Where to open a traditional IRA?

[maloney]

So, my husband and I finally wised up and realized we need to open an IRA. I have some questions.  Is it as simple as opening one with Fidelity, setting up auto deposits and just letting the account be?  We have no desire at this point to be involved in actively trading stocks. Is Fidelity the best place to open one?  It has to be traditional because I believe we make too much for a Roth.  Is there a better retirement account to open?  I SAH and my husband works for the government and we currently are only contributing to his pension.  

[archiethedragon]

Oct 28, 2019 11:57:43 GMT -5 maloney said:

So, my husband and I finally wised up and realized we need to open an IRA. I have some questions.  Is it as simple as opening one with Fidelity, setting up auto deposits and just letting the account be?  We have no desire at this point to be involved in actively trading stocks. Is Fidelity the best place to open one?  It has to be traditional because I believe we make too much for a Roth.  Is there a better retirement account to open?  I SAH and my husband works for the government and we currently are only contributing to his pension.  

Is it as simple as opening one with Fidelity, setting up auto deposits and just letting the account be?

Yes, yes and yes

We have no desire at this point to be involved in actively trading stocks.

Pick a good low cost index fund or target retirement fund.

Is Fidelity the best place to open one?

Fidelity is great along with Vanguard, Schwabb, TRowe Price and probably a couple of others.

It has to be traditional because I believe we make too much for a Roth.

Because you have a pension you will not be able to deduct your traditional IRA contributions.  If your modified AGI is less than $193,000 both you and your husband can contribute directly to a ROTH IRA, up to $6k a year, each. If your AGI is higher than $193,000 you can contribute to a non deductible IRA and then make a backdoor conversion to a ROTH IRA.  If this is the situation you will be in, you can get a little more info about the backdoor ROTH.  If your AGI is less than $193k, a direct contribution to a ROTH is your best bet. 


Is there a better retirement account to open?

Contributing $6k each  to a ROTH IRA is your best retirement option. 

[maloney]

archiethedragon thank you!!

[Susie]

Mine are with Vanguard and H's are with T. Rowe Price, but any of the ones mentioned are fine.

[RockNVoll]

To spell it out a little more, you do need to pick at least one fund in which to put your capital. You don't want the money just sitting in a money market fund. But just go with a target date fund (it automatically risk adjusts into lower risk securities as you approach your retirement date) or a couple of broad index funds as mentioned above and you're good to go. Feel free to ask more questions as you get into the process.