Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - How do you move your IRA from one company to another?

Supple Cow · 04-14-2007, 06:50 PM

A few years ago, I had some extra cash to blow from a summer internship stipend and I decided that it was a good time to start an IRA. I asked around and a friend's dad gave me lots of advice, but I eventually started to feel really lost and frustrated while researching the various institutions. When I got to this point, Friend's Dad advised me to just open one anywhere I could because that was better than waiting any longer in analysis paralysis. I took his advice and went ahead, forking my dough over to ING Direct (they do such a great job with my savings account, after all) to seed a Roth IRA.

A few months ago, I also started to invest in stocks through Sharebuilder. Marketing sucker that I am, I started to wonder every month (with my statement emails and all of their advertising) if I didn't also want to open a Roth IRA with them. Now, I had trouble finding out information (fees, etc.) on the actual Sharebuilder website, but I did find this:

http://www.investortrip.com/which-ro...ur-retirement/

The page lists the "Best IRA Banks" and while ING is up there, I see that there are other banks that will take my relatively small amount of money for NO fees. I know that $10 a year is not a lot, but why pay even that if I could pay nothing?

My question: How the heck does this work? Will there be exorbitant fees (or any) involved in transferring the funds and closing the ING account?

Also, I just learned in another thread that you are even allowed to have more than one IRA account open at once. Is this limited to one Roth and one traditional? Or is it limited at all? (Aside from the maximum annual contribution.) I also hear the term "roll over" a lot, and I'm not sure if that just means any sort of retirement fund transfer or if it has a more specific meaning. Would switching my current Roth IRA from ING to another bank entirely constitute rolling it over?

I may sound idiotic (especially with that last question), but I can't seem to find any information on the internet that is straight forward enough for my teeny little brain to digest. Somebody please set me straight!

04-14-2007, 06:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
Supple Cow Americow, the Beautiful Location: Washington, D.C.	How do you move your IRA from one company to another? A few years ago, I had some extra cash to blow from a summer internship stipend and I decided that it was a good time to start an IRA. I asked around and a friend's dad gave me lots of advice, but I eventually started to feel really lost and frustrated while researching the various institutions. When I got to this point, Friend's Dad advised me to just open one anywhere I could because that was better than waiting any longer in analysis paralysis. I took his advice and went ahead, forking my dough over to ING Direct (they do such a great job with my savings account, after all) to seed a Roth IRA. A few months ago, I also started to invest in stocks through Sharebuilder. Marketing sucker that I am, I started to wonder every month (with my statement emails and all of their advertising) if I didn't also want to open a Roth IRA with them. Now, I had trouble finding out information (fees, etc.) on the actual Sharebuilder website, but I did find this: http://www.investortrip.com/which-ro...ur-retirement/ The page lists the "Best IRA Banks" and while ING is up there, I see that there are other banks that will take my relatively small amount of money for NO fees. I know that $10 a year is not a lot, but why pay even that if I could pay nothing? My question: How the heck does this work? Will there be exorbitant fees (or any) involved in transferring the funds and closing the ING account? Also, I just learned in another thread that you are even allowed to have more than one IRA account open at once. Is this limited to one Roth and one traditional? Or is it limited at all? (Aside from the maximum annual contribution.) I also hear the term "roll over" a lot, and I'm not sure if that just means any sort of retirement fund transfer or if it has a more specific meaning. Would switching my current Roth IRA from ING to another bank entirely constitute rolling it over? I may sound idiotic (especially with that last question), but I can't seem to find any information on the internet that is straight forward enough for my teeny little brain to digest. Somebody please set me straight!