Best Roth IRA Accounts of December 2024
In our analysis, the best Roth IRAs overall are Fidelity and Charles Schwab. However, all of our picks stand out for their low costs and large selection of retirement investments.
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Our evaluation of the best Roth IRA accounts includes providers that fall into two main categories: online brokers and robo-advisors. Online brokers allow you to choose your own investments, including individual stocks. Robo-advisors build and manage your Roth IRA portfolio for you, typically for a small fee.
How to choose the best place to open a Roth IRA
For most retirement investors, factors like customer support, account fees, retirement planning tools and investment selection are the highest priorities, so these are also among the factors we heavily consider when evaluating Roth IRA accounts. We're looking for well-rounded providers that offer a large mutual fund selection — including low-fee and low-minimum funds, so you can start investing right away — and customer support that is there when you need it. And we evaluate each provider's website to ensure it is easy to navigate and clearly discloses fees, minimums, investment options and other key details.
If you're looking to open a Roth IRA at a broker, we know you'll want a trading platform that is accessible and responsive. We test each Roth IRA firm's trading platform and account funding experience, to ensure a strong UX and smooth account opening experience.
Below, we've selected the best Roth IRAs from brokers and robo-advisors, so there is one on our list to meet the needs of every type of retirement saver. We've also categorized them to help you find the right Roth IRA for you. One trend that has emerged in the last year: Several providers, such as Robinhood, SoFi and Acorns, now match a percentage of your Roth IRA contributions, similar to how employers often match 401(k) contributions. That's free money and it's worth considering if you don't feel strongly about other features you need in a Roth IRA account.
Why trust NerdWallet
Note: The star ratings on this page are for the provider overall. Some providers with a lower overall rating are included here because Roth IRAs are where they excel.
Get matched with a financial advisor in minutes through NerdWallet Advisors Match
Our evaluation of the best Roth IRA accounts includes providers that fall into two main categories: online brokers and robo-advisors. Online brokers allow you to choose your own investments, including individual stocks. Robo-advisors build and manage your Roth IRA portfolio for you, typically for a small fee.
How to choose the best place to open a Roth IRA
For most retirement investors, factors like customer support, account fees, retirement planning tools and investment selection are the highest priorities, so these are also among the factors we heavily consider when evaluating Roth IRA accounts. We're looking for well-rounded providers that offer a large mutual fund selection — including low-fee and low-minimum funds, so you can start investing right away — and customer support that is there when you need it. And we evaluate each provider's website to ensure it is easy to navigate and clearly discloses fees, minimums, investment options and other key details.
If you're looking to open a Roth IRA at a broker, we know you'll want a trading platform that is accessible and responsive. We test each Roth IRA firm's trading platform and account funding experience, to ensure a strong UX and smooth account opening experience.
Below, we've selected the best Roth IRAs from brokers and robo-advisors, so there is one on our list to meet the needs of every type of retirement saver. We've also categorized them to help you find the right Roth IRA for you. One trend that has emerged in the last year: Several providers, such as Robinhood, SoFi and Acorns, now match a percentage of your Roth IRA contributions, similar to how employers often match 401(k) contributions. That's free money and it's worth considering if you don't feel strongly about other features you need in a Roth IRA account.
Why trust NerdWallet
Note: The star ratings on this page are for the provider overall. Some providers with a lower overall rating are included here because Roth IRAs are where they excel.
Best Roth IRA Accounts
| Broker | NerdWallet rating | Fees | Account minimum | Promotion | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Charles Schwab Learn more on Charles Schwab's website | Best for self-employed retirement savers (online broker) | $0 per online equity trade | $0 | None no promotion available at this time | Learn more on Charles Schwab's website |
 Wealthfront IRA Learn more on Wealthfront's website AD Paid non-client promotion | Reviewed in: Oct. 2023 Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2023 | 0.25% management fee | $500 | Get a $50 customer bonus when you fund your first taxable investment account | Learn more on Wealthfront's website AD Paid non-client promotion |
 Interactive Brokers IBKR Lite Learn more on Interactive Brokers' website | Best for advanced traders (online broker) | $0 per trade | $0 | None no promotion available at this time | Learn more on Interactive Brokers' website |
 SoFi Robo Investing Learn more on SoFi Invest's website AD Paid non-client promotion | Reviewed in: Nov. 2024 Period considered: Oct. - Nov. 2024 | 0.25% management fee | $50 | 1% match on rollovers and contributions Terms and conditions apply. Roll over a minimum of $20K to receive the 1% match offer. Matches on contributions are made up to the annual limits. | Learn more on SoFi Invest's website AD Paid non-client promotion |
 Betterment IRA Learn more on Betterment's website AD Paid non-client promotion | Reviewed in: Oct. 2024 Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2024 | 0.25% with a balance over $20K or qualifying recurring deposit. Otherwise, $4/month. | $0 $10 to start | Get 1% match of your net Roth and traditional IRA contributions until December 30, 2024. Terms apply. | Learn more on Betterment's website AD Paid non-client promotion |
Our pick for
self-employed retirement savers (online broker)
$0
per online equity trade
$0
None
no promotion available at this time
Pros
Commission-free stock, options and ETF trades.
