Feb 10

What, generally, is the interest earned on IRAs? Why are they better than liquid savings accounts?

We’re beginning our retirement savings, and are not sure why our money market isn’t the best place for the money; I assume for tax reasons.

kckid2 Said on February 10th, 2010 at 8:35 pm:

First you need to be clear what an IRA isn’t. It is not an investment; it is a form of ownership… like owning property jointly, or as tennants in common, etc. An IRA simply means that it has certain unique tax qualities. That’s it.

Where you invest your IRA… well, you have literally 1000′s of choices. And once you make a choice, you can change you mind and move it elsewhere for a better choice.

Now that I’ve covered that, the interest you earn on your IRA is based on the investment choice you made. As I stated earlier, there are 1000′s of choices. Maybe you made a good choice, maybe you didn’t. But I can’t express an opinion about your choice when there are so many to compare
Steve R Said on February 10th, 2010 at 9:16 pm:

Since you have a long time until you retire, a money market is not the best place to invest. open an IRA at a brokerage, like TD Ameritrade, which will allow you to invest in mutual funds and exchange traded funds.
A money market account will not keep up with the pace of inflation, which is increasing.

Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, 401K