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16 Best IRA Accounts of March 2024

An individual retirement account, or IRA, is one of the best places to save for retirement. Here are the best IRA accounts available right now.

Alana Benson
By Alana Benson 
Edited by Pamela de la Fuente

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.


The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.

An individual retirement account, or IRA account, is a tax-advantaged investment account that can help you save and invest for retirement. If you're opening an IRA account for the first time, the process typically takes just 15 minutes and requires basic information, such as your name and bank account number.

Our deep, independent analysis of investment firms cuts through the details to find and evaluate the information investors want when choosing an investing account.

  • Over 60 investment account providers reviewed and rated by our expert Nerds.

  • More than 50 years of combined experience writing about finance and investing.

  • Hands-on testing of the account funding process, provider websites and investment platforms.

  • Dozens of objective ratings rubrics and strict guidelines to maintain editorial integrity.

To see our full methodology and learn more about our process, read our criteria for evaluating brokers and for evaluating robo-advisors.

If you already have an IRA but you're searching for better options, switching IRAs is relatively easy: You can transfer your funds to a new provider, often without selling your investments. Factors like investment selection, sign-up promotions and fees will vary by provider.

Our shortlist of the top picks for the best IRAs divides IRA accounts into two categories:

  • Best IRA accounts for hands-on investors who want to pick and choose their investments. For this group, online brokers are often the right choice.

  • Best IRA accounts for hands-off investors who want help building and managing their IRA investments. For this group, robo-advisors are generally a great fit.

No matter what you're looking for, you'll find the best IRA account for you on our list below.

Note: The star ratings on this page are for the provider overall. Some brokers with a lower overall rating are included here because IRAs are where they excel.

🤓Nerdy Tip

There's still time to contribute to an IRA for 2023 and get a tax deduction. You have until April 15, 2024 to make IRA contributions for the 2023 tax year. Once you've maxed out for 2023, you can contribute toward the 2024 contribution limit.

Best IRA Accounts

Our pick for

Hands-On Investors

For people who want to pick their own investments, opening an IRA at an online broker makes a lot of sense. At the best brokers, you’ll find a large list of low-cost investments to choose from, including index mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Here are the best IRAs from our analysis.

NerdWallet rating 

5.0

/5
Fidelity IRA
Learn more

on Fidelity's website

Fees

$0

no account fees to open a Fidelity retail IRA

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

None

no promotion available at this time

NerdWallet rating 

4.1

/5
J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing
Learn more

on J.P. Morgan's website

Fees

$0

per trade

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

Get up to $700

when you open and fund a J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account with qualifying new money.

NerdWallet rating 

5.0

/5
Interactive Brokers IBKR Lite
Learn more

on Interactive Brokers' website

Fees

$0

per trade

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

None

no promotion available at this time

NerdWallet rating 

4.9

/5
Charles Schwab
Learn more

on Charles Schwab's website

Fees

$0

per online equity trade

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

None

no promotion available at this time

NerdWallet rating 

4.2

/5
Vanguard
Learn more

on Vanguard's website

Fees

$0

per trade

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

None

no promotion available at this time

Our pick for

Hands-Off Investors

If you'd prefer to let someone — or something — else manage your investments, a robo-advisor may be a good fit for you. Robo-advisors will select investments for your Roth IRA and then manage them over time. Here are the best Roth IRAs offered by robo-advisors.

NerdWallet rating 

4.8

/5

Reviewed in: Oct. 2023

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2023

Vanguard Digital Advisor
Learn more

on Vanguard's website

AD

Paid non-client promotion

Fees

0.15%

per year (approximately)

Account minimum

$3,000

Promotion

No advisory fees

your first 90 days of Vanguard Digital Advisor investment management (Enrollment requires a Vanguard account with a minimum of $3,000)

NerdWallet rating 

5.0

/5

Reviewed in: Oct. 2023

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2023

Betterment IRA
Learn more

on Betterment's website

AD

Paid non-client promotion

Fees

0.25%

with a balance over $20K or qualifying recurring deposit. Otherwise, $4/month.

Account minimum

$0

$10 to start

Promotion

None

no promotion available at this time

NerdWallet rating 

4.9

/5

Reviewed in: Oct. 2023

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2023

SoFi Automated Investing

Unpaid non-client promotion

Fees

0%

management fee

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

SoFi will match 2% of your contributions to your IRA

Offer lasts through Tax Day, 4/15/24. Only offers made via ACH are eligible for the match. ACATs, wires, and rollovers are not included.

NerdWallet rating 

5.0

/5

Reviewed in: Oct. 2023

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2023

Wealthfront IRA
Learn more

on Wealthfront's website

AD

Paid non-client promotion

Fees

0.25%

management fee

Account minimum

$500

Promotion

Get a $50 customer bonus

when you fund your first taxable investment account

NerdWallet rating 

4.6

/5

Reviewed in: Oct. 2023

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2023

Fidelity Go®
Learn more

on Fidelity's website

AD

Paid non-advisory client promotion

Fees

0% - 0.35%

management fee

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

None

no promotion available at this time

NerdWallet rating 

4.7

/5

Reviewed in: Oct. 2023

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2023

Ellevest
Learn more

on Ellevest's website

AD

Paid non-client promotion

Fees

$12

per month

Account minimum

$0

Promotion

2 months free

with promo code "nerdwallet"

Want to compare more options? Here are our other top picks:

Note: Some of these promotions won’t apply for first-time depositors, due to IRA contribution limits of $6,500 for 2023 ($7,500 if age 50 or older) and $7,000 in 2024 ($8,000 if 50 or older). We’ve included promotions with low deposit requirements where available.