Large selection of no-transaction-fee mutual funds.
Strong retirement planning tools.
Cons
Low interest rate on uninvested cash.
High fee for transaction-fee funds.
Why We Like It
Charles Schwab is one of the best overall IRA providers, with high-quality customer service, no account minimum and low fees. The company offers a large selection of no-transaction-fee funds, gives users access to extensive research and charges no commission for stock, options and ETF trades.
Our pick for
portfolio diversification (robo-advisor)
5.0
/5Reviewed in: Oct. 2023
Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2023
on Wealthfront's website
AD
Paid non-client promotion
0.25%
management fee
$500
Get a $50 customer bonus
when you fund your first taxable investment account
Pros
Get $50 customer bonus when you fund your first taxable investment account (NerdWallet promotion).
Automatic rebalancing.
Digital financial planning tools.
Low management fee.
Cons
No access to human advisors.
No fractional shares.
Why We Like It
Wealthfront is our highest-scoring robo-advisor thanks to its blend of automated investment portfolios and DIY stock investing portfolios, its wide variety of account options, excellent tax strategy and low management fee. Wealthfront offers Roth, traditional, rollover and SEP IRAs, along with backdoor Roth conversions and 401(k) rollovers.
Our pick for
advanced traders (online broker)
$0
per trade
$0
None
no promotion available at this time
Pros
Commission-free stock, options and ETF trades.
Large investment selection.
Strong research and tools.
Huge selection of no-transaction-fee mutual funds.
High order execution quality.
Cons
High minimum to earn interest on uninvested cash.
Website can be difficult to navigate.
Why We Like It
Don't let the name fool you: IBKR Lite offers commission-free stock trading (including international trade capabilities), more than 19,000 mutual funds, and a well-featured platform.
Our pick for
complimentary access to financial advisors (robo-advisor)
4.4
/5Reviewed in: Nov. 2024
Period considered: Oct. - Nov. 2024
on SoFi Invest's website
AD
Paid non-client promotion
0.25%
management fee
$50
1% match on rollovers and contributions
Terms and conditions apply. Roll over a minimum of $20K to receive the 1% match offer. Matches on contributions are made up to the annual limits.
Pros
Access to certified financial planners.
1% match on IRA rollovers and contributions.
Range of portfolio options.
Access to socially responsible investments and alternative investments.
Cons
No tax-loss harvesting.
Why We Like It
A low management fee that includes access to financial advisors and career counselors makes SoFi Robo Investing a solid choice for beginning and younger investors.
Our pick for
best for new IRA investors (robo-advisor)
5.0
/5Reviewed in: Oct. 2024
Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2024
on Betterment's website
AD
Paid non-client promotion
0.25%
with a balance over $20K or qualifying recurring deposit. Otherwise, $4/month.
$0
$10 to start
Get 1% match
of your net Roth and traditional IRA contributions until December 30, 2024. Terms apply.
Pros
Multiple investment options.
Robust goal-based tools.
Fractional shares limit uninvested cash in portfolios.
Low management fee.
Cons
Additional fee for access to financial advisors.
Why We Like It
Betterment offers a powerful combination of goal-based tools, affordable management fees and no account minimum. Betterment has a wide range of investments, including socially responsible and crypto portfolios and gives clients access to Roth, traditional, inherited, rollover and SEP IRAs.
Our pick for
Roth IRA match (online broker)
$0
$0
1% match
on eligible contributions up to IRA contribution limits.
Pros
Commission-free stock, options and ETF trades.
IRA with 1% match (3% for Gold members).
Streamlined interface.
Investment recommendations available for IRA portfolios.
High interest rate on uninvested cash.
Cons
No mutual funds or individual bonds.
Why We Like It
Robinhood shook up the IRA market with its 1% match on contributions — an offer that is typically only common among employer retirement plans.
Our pick for
best Roth IRA overall (online broker)
$0
no account fees to open a Fidelity retail IRA
$0
None
no promotion available at this time
Pros
Commission-free stock, options and ETF trades.
Offers several index funds with no expense ratios.
Free research and data.
Strong customer support.
