I'm looking into opening a Roth IRA and was curious if anyone here worked with any investments or could help me out in any way. I've been doing a little research and trying to find out as much about the fees as possible.

Fidelity - $2,500 minimum to open, waived if you have $200 transferred from account per month

Vanguard - $3,000 minimum to open, if you want to automatically deposit funds, minimum $50/month

TIAA Cref didn't give much info without signing up for stuff

Anyone have a little experience, or can recommend / warn about certain companies?

 

I opened a Fidelity account 2 months ago, it's really the best way to go. Customer service is absolutely out of this world, you can talk to a real person any time you want, and I even got a checkup call a week or two afterward to make sure everything was ok. My entire family each has their own Fidelity account, and has never had a problem. There's really no fees or anything else to worry about, it's all free going in, and (for the non-ira ones) free coming out. (Roth is obviously free and tax-free after you're 65...)
The account minimum depends on the mutual fund you invest in, not on Fidelity, but the bulk of them are $2500 minimum. They also have a huge number of mutual funds you're able to invest in. I've invested in two different mutual funds (one's a roth, the other is just a general account) and over a 3-year average, they both earn about 30% per year. Stocks in general have taken a huge turn for the worse in the past 2 days, so now is a terrific time to invest.
Before investing in a specific mutual fund, take a good look comparing a bunch of the different ones; their returns, risks, morningstar ratings (reliability ratings), did I mention the returns? I've done a ton of research on these when I invested 2 months ago, and off the top of my head, the best few were: Southeast Asia, Latin America, Defense & Aerospace, Canada Fund, and some of the energy portfolios. Depending on how much you're wanting to invest, get as many different funds as possible, so if one specific one goes down, you won't have lost much.
I don't know much about other companies, I think Vanguard is supposedly pretty good also. That would kinda have to be the case for all of them, seeing as they're dealing with all your money...
But Fidelity is definitely my #1 choice.

 

I like Fidelity, but for the automatic account transfers (which I want) they require a $200 per month minimum... which I'd kinda like to be less (the requirement). Also, the fees usually only get you when you transfer out of Fidelity or among funds. I really like Vanguard as far as investments go, but I'm not tied down to them, they're just one of my top options (along with Fidelity).

So how does the Roth work? So I decide I want a Roth, then choose what funds I want them placed in? Are there 30 choices, 300 choices? Defense and Aerospace may decline if the Dems win the white house, be weary of that fing02.gif

 

Do you know how a Roth works, or are you asking how purchasing a mutual fund works? 2 separate questions and I wasn't sure what you were asking... I'll go with the latter, but I'll explain how a Roth IRA works too if you want.
First thing you have to do is open a portfolio with Fidelity (I'll use them since I'm familiar with it). This is the main 'account' where you invest from. After you have a portfolio, you can start opening accounts. Each account will be invested in a specific mutual fund, and will either be a Retirement Account (401K, Roth IRA) or an Investment Account (generic investment that you can take in and out what you want). You can have as many of these accounts as you want, each invested in their own mutual fund. However, each one will have its own minimum investment ($2500 or $200 monthly). When you first open an account (lets say Roth IRA for now), you create the account. You don't choose where your money will be invested or anything at the moment, you just specify that it's a Roth. Once it's opened, you can add money to that account (lets say you went for the $2500 initial investment). Then you have $2500 of 'cash' in you account. It's not invested, it's just there waiting for you. (It may take a day or two to clear) Once it's cleared, then you can buy mutual funds. This is where you find the specific fund that you're after and buy the 'stocks'. There are hundreds of different mutual funds to invest in. Some have really high returns, but come with really high risk (up 1-5% per day, down 1-5% the next day) others are a lot more gentle (up and down less than a percent each day). It all depends on what you want. For a Roth, I'd suggest one with really high returns and don't worry about the risk. You won't ever lose your money completely, and it doesn't matter to you if it goes down for a month or even a year, because you can't take it out until you're 65 anyhow.
To get a preview of what kinds of returns there are, research them on Fidelity. (Go to Fidelity, click on Research - Mutual Funds - Advanced Search, then click "All International Equity", "Domestic Equity" and "Sector Funds" [those are the real mutual funds rather than the bonds] and click search. Then view all Fidelity funds and enjoy. Try sorting by the different time periods to see the performance of them)
Anything I left out? Let me know if you want me to explain the Roth IRA and how that works.
And I do plan on selling my D&A and buying Canada or something like that in 2008... wink1.gif

 

yup, that's exactly the info I was looking for.

I'm somewhat fimiliar with how they work, just wasn't sure about the process.