Roth vs Traditional IRA

The best IRA accounts are all about great investing options and low fees. Since tax season is here, now is the best time to make your IRA contributions. Luckily most of the top companies that are home to the same places where you would open up an online stock trading account. In a previous post, I ranked the best online brokers so I had a head start when it came to finding the best Roth IRA or best Traditional IRA accounts.

These IRA accounts will aim to help you save for the long term and you’ll also get a nice break on your taxes.

In 2015, one of the biggest changes to the IRA landscape is the rise of “online financial advisors (OFA), or Robo-advisors.” While the more traditional money management firms featured here still are your best bet, I included a small section on OFA’s in this post, because they do warrant discussion for some people.

After looking at the IRA offerings from several firms, I recommend Scottrade as the best IRA provider for most people, based on a number of factors I’ll explain shortly.

There are three other companies still worth consideration, depending on your preferences.

A Look at the Best

Here are the 4 best IRA companies for 2015:

What Makes These the Best IRAs?

All of these companies offer a variety of resources beyond acting as a vehicle to establish an IRA account. Three of the four companies have office locations where you can go in and talk to a live person. TradeKing. the one that doesn’t, has cheaper fees and trading costs than the others.

Here are some more of the common features of these top companies:

• Access to a variety of investment products
• Several types of IRA accounts
• Introductory deals on rollovers or new accounts
• Access to quality support, research, and education

Since I already had a solid understanding of all the best online brokers, it was an easy transition into reviewing several of the same companies to determine the best Roth IRA and Traditional IRA accounts.

You cant really go wrong with any of the four accounts listed below. Mostly, its a matter of preference because all of these accounts will be good for just about anyone.

Scottrade Excellent Guidance and Customer Support

Scottrade is known in this industry for their superior customer support and service. They take care of their clients, regardless of how much money you have in your account. (I personally had a great experience dealing with multiple Scottrade representatives who provided me with everything I needed to test out a Scottrade account for my review.) Scottrade also offers many of the same account features and investment products of the top full-service brokers. Their commissions are even slightly cheaper at $7 per trade.

One unique thing that helps Scottrade be home to one of the best Roth IRA and Traditional IRA accounts is their Flexible Reinvestment Program™. The program allows you to invest dividends from stocks or ETFs into other eligible stocks or ETFs without paying a commission. Basically, you collect your dividends and then put them back to work immediately, but at no cost to you. Scottrade also offers up to $1,000 cash when you open a new account (depending on how much you fund the account with).

5 Reasons to Open an IRA Account With Scottrade: