I have a couple of these from previous jobs. I was thinking of calling Schwab and rolling both over into a Schwab IRA - just because I know Schwab is a reputable company and someone recommended them to me. Anyone have any other ideas?
I’m in the process of a roll-over right now. Schwab’s as good as any, I figger. I chose JP Morgan since I have another, higher-value account already there and intend on merging them once the funding is complete. It’s taking a long time. I hate Chase with a passion though, so it might end up somewhere else.
Hub started his seven years ago @ Schwab with a $10K payoff from the gov’t to leave his position. This was when the bases were closing. He (I) put it into an account and we hardly even think about it. It’s grown about $2K in that time with no further deposits made.
I use Ameritrade for EVERYTHING.
I have two Roths, a traditional IRA, and a personal investment account there.
If you eventually open a personal investment account, they’re cheaper than most of the investment houses, and you can have all of your accounts in one place.
I recommend Vanguard for its low-cost funds. (Although if you’re interested in index funds, get exchange-traded funds instead as they are even cheaper.) And if you don’t want to think about asset allocation, get one of the Vanguard Target Retirement Funds, which adjust the asset allocation as you approach the target year (which should be close to your retirement age). Other fund families have similar funds, which are generically called lifecycle funds.
As a follow-up. . .
You can buy most, but not all Vanguard funds at Ameritrade.
Also, to follow up on what Dewey wrote, I recommend Vanguard funds highly. If you’re going to go to a big investment house, put all your dough in one fund, and leave it alone, go to Vanguard. Costs are much lower than most others, and that really adds up over time.
A few months ago, I got a call from either Morgan Stanley or Merrill Lynch (I forget which) telling me they were going to start charging me for my IRA. I switched it over to Schwab almost effortlessly. They were willling to stay late for me to go over and do what little had to be done face-to-face so I wouldn’t have to take time off work. I’d recommend Schwab.
I think you’ll pay a commission if you buy Vanguard funds through a brokerage account such as Ameritrade. So my rollover IRA account is with Vanguard itself.