Best Roth IRA Accounts for September 2024

If you plan on building and actively managing your Roth IRA investment portfolio, a Fidelity Roth IRA delivers the complete package. It offers a massive investment selection, including stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), low-cost mutual funds, and options. Fidelity also provides multiple trading platforms suitable for both beginner and advanced investors. Finally, if you need help, you have many ways to get it. Fidelity provides a robo-advisor, human financial advisors, an extensive educational library, planning tools, and even in-person support at its 200 customer centers.

There are a few drawbacks. Fidelity doesn’t offer futures trading and only provides limited crypto and commodities trading. Its virtual assistant and some of its financial planning tools could be better. Still, most Roth IRA investors will be pleased with Fidelity’s full-service experience.

Fidelity also pays high interest on uninvested cash by automatically putting any unused balances into a money market fund. In periods of high interest rates, as seen currently, earning interest on spare cash can make a big difference.

Fidelity launched in 1946 and today has its headquarters in Boston.

Read the full Fidelity Investments review.

If you’re still learning how to invest and manage a Roth IRA, consider a Charles Schwab IRA. It provides one of the most extensive libraries of educational content and research. Charles Schwab’s trading platform is also user-friendly while still providing a good range of analysis tools, including first-class ETF screeners. If you need more help, Charles Schwab provides 24/7 phone support and in-person support at its branches, including from financial advisors.

Charles Schwab has a few drawbacks on the investment side. It doesn’t allow fractional trading of ETF shares, meaning you can only buy complete shares for your Roth IRA. Although Charles Schwab offers spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, it doesn’t let you buy directly into cryptocurrencies and doesn’t pay the highest rate on uninvested cash.

Charles Schwab’s headquarters is in Westlake, Texas. The company was founded in 1971.

Read the full Charles Schwab review.

As a robo-advisor, Wealthfront builds and manages your Roth IRA investment portfolio automatically. When you first sign up, you use the platform to list your investment risk tolerance, goals, and preferences to set up your portfolio. You can customize the portfolio across hundreds of possible funds, including crypto, clean energy, and cannabis. The platform then runs your portfolio for you, rebalancing as necessary for your goals. In other words, you don’t have to track and update your investments constantly. That’s why Wealthfront has the best Roth IRA accounts for hands-off investing.

Wealthfront is a technology-first company. It doesn’t provide access to human financial advisors or even support from a live chat. While Wealthfront charges much less than a human advisor to run your portfolio, you do need to pay an ongoing 0.25% annual fee. Finally, you can’t trade individual stocks, ETFs, and other assets. You can only use the robo-advisor portfolios.

Wealthfront launched in 2011 and has its headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

Read the full Wealthfront review.  

Betterment is another popular robo-advisor for Roth IRA investors. Like Wealthfront, Betterment also uses technology to design the portfolio for your Roth IRA and automatically make updates so you can set it and forget it. However, Betterment still allows investors to work with a human financial advisor.

While Betterment doesn’t require a minimum Roth IRA balance to use its regular robo-advisor, you need at least $100,000 to work with a human advisor. In addition, the annual fee goes up to 0.65%, versus 0.25% for the robo-advisor. As a robo-advisor, Betterment doesn’t allow you to trade on your own. While you can pick between different portfolio options, you can’t build your own from scratch.

Betterment was founded in 2008 by Jon Stein and has its headquarters in New York City.

Read the full Betterment review.

M1 Finance strikes a balance between robo-advisors that manage the Roth IRA portfolio for you and brokers, where you must build and manage the portfolio yourself. With M1 Finance, you automate part of the process by investing your Roth IRA into pre-built portfolios called Pies. There is a massive selection of Pies for different strategies and goals. M1 Finance then runs these investments for you automatically. You can also use the M1 Finance tools to rebalance your portfolio back to your targets with just one click. 

You can further customize the portfolio by buying into individual stocks, ETFs, and other investments. M1 Finance does not charge an annual fee for this service but makes money by earning interest on cash, subscription fees, and payment for order flow. A $3 monthly platform fee is charged for clients without an M1 Personal Loan or clients with minimum balances of less than $10,000 in their total aggregated M1 accounts.

M1 Finance is not for beginners. Even though the platform automates running the investments, you still need to plan and set up the portfolio yourself. M1 Finance doesn’t provide many planning tools to help you do so and does not have human advisors.

M1 Finance launched in 2015 and has its headquarters in Chicago.

Read the full M1 Finance review.

M1 Finance combines self-directed brokerage features with pre-built portfolios and automated portfolio management capabilities. M1 Finance does not provide advisory services and therefore is not considered a traditional robo-advisor.

Vanguard is famous for its low-cost mutual funds. It’s an ideal choice for long-term Roth IRA investors because the less you pay in mutual fund fees, the more you keep for your future retirement. On top of low costs, Vanguard also offers an excellent library of educational materials, access to human advisors, and a robo-advisor.

If you want to actively trade in your Roth IRA, Vanguard might not be a fit. Its platform doesn’t have the same capabilities and trading tools as other major competitors. It also looks out-of-date and needs an upgrade. Vanguard encourages a passive, buy-and-hold strategy for investing. That philosophy comes through with its simpler website and trading platform.

John Bogle founded Vanguard in 1975. Today, its headquarters is in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Read the full Vanguard review.

E*TRADE is an excellent all-around broker for Roth IRAs, but it stands out for its two mobile apps. The E*TRADE Mobile app is user-friendly and convenient for managing investments on the go. Power E*TRADE provides many advanced tools, including more robust charting, portfolio analysis, and screening capabilities. Once you retire, E*TRADE offers convenient IRA withdrawal options and lets you draw down your account using checks, a debit card, and direct bill pay.

E*TRADE doesn’t have many downsides. It doesn’t pay the best interest rate on uninvested cash. It doesn’t have direct crypto investing, but it does offer spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. However, some of its ETFs require a high $2,500 minimum contribution. Besides that, there isn’t much to complain about for Roth IRA investors.

E*TRADE was founded in 1982 and has its headquarters in Arlington, VA.

Read the full E*TRADE review.

Interactive Brokers is one of the best platforms for serious Roth IRA investors. You can access investments that are not widely available through its platform, including options, forex, futures, and American depositary receipts (ADRs). Interactive Brokers also has a global focus, letting investors access 150 markets across 34 countries. Finally, the Interactive Brokers platform offers advanced trading capabilities, ongoing research, and faster trade execution than the typical broker.

All these features can be overwhelming for beginner investors. In addition, if you want to access faster trade execution through Interactive Brokers Pro, you owe commissions on every trade. If you don’t plan on actively day trading in your Roth IRA, all this power might be overkill.

Interactive Brokers launched in 1977 and has its headquarters in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Read the full Interactive Brokers review.