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Household Finances

Frontline - IRA hidden fees

13 years ago

Did anyone see Frontine's broadcast on hidden IRA fees?
What did you think?

If you didn't see it, and don't pay attention to the fine print of your IRA investment you can go to the Frontline website where you can watch a re-broadcast.

My IRA charges 5.5% revenue sharing fee on top of a maintenance fee.

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Comments (9)

emma
13 years ago
Another reason I am glad we cashed in our IRA when my husband retired.
rainlan
13 years ago
There are plenty of fee-free IRA accounts. Nobody is forced to choose a high fee one - roll it over to a good brokerage a/c like Fidelity if it's charging you fees!

May I ask which bank you have your IRA with? I want to avoid it!
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xminion
Original Author
13 years ago
Rainian,

Of course nobody would go for a fee!

Revenue is taken out of your earnings...both when it earns, and WHEN IT DOESN'T and it's not called a 'fee.'

Nobody in their right mind should have an IRA. It'll cost you big dough in the long run. Check Index funds.
sushipup1
13 years ago
Uh "Nobody in their right mind should have an IRA".

Wrong! An IRA account can be a great tax-saving tool. Just know what the fees are whether your IRA is at a bank or a brokerage house or some other investment vehicle.
User
13 years ago
My opinion as a retiree if I had it to do over I would do Roth IRA's rather than a regular IRA. At this point with our income taxes will take half of our IRA's and other retirement plans when we start drawing them. Lucky to be in this position but sad to see money I saved so hard for go to taxes.

Fees are totally different unless the IRA etc. is tied to your employment. If not tied find the that fits you best. All have some type of fee.
sushipup1
13 years ago
You are confusing IRAs with 401k's and other plans that you (and maybe the company) contribute to. The 401k is held by a third party selected by the company you work for, and some are good and some are bad. You can invest IRA and Roth-IRA money in a plain savings account at your bank (where interest rates are currently about .01% as in one tenth of one percent), or stocks, bonds, funds, even some real estate.

The important thing is that the money is given special tax treatment, so any retirement account should be discussed with a CPA for tax consequences.

We do not intend to withdraw from our retirement plans until my husband is no longer working and our income will be considerably less without his salary and just social security payments, so at that time we will be taxed less than we are today.
emma
13 years ago
I would not have anything that is tax deferred or charged a penalty for getting out except my husband's company's IRA. For every dollar we put in they put in half a dollar, put in $20 and they put in $10 up to 8 % of his pay. We cashed it in when he retired. My friend had almost a half million dollars and she didn't spend it because "I have to pay a lot of taxes on it". So she lived within her budget and her kids got to spend the money.
breenthumb
12 years ago
And I'll bet it went faster than her money ever went before.
emma
12 years ago
You bet..................

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