Best Rollover IRA Providers of 2023
Rollover IRAs can simplify saving for retirement and help investors put an old 401(k) to good use. Annuity.org’s picks for the best rollover IRA providers of 2023 offer a range of investment options, low fees and robust resources for managing your own retirement fund.
- Written By Jennifer Schell
Jennifer Schell
Financial Writer
Jennifer Schell is a professional writer focused on demystifying annuities and other financial topics including banking, financial advising and insurance. She is proud to be a member of the National Association for Fixed Annuities (NAFA) as well as the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA).
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Lamia ChowdhuryLamia Chowdhury
Financial Editor
Lamia Chowdhury is a financial editor at Annuity.org. Lamia carries an extensive skillset in the content marketing field, and her work as a copywriter spans industries as diverse as finance, health care, travel and restaurants.
Read More- Updated: May 15, 2023
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We evaluated rollover IRA accounts from brokerage firms that are available in all 50 states, ultimately only featuring those that fit our strict criteria. To be included on this list, providers must:
Understanding Our Methodology
To choose the best rollover IRA providers in 2023, Annuity.org’s independent editorial team carefully considered rollover IRA offerings from the top brokerage firms in the country.
Annuity.org uses a strict and fact-based methodology to determine which companies qualify for our rankings. To be considered, a provider must offer an IRA account specifically designed for rolling over an existing retirement plan.
We also considered other factors, including account minimums, fees, tools and resources available to investors and the variety of investment options offered.
Learn more about our broader Editorial Guidelines.
Editor’s Choice: Best Overall
Provider Details
Fidelity Investments is one of the largest financial services firms in the nation with over $3 trillion in assets under management. Fidelity serves more than 40 million individual investors in America and nine other countries.
- No account or advisory fees
- Over 10,000 fund choices, including index funds with no expense ratio
- Robust planning tools, calculators, reporting features and other resources
- Does not offer futures trading
Fidelity is our top choice for a self-directed rollover IRA. The account comes with no maintenance or advisory fees, and you can build your portfolio with a variety of investment choices, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs and options. Fidelity even offers proprietary index funds with no expense ratio.
If you’ve always had your retirement plan managed by your employer and are new to IRAs, Fidelity has plenty of tools and resources to help you manage your retirement with confidence. You can access calculators, reporting features, chatbot support and even take four-week virtual courses on trading basics.
Provider Details
Wealthfront is an automated investment service company, commonly referred to as a “robo-advisor.” Wealthfront’s mission is to make investing easier, better and more accessible by offering software-based financial planning solutions designed to automate investing.
- Low account minimum
- Hundreds of funds to choose from, including crypto exposure
- Can choose portfolios designed for socially conscious investing
- 0.25% management fee
- Technical support only, no investment or financial planning advice available
Wealthfront is the most accessible of the robo-advisors we evaluated, with an account minimum of just $500. The 0.25% management fee is typical amongst robo-advisor IRAs.
Where Wealthfront really shines is in the level of customization it offers, allowing investors to be as hands-on or hands-off as they like. You can choose from hundreds of investment options in 17 asset classes or choose a portfolio curated by Wealthfront’s experts, including socially responsible portfolios geared towards sustainability, diversity and equity.
Best for No Fees
Provider Details
In the fifty years since its founding, Charles Schwab has built a reputation for excellence as a brokerage firm. The corporation was named one of the Best Online Brokers of 2022 and Most Trusted Financial Companies of 2022 by Investor’s Business Daily.
- No account opening or maintenance fees
- $0 commission on stock, options and ETF trades
- Over 2,000 ETFs and 7,000 mutual funds to choose from
- Award-winning 24/7 customer service support
- No crypto assets to invest in
- Higher margin rates
Charles Schwab is a well-known player in the brokerage industry for its customer satisfaction — it scored the highest in overall investor satisfaction in J.D Power’s 2023 Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Study. Schwab’s rollover IRA has no account or maintenance fees and no commission on most online trades.
Investors can build their IRA portfolio with a wide selection of options, including over 2,000 ETFs across a range of asset classes and about 7,000 mutual funds. Schwab also offers a range of over two dozen Schwab ETFs with expense ratios as low as 0.03%.
Provider Details
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios® is the robo-advising subsidiary of Charles Schwab. Schwab’s robo-advisor selects ETFs for investors’ portfolios based on how the investor answers questions about their goals, risk tolerance and investment timeline.
- No advisory or management fees
- Three investment strategies and six risk profiles to choose from
- 24/7 live support
- $5,000 account minimum
- Automatic tax-loss harvesting only for clients with balances of $50,000 or more
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios® stands out from other robo-advisors because it doesn’t charge any advisory or management fees. When you open an account, you can choose your risk profile from conservative to aggressive growth and investment strategies that are U.S.-focused, global or income-focused.
Schwab’s robo-advisor chooses from a diversified portfolio of over 50 low-cost ETFs to create strategies that align with each investor’s individual needs. The only major drawbacks to using this provider are the $5,000 account minimum and that tax-loss harvesting is only available on balances of $50,000 or more.
