One Snarky Chica with Issues

If you have not yet opened up an IRA for 2007 - it is not too late! You still have a few days before April 15th so you can still open up an IRA and fund it for 2007.

For tax year 2007, the limit is $4,000 that you can put into an IRA.

There are a lot of options when it comes to opening up an IRA. (I am not affiliated with any institution that offers IRAs, so I am not making any type of biased recommendations here. )

Vanguard

Vanguard seems to be a pretty popular option among financial bloggers. I am planning on opening up an IRA by the end of the week (yes, I am a procrastinator) and I was looking over what Vanguard has to offer. Almost all of their funds require a $3,000 minimum opening contribution. Actually, all one but does. You can invest in their STAR fund with only $1,000. And apparently once you get $3,000 in your account you can change over to another fund if you want. I do not know all of the specifics on this, so check into it with Vanguard if you are interested. And if you select to get all statements and whatnot electronically there are NO FEES with this IRA!

Fidelity

Fidelity is another popular choice. They, too, offer fee-free IRAs. The catch is that you have to sign up to auto-invest $200 each month though. From what I can tell, you need to have at least $2,500 to open the account normally. However, if you commit to the $200 per month then that minimum is waived from what I can tell.

That particular IRA is called the “Simple Start IRA.” More info on that is here.

T. Rowe Price

T. Rowe Price is another big name, but they do not seem to have very attractive options when it comes to IRAs (in my opinion).  The typical minimum opening balance required is $1,000. However, if you sign up to auto-invest $50 per month then that minimum is waived. The bummer about accounts with this company is that it appears that they do not offer fee-free IRAs. You have to have a balance of at least $5,000 to get the no fee IRA.

Other companies

There are also a lot of other places that you can get IRAs. You can look online to places like E*trade, Sharebuilder, ING, Charles Schwab and more. You can also find IRAs at your local banks and credit unions.  The three places detailed above are traditionally more popular places to get an IRA. But you need to research the options to see what is best for you. I am not a retirement planner or investment specialist, this is just some info I gathered while looking for the best place to open my IRA. (I’m leaning towards Vanguard or Fidelity.)