How do I choose an IRA account?

Picking the best IRA account will depend a bit on what matters most to you. Below we detail some criteria to keep in mind, but don’t forget that the most important thing is to get started saving for retirement. The sooner you get started, the better off you’ll be. Before decision paralysis slows you down, consider simply opening an account at one of our top picks — we’ve done hours of research already.

Here are some important criteria to keep in mind as you pick the best IRA account:

Low-cost investments: For long-term retirement savings success, make sure high fees don’t eat into your investment returns. Open your IRA at a broker or robo-advisor that offers low-cost investments. For many retirement investors, a smart investment is a low-cost mutual fund. Investing in a handful of mutual funds is an easy way to own a diversified portfolio, because each mutual fund invests in dozens, hundreds or even thousands of companies. With mutual funds, one of the main fees to focus on is the expense ratio. Ideally, you’re investing in mutual funds with an expense ratio of less than about 0.5%.

Low fees: While you’re keeping an eye on expense ratios, also keep other fees in mind. If you’re a do-it-yourself investor who plans to open an IRA at a broker, make sure you pick a broker with no trading commissions (or a high number of commission-free ETFs and no-transaction-fee mutual funds) and low transfer and other fees.

Investment help: If you want guidance picking investments, a robo-advisor likely is a better choice for you than a broker. All robo-advisors offer either ready-to-go investment portfolios or provide some help picking investments.

Customer support: Make sure the broker or robo-advisor offers customer support that meets your needs, whether that’s live chat, telephone support or access to human financial planners.

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What is the difference between a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA?

There are a few differences between these accounts, but the main way they differ has to do with taxes:

A traditional IRA earns you a tax deduction on contributions for the year they are made. You’ll then pay income taxes on the distributions you take in retirement. Because you’re delaying taxes until retirement, the investment growth in a traditional IRA is tax-deferred.

A Roth IRA offers no tax deduction when you make contributions, but qualified distributions in retirement are not taxed. That makes the investment income in a Roth IRA tax-free — you won’t pay taxes on it at all, so long as you wait until retirement to access it.

Generally, a traditional IRA is best if you expect your tax rate to be lower in retirement than it is now — by putting off taxes until retirement, you’ll pay that lower rate. If you expect the opposite to be true — your taxes are lower now and will be higher in retirement — you may want to choose a Roth IRA.

For more on this decision, dig into our comprehensive comparison of Roth and traditional IRAs.

How do I open an IRA?

It’s a simple process: You can open an IRA online, at any broker or robo-advisor (though we’re partial to the ones above, for the reasons we outlined). It takes about 15 minutes and you’ll need to provide some personal information, including your name, birthdate, mailing address and Social Security number. Here’s our guide to opening an IRA, which also includes information about how to fund and invest the account.

What is the IRA contribution limit?

In 2023, the IRA contribution limit was $6,500, or $7,500 for those 50 and older. In 2024, that limit increases to $7,000 ($8,000 for those 50 and up). That’s a combined limit shared by the two types of IRA — you can have both a Roth and a traditional IRA, but that maximum limit applies to all of your IRA contributions combined. But the contribution limit doesn’t include amounts rolled over, such as from a 401(k).

Which bank has the best IRA?

You might have noticed we don’t include any bank savings IRA accounts in our roundup of the best IRAs. Generally, an investment broker or robo-advisor is a better option than a bank for an IRA account, because for a long-term goal like retirement you want to tap into the power of the stock market to grow your money.

Bank IRAs generally offer access to savings products such as certificates of deposit. CDs are savings products that guarantee a rate of return as long as you leave your money in for a specific period of time. Historically, stock market returns average about 10% a year. CD rates are typically much lower. Yes, the stock market comes with the risk that, in any given year, your account may lose value — but investors who leave their money in the market, even through those down days, generally enjoy hefty gains over time.

If, despite that, you decide to go with a bank CD, be sure to pick among the IRA accounts with the best IRA CD rates so you know you’re getting the best possible rate of return for that type of account.

Last updated on March 18, 2024

Methodology

NerdWallet’s comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks the largest U.S. brokers and robo-advisors. Our aim is to provide an independent assessment of providers to help arm you with information to make sound, informed judgements on which ones will best meet your needs. We adhere to strict guidelines for editorial integrity.

We collect data directly from providers through detailed questionnaires, and conduct first-hand testing and observation through provider demonstrations. The questionnaire answers, combined with demonstrations, interviews of personnel at the providers and our specialists’ hands-on research, fuel our proprietary assessment process that scores each provider’s performance across more than 20 factors. The final output produces star ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars).

For more details about the categories considered when rating providers and our processes, read our full broker ratings methodology and our full robo-advisor ratings methodology

To recap our selections...

NerdWallet's Best IRA Accounts of March 2024

Frequently asked questions