The Best Place for IRA Rollovers

Here's the next item I wanted to cover from Kiplinger's "The Best List". Today, we're highlighting the best place for IRA rollovers:

The Best Place for IRA Rollovers: T. Rowe Price

Whether you have decades to go before retirement or just a few years, T. Rowe Price's Advisory Planning Services will provide personalized financial advice if you roll over money from a 401(k) or from another IRA. The new service charges a one-time fee of $250, which includes annual reviews. The fee is reimbursed if you roll over at least $100,000.

I'm going to have to disagree with them on this one. First of all, many readers of this blog won't need (and won't want to pay for) the Advisory Planning Services that seem to be the key to their recommendation here. It sounds as if T. Rowe Price paid Kiplinger's for this mini-commercial. Strange. Second, I prefer Vanguard because of their low costs and great customer service. I've rolled over a few IRAs with them and they are great to work with.

And no, Vanguard didn't pay me to do a commercial for them. ;-)

For more thoughts on retirement, see Best of Free Money Finance: Retirement Posts.

Comments

[Jeremy]

While I love Vanguard, I generally don't, nor do I recommend to clients to roll their IRA directly to a mutual fund company. Doing so limits your investment options. I personally prefer to move money into a brokerage that has the ability to allow other investment vehicles as well. Typically a discount broker will be sufficient and keep fees to a minimum. So you can keep your vanguard, yet have the whole investment world still available to you.

While one company's funds can be great for retirement accounts, often holding individual stocks, bonds, or even a fund from another fund company may help build a well-rounded portfolio. I would like to have flexibility within my account to take advantage of other strategies if the opportunity were to arise as opposed to being stuck with one company's funds and then have the hassle of moving money around in order to accomplish it.

I agree T. Rowe is probably not the best, and I think there is more to that "best" distinction than just an objective review.