Helpful retirement planning tools.
High interest rate on uninvested cash.
Cons
Relatively high broker-assisted trade fee.
Why We Like It
Many investors are familiar with Fidelity as a provider of 401(k) plans — the broker is one of the biggest names in employee retirement accounts. It can be convenient to also have an IRA under the same roof, because you'll be able to seamlessly view all account balances in one place. But even for those who don't have a 401(k) with Fidelity, the company offers access to low-cost retirement investments (including no-fee, no-minimum index funds) and innovative tools to help you plan for retirement and check in on your progress.
Our pick for
complimentary access to financial advisors (online broker)
$0
per trade
$0
Get up to $1,000
in stock when you fund a new account.
Pros
No commissions on stock, options and ETF trades
Complimentary access to financial planners.
IPO access.
IRA match.
Cons
Low interest rate on uninvested cash.
Why We Like It
SoFi Active Investing's $0 trading commission, complimentary access to financial advisors, fractional shares and $0 account minimum are attractive to new investors. More advanced investors will appreciate the company's wide mutual fund selection and IPO access.
Our pick for
best Roth IRA overall (robo-advisor)
Unpaid non-advisory client promotion
0% - 0.35%
management fee
$0
None
no promotion available at this time
Pros
Free portfolio management on balances under $25,000.
No investment expense ratios.
Human oversight of portfolio allocations.
Integration with other Fidelity accounts.
No account minimum ($10 required to start investing).
Cons
No tax-loss harvesting.
Why We Like It
Fidelity's robo-advisor, Fidelity Go, frequently makes our list of the best robo-advisors for its low fees — including free management on balances below $25,000 — integration with other Fidelity accounts and its use of Fidelity Flex funds (Fidelity mutual funds), which have no expense ratios. Fidelity Go does not offer tax-loss harvesting.
Our pick for
Roth IRA match (robo-advisor)
4.6
/5Reviewed in: Oct. 2024
Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2024
on Acorns' website
AD
Paid non-client promotion
$3 - $12
per month
$0
$10 sign-up bonus
Pros
Automatically invests spare change.
Cash back at select retailers.
Educational content available.
No account minimum ($5 required to start investing).
IRA match at some service tiers.
High interest rate on checking and savings at some service tiers.
Cons
Monthly fees can be significant for small balances.
$35 per ETF to transfer funds to another broker.
No tax-loss harvesting.
Why We Like It
Acorns is known for its automatic roundups that make saving and investing easy. The downside? At small account balances, Acorns' fees can cut into investment returns. Acorns has great tools for kids at the most expensive tier, such as a bank account and debit card designed to help them learn about all things money. But Acorns has zero financial advisor access or tax tools and higher than average transfer fees.
Our pick for
free investment management (robo-advisor)
Unpaid non-client promotion
0%
management fee
$5,000
None
no promotion available at this time
Pros
No portfolio management fee.
Wide ETF selection.
Customizable portfolios.
Cons
$5,000 account minimum.
Portfolios hold a large cash allocation.
Tax-loss harvesting only available on balances of $50,000 or more.
Why We Like It
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is unique in charging zero management fee, but the advisor's portfolios tend to hold a larger cash allocation than other robo-advisors (meaning a good chunk of your money isn't invested). The account minimum, at $5,000, is fairly high, but Schwab has some of the best customer service in the business.
Note: Some of these promotions won’t apply for first-time depositors, due to annual IRA contribution limits. We’ve included promotions with low deposit requirements where available.
How much money do I need to open a Roth IRA?
That's a great question — as you may have noticed on our list above, many Roth IRA accounts do not require a minimum initial deposit, which means you can open your account with as little as $1. The exception is some of the robo-advisors on our lists — robo-advisors sometimes have higher minimums.
The catch, of course, is that you'll need to contribute enough to your Roth IRA to begin investing. It's important to remember that a Roth IRA isn't an investment itself; once you've funded your account, you'll need to select investments. (If you've opted for a robo-advisor, the service will do this for you with your approval.) Some investments do have investment minimums, but many do not.
The more important consideration with a Roth IRA account is the maximum annual contribution limit — for 2024 and 2025, that amount is $7,000, or $8,000 for those 50 or older. Note that you can contribute for the previous calendar year until the tax filing deadline for that year — that means for the calendar year 2024, you have until April 15, 2025 to contribute the maximum. Just be sure to ask the Roth IRA account provider to designate your contributions for the right year — most of the time, this is an option you select online when making the Roth contribution.
