Going to open a Roth IRA at either Fideltiy or Vanguard. Don't have just yet the $3k for Vanguard. Had been putting money as recomended by someone into a Lord Abbett Growth and Income fund. (will be rolling it over) Realized after much reading of this forum that I was wasting my 5.5% load fee I was paying.

Everyone here has a lot of great advice and I ask the question, should I wait to get the $3k for a Vanguard IRA or go ahead and open the IRA at Fidelity or does it make much difference. I see Vanguard toughted as the "Gold Standard" on this forum because of their low fees. I have around 15 years until retirement and with no 401k at work (they recently stoped offering one)...used the proceeds to pay off all debt except my house. (owe 111K) on it.

I make around 80k per year and have an emergency fund in place. Just looking for some advice on getting thinks kick started. I would guess with 15 years I should be a bit more aggressive according to what I read on the forum. Any advice would be great.

Dale

If it will take you 3 months to amass enough funds to open an IRA with Vanguard, by all means save up the funds and open the account with Vanguard. If it will take three years, then seek alternative options.

For example, the Schwab Total Stock Market Index fund (SWTSX) has lower expense fees than the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index fund (VTSMX). The performance of these funds is almost identical, but SWTSX is available at a fraction of the cost (1/30) for initially investing in VTSMX.

I am opposed to liquidating 401k funds unless absolutely necessary; but since you have already done that...

Wait. You did what to your 401k? Why?

pssst....Vanguard target date and STAR funds have a $1k minimum.

Has anyone started an account with just 1,000? I always read that it requires 3,000 to open a roth IRA with Vanguard, but then I see the options for buying in certain indexes for 1,000. I don't want to be caught off guard if I decide I can scrape off 1,000 from my savings (I'm saving to move out of my parents house to a city- I graduated with a fair amount of debt and live in an expensive area).

I opened a Roth IRA with Vanguard in March and I used $2k to open a Target Date Fund. I remember after signing up I got a few e-mails telling me if I wanted to avoid the annual fee for having less than $10k in my account, I needed to make sure all my statements were electronic. So as long as you do that, you will be fine opening one of their accounts with only a $1k minimum.

Tough luck on your employer not offering a 401k anymore. Ideal choice to go with a low-cost broker like Fidelity or Vanguard.

By my measure, Fidelity and Vanguard are like Canon and Nikon in the camera/lens arena: equivalent and excellent. Either one would be a good choice.