In article <3f875e52$1[at]news.xetron.com> , "John Thompson"
<pleasedontreply[at]please.com> writes:

- quote -

Start with your investment plan. Then consider what investments you have
available in your employer sponsored plan, etc., and what you would need in
your Roth IRA to help round it out.

Once you decide what investment to hold in the Roth IRA account, pick the best
custodian for that investment. For example, if you wish to hold a money market
account or a money market fund in the Roth IRA (e.g., you are temporarily using
your Roth IRA as double duty as your emergency fund as well as your retirement
account), a Roth IRA at a credit union or even a bank may make sense, and then
move the Roth IRA when it no longer serves double duty. If you wish to hold
individual securities in the Roth IRA, a discount broker makes sense. If you
wish to hold funds from a specific fund family, that fund family may be able to
be your Roth IRA custodian. If you wish to hold mutual funds from a variety of
fund families, take a look at Scottrade.

Mark A. Young

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It depends. At my credit union, you could establish a Roth for very little
money ($25) and your ongoing contributions could be very small ($5). This is
a way for those with little funding power to get something started. There
are no fees for this account. The downside is that there are no options for
investing other than a savings account or CDs, both of which pay very low
interest these days. You may be able to access some mutual funds through
your credit union or bank and, for my money, this would be better, but I
think the fees for these are higher and may not be your best option.

Some on this group will suggest Schwab or another online place where you can
trade individual stocks in addition to mutual funds. As you gain knowledge
about investing this might be a good option for you. For myself, my Roth is
through Vanguard, the lowest fee mutual company. I am quite happy with them.
Some say their equity mutual funds don't have the returns of other companies
and this may be true. You should also look at Fidelity and compare.

Elizabeth Richardson

Hello,

I have a question regarding Roth IRA's. I know that I need to start one up,
but I am unsure who I should go through in order to do it. Should I just go
to my local bank and let them start one up for me? I am able to belong to a
credit union (www.kemba.com) through work. They seem like they know what
they're doing, but I have no idea.

Basically, who should I have start up my Roth IRA and why?

Thank you very much,
-- John