The Roth IRA also has income rules for contributions. For 2024, your ability to contribute begins phasing out at $146,000 for single filers and $230,000 for those married filing jointly. For 2025, that phase out starts at $150,000 for single filers and $236,000 for joint filers. The contribution limit referenced above is slowly reduced until your ability to contribute is eliminated completely.
Last updated on December 19, 2024
Methodology
NerdWallet’s comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks the largest U.S. brokers and robo-advisors. Our aim is to provide an independent assessment of providers to help arm you with information to make sound, informed judgements on which ones will best meet your needs. We adhere to strict guidelines for editorial integrity.
We collect data directly from providers through detailed questionnaires, and conduct first-hand testing and observation through provider demonstrations. The questionnaire answers, combined with demonstrations, interviews of personnel at the providers and our specialists’ hands-on research, fuel our proprietary assessment process that scores each provider’s performance across more than 20 factors. The final output produces star ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars).
For more details about the categories considered when rating providers and our processes, read our full broker ratings methodology and our full robo-advisor ratings methodology.
To recap our selections...
NerdWallet's Best Roth IRA Accounts of December 2024
- Charles Schwab: Best for self-employed retirement savers (online broker)
- Wealthfront IRA: Best for portfolio diversification (robo-advisor)
- Interactive Brokers IBKR Lite: Best for advanced traders (online broker)
- SoFi Robo Investing: Best for complimentary access to financial advisors (robo-advisor)
- Betterment IRA: Best for best for new IRA investors (robo-advisor)
- Robinhood IRA: Best for Roth IRA match (online broker)
- Fidelity Roth IRA: Best for best Roth IRA overall (online broker)
- SoFi Active Investing: Best for complimentary access to financial advisors (online broker)
- Fidelity Go®: Best for best Roth IRA overall (robo-advisor)
- Acorns: Best for Roth IRA match (robo-advisor)
- Schwab Intelligent Portfolios®: Best for free investment management (robo-advisor)
Frequently asked questions
Generally, a bank is not a good place to open a Roth IRA account. That’s because for a long-term goal like retirement, you want to harness the power of the stock market to help your account get bigger.
Bank Roth IRAs generally offer access to savings products, such as certificates of deposit. CDs are savings vehicles that guarantee a rate of return as long as you leave your money in for a specific period of time. Historically, stock market returns average about much higher than CD returns.
Of course, those higher stock market returns come with the risk that, in any given year, your account may lose value. But investors who leave their money in the market, even through those down days, historically enjoy hefty average gains over time.
If, despite the much lower rate of return, you decide to go with a bank for your Roth IRA account, be sure to pick among the accounts with the best IRA CD rates so you know you’re getting the best possible rate of return for that type of account.
How much you earn in a Roth IRA account will vary, depending on what you’re investing in. The average annual stock market return historically has been about 10%.
Of course, you want to invest in a diversified portfolio of both stocks and bonds, so that your account has a buffer from the stock market’s inevitable ups and downs. Generally, creating a diversified investment portfolio means investing in a handful of mutual funds or exchange-traded funds, which, in turn, invest in a broad swath of stocks and bonds.
A diversified investment portfolio will inevitably earn less than the stock market’s return, because bond yields tend to be in the single digits. Still, a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds generally earns more than any bank savings product, such as a savings account or CD.
With a Roth IRA, you can pull your contributions out at any time — remember, you’ve already paid taxes on that money.
However, if you withdraw your investment earnings, you may owe income tax and/or a 10% penalty, depending on how old you are and how long you’ve owned the account. But there are quite a few situations where an early withdrawal of investment earnings is exempt from penalties and income tax. We detail the Roth IRA withdrawal rules here.
Yes. You can have both a Roth IRA and a 401(k) and contribute the maximum you’re allowed to each.
Traditional IRAs don’t have income limits, but if you’re also covered by a workplace retirement plan like a 401(k), the amount of your contribution that you can deduct may be phased down or eliminated.
That means you can still make the maximum annual contribution, but a portion or all of it will be considered a nondeductible contribution. There’s no immediate tax benefit on nondeductible contributions, but you're still able to defer taxes on investment income until retirement. Read more about the traditional IRA deduction limits.
The process is easy as can be: You can open a Roth IRA at any online broker or robo-advisor, typically online in about 15 minutes. You’ll need to provide some personal information like your name, address, birthday, Social Security number and means of funding the account, so have that handy. Here’s our step-by-step guide to opening a Roth IRA, including details about how to fund and invest the account.
Yes, you can transfer money from one Roth IRA account to another. The key is to do a direct transfer, where your account balance is moved directly from the old Roth IRA provider to the new one, without the money ever entering your hands (or bank account). Roth IRA providers are familiar with this process. The transfer must be completed within 60 days.
