. Robo-advisors such as Betterment offer flat fees with additional services like tax loss harvesting and automatic rebalancing that make life simpler for investors compared to online brokers.
Safe
Tax-advantaged savings is made easier with an IRA, especially for people who have maxed out their workplace retirement plans. Most major financial institutions provide these accounts and most provide a wide array of investment choices to allow you to create a diverse retirement portfolio.
Many investors choose investments with potential for significant long-term growth, such as stocks or mutual funds, that fluctuate less than cash or CDs.
To minimize investment fees and create diversification, index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could be an ideal choice. They feature low investment fees while offering excellent diversification opportunities – an example being S&P 500 index fund which invests in major U.S. companies; this type of fund is generally seen as safer than individual stocks since losses at one company will offset gains at others.
Flexible
Workers without workplace retirement plans or wanting to supplement them, IRAs offer a versatile investment option. Contribution limits of $5,500 annually give plenty of room for diversification; target date funds also offer a wide variety of investments that automatically rebalance and become more conservative as you near retirement.
Individual stocks, mutual or exchange-traded funds can help diversify your returns while mitigating risk by holding shares in several publicly traded companies.
For active investors who prefer hands-on investments, consider Schwab. Its longstanding investor-friendly street cred and thinkorswim trading platform make them among the premier online brokers. Schwab also offers commission-free trades and prompt customer service that make them standouts in this space.
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