Cost to open IRA account

A: There is no cost if you use one of the firms that specializes in no fee IRAs. There are no transfer fees, account fees, commissions1, annual fees or termination fees. This is one of the best deals available in the financial services industry. Not only are there no fees charged by the new IRA firm, but right now (until April 16, 2007) if you are transferring an existing IRA from another firm then the new firm may reimburse you for any charges that the former firm charged to transfer the money. I now use Scottrade for my own account and clients' accounts and have been pleased with this service. It is especially important to know that Scottrade accounts allow independent investment adviser support, but this is completely independent and that there are no "built-in" requirement of fees for this service. In other words, help is available when and if you want it but you will not pay anything unless you specifically ask for independent help. In contrast, most other banks or investment firms automatically built-in a fee for support service, usually through a commission-based account representative. More information is available from Scottrade through the links at http://www.wealthmanagement.us.com/Scottrade-IRA-instructions.htm . This firm was recognized by Kiplinger Personal Finance as "best low cost IRS". 1 These IRA accounts have no commissions and some basic cash funds and investment options like a money market fund may be available without any commission. Most investment transactions selected by IRA owners do require a commission payment. For example, if you buy a stock or fund, the commission would be $7.