Best IRAs of 2023

Fidelity Investments is a large brokerage firm with a wide range of low-cost investment accounts. Investors can choose from traditional, Roth, and self-employed SEP IRAs, among others. Like other investment products from Fidelity, the traditional IRA account has no recurring fees and no minimum balance requirements. You can buy and sell stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and a selected list of mutual funds with no commissions, making the account fee-free for many investors.

In addition to the self-directed IRA, Fidelity offers an automated robo-advisor version and, for a fee, access to a human financial advisor. Fidelity Go, the automated investing product, is fee-free for balances up to $10,000, then costs $3 per month up to $49,999, and 0.35% for larger accounts. Traditional financial advising requires a $25,000 minimum and 0.50% annual for hybrid robo-advising with assistance from human financial professionals. Other wealth management products are available to those with balances of $250,000 and above, though higher fees may apply.

When picking your investments, you may want to consider Fidelity’s zero expense-ratio mutual funds, available to Fidelity account holders without minimum or transaction fees. Fidelity also offers a suite of financial calculators and planning resources to keep you on track for your retirement goals. Overall, low fees, a wide range of available investments, and retirement planning tools make Fidelity a top choice for traditional IRA accounts. The firm offers other banking and investment accounts that could round out all your financial-account needs.

Charles Schwab is a nationwide brokerage firm with low costs and a large variety of accounts and assets. Schwab IRA accounts have no recurring fees and no commissions for stock and ETF trades and a sizable list of no-transaction-fee mutual funds.

Schwab is noteworthy for a no-cost robo-advising feature, where you’re assigned a professionally designed portfolio based on a series of questions about your investment goals. Upgrading to a premium version where you get help from a human financial advisor requires a $300 starting fee, then costs $30 per month.

Schwab’s suite of accounts makes it a good choice for banking and investing beyond your IRA, giving you the option to keep all your finances with one company and one log-in. The biggest downside to Schwab is poor interest rates on cash balances. Otherwise, the low-fee accounts and excellent customer service make Schwab a solid choice for an IRA.

Merrill, formerly known as Merrill Edge and a legacy of the Merrill Lynch brand, is the consumer investment division of Bank of America. Merrill Edge features a self-directed traditional IRA account with no recurring fees or minimum balance requirements and no commissions for most trades. That could work well for many investors' needs, but it is best for those with a strong relationship with the Bank of America family of brands.

The bank’s Preferred Rewards program includes discounts and benefits with Merrill and other Bank of America products. For example, with a combined balance of at least $20,000 across eligible bank and investment accounts, you would qualify for 0.05% to 0.15% off the annual fee for the robo-advising and human-upgraded investment products normally cost 0.45% or 0.85% per year, respectively.

Like other large competitors, Merrill’s total offerings allow you to do your banking and investing with one log-in. The added benefits as your balances grow could make Bank of America and Merrill a good combination. While the guided-advising products are more expensive than some competitors’, the self-directed IRA is very competitive and could be used for free by many investors.

Wealthfront is a top robo-advising product that’s good for both new investors and experts who want more control over their portfolio allocation. The site charges a flat 0.25% fee on your total portfolio value, and that’s all you can expect to pay. There are no additional commissions or fees for typical activities.

The core feature of Wealthfront is curated portfolios. The site suggests an ideal portfolio based on questions you answer about your investments. But you can also choose to invest in other portfolio themes, such as socially responsible investments, sector-focused investments, and other investment strategies.

Wealthfront also offers a no-fee banking option and lines of credit using your investments as collateral, but curated portfolios are the biggest draw to Wealthfront over other IRA accounts. Whether you want to invest in a traditional, diversified retirement portfolio or focus on other areas important to you, Wealthfront makes either easy to set up and maintain.

M1 Finance is a good choice for several reasons. Most notably, most investing activity on the platform is free. There are no account or trading fees to worry about, only fees for some less-common activities. Because fees are so important to your investment results, choosing this nearly fee-free account could be a wise decision.

The standout feature, which applies to traditional IRA accounts and all others, is the company’s unique portfolio management system. Whether you pick an expert-designed portfolio or want to customize and build your own, portfolios are represented as “Pies,” displayed as a pie chart in your investment account. You can adjust your allocation any way you choose, and M1 automatically works to keep your account balanced to that target allocation in the future.

Each Pie can hold up to 100 unique investments, or “slices,” including stocks and ETFs. You can choose from more than 80 Expert Pies or build a pie of your own, with no fees in either case. M1 also offers banking, credit cards, and loans, making it a potential one-stop shop for your money.

Betterment is a pioneer in robo-advising, paving the way for the modern automated-portfolio industry we know today. The core service, which applies to traditional IRA accounts and others, is the Digital account, a fully automated investment management account with a flat 0.25% annual fee. It’s easy to use and includes options to focus on socially responsible investments, among other options.

The Digital product is straightforward to use, though Betterment also offers a product through which you get unlimited access to a team of financial advisors, which requires a 0.40% annual fee. This is competitively priced compared with similar competitor products but is still more than many investors may want to spend on investment management.

Betterment also offers banking and a range of investment account types. If you want an investment account that you can set up and mostly forget about, Betterment is ideal for your needs.