Hello fellow members. Need just a bit of advice. My company just canceled our 401(k) plan due to low enrollment and higher expenses. I didn’t have a lot in there around 4k, as we paid off a cargo plane load of debt in the last couple of years.
I plan to open a Roth IRA and contribute the max to it. What would be my best choice of investments to look at. Should I use a discount broker like Scottrade? I am married, my wife is self employed, owns her own cleaning business. We only have our mortgage as debt, around 114K, both cars are paid off.
After I max my Roth IRA, what would be the best investments for us. We are 48 years old and with no other debt but the house we should be able to save around a min. of 1K per month or so. Where in the very smart people of this forum should we invest our Roth IRA and the money outside the IRA.
muncie birder 7:10 pm on October 5, 2009
A discount broker such as Scottrade does provide the most flexibility for your Roth IRA. But in order to take full advantage of it you will need to spend some time researching investments and you may or may not enjoy doing all of that work. Another option to consider is transferring the money to a diversified mutual fund company such as Fidelity, T Rowe Price or Vanguard. Each has a diverse selection of mutual funds that you can choose from including no brainer target date retirement funds.
jlf 7:10 pm on October 5, 2009
For the Roth, it all depends on what you want to invest in. If mutual funds are your choice, I’d go with Vanguard (wide range of funds plus low expenses). If you want a self-directed account to buy stocks, ETFs and bonds, you’ll need to set it up with a brokerage.
For money outside the IRA, taxes become a consideration. You might look at so-called "tax-efficient" mutual funds or muni bonds/bond funds.