Best for Low-Risk Portfolios
Provider Details
Founded by legendary business magnate John Bogle, Vanguard stands as the largest investment firm in the nation today. The company is best known for its selection of low-cost index and mutual funds.
- Low average expense ratio (0.09%)
- $0 commission for stocks, ETFs and Vanguard mutual funds
- 160 Vanguard mutual funds have no transaction fee
- Over 3,000 mutual funds to choose from
- Most Vanguard mutual funds require a minimum investment of $3,000
- Trading platform lacks tools and interactive features
- $20 annual account fee, can be waived by signing up for e-delivery of account updates
Vanguard’s low-cost funds are some of the best on the market, and their rollover IRA lets investors build their portfolio with 160 proprietary mutual funds that have no transaction fees. These Vanguard funds might require a high minimum investment, but there is no minimum amount required to open an account.
A Vanguard IRA could be a good choice for investors who just want to “set it and forget it” without paying for a robo-advisor. The trading platform doesn’t have the robust tools and analytics of other providers, but if all you’re doing is tucking away retirement money in low-risk, low-cost funds, you won’t need all those bells and whistles anyway.
Provider Details
Vanguard Digital Advisor is a robo-advisor offered by the Vanguard Group. Vanguard Digital Advisor builds custom portfolios based on investors’ current savings, risk assessment and investment timeline.
- Customized investment portfolios of mutual funds and ETFs
- Automatically adjusts asset mix for tax efficiencies and financial goals
- No advisory fees for first 90 days
- $3,000 account minimum
- 0.20% advisory fee
- Cannot have non-Vanguard mutual funds or individual bonds in portfolio
With Vanguard Digital Advisor, your rollover IRA portfolio will be filled with Vanguard’s own mutual funds and ETFs, renowned in the industry for their low expense ratios. The Digital Advisor’s algorithms will choose investments based on how you describe your risk assessment, current savings and investment timeline.
Vanguard Digital Advisor has a $3,000 account minimum and a typical advisory fee of 0.20%. However, new customers pay no advisory fees for the first 90 days of the account to help you start off right.
Best for Hands-On Investors
Provider Details
TD Ameritrade is a brokerage providing online stock trading, investing and retirement planning services to over 11 million customers. The company is currently being acquired by Charles Schwab.
- $0 commission for ETFs, stocks and mutual funds
- Wide variety of investment options including 13,000+ mutual funds
- Interactive tools, third-party research resources, personalized reporting and analysis
- All accounts will move to Charles Schwab after acquisition
For investors who want to actively manage their portfolios, a rollover IRA from TD Ameritrade comes with tons of resources to boost your trading knowledge and confidence. The company’s suite of interactive investing tools includes a retirement calculator, a Compare Funds tool, an X-Ray tool to evaluate mutual fund holdings, personalized screeners, technical analysis and third-party research provided by top firms like Morningstar.
Hands-on investors will also enjoy TD Ameritrade’s varied range of investment options, including stocks, bonds, ETFs, annuities, futures and over 13,000 mutual funds. When considering a rollover IRA from TD Ameritrade, customers should note that the company’s recent acquisition by Charles Schwab means that all investment accounts will eventually be moved over to Schwab.
Best for Varied Investment Options
Provider Details
E*TRADE is an online brokerage firm that pioneered online investment trading for consumers in the early 1980s. The global financial services firm Morgan Stanley acquired E*TRADE in 2020.
- No account fees and no commissions on stocks, ETFs or mutual funds
- Over 6,500 mutual funds and 50,000+ bond and CD offerings
- $1 per bond charge for online secondary market trades ($10 minimum)
- $0.50 to $0.65 charge per contract for options trading
Those looking for the greatest variety of investment options might prefer a rollover IRA from E*TRADE. You can choose investments such as U.S.-listed stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and options trades, all without paying commissions or account fees. With over 6,500 mutual fund options, you can craft a portfolio that’s perfect for your goals and risk tolerance.
An E*TRADE rollover IRA might be especially attractive for investors with a conservative risk tolerance. The provider offers over 50,000 bond and CD offerings to build a portfolio designed with as little risk as desired.
Best for Integrating With Your Bank
Provider Details
Merrill Edge is an online investment trading platform owned by Bank of America. Merrill’s offerings include self-directed and guided investment accounts including IRAs.
- No annual account fees
- No commission on stock, ETF or options trades
- Can connect to a linked Bank of America account
- Not as wide a variety of investment options as other brokerages
Merrill Edge’s rollover IRA has no fees, no commission on stock, options or ETF trades, and a decent variety of mutual funds to build your portfolio. However, where Merrill Edge stands out is its ability to integrate with Bank of America accounts.
If you have a Bank of America checking account, for example, you can view balances and information about both your checking account and your Merrill IRA with a single mobile login. Merrill even allows you to transfer funds directly from your Bank of America account to your Merrill IRA instantly.
How Does a Rollover IRA Work?
A rollover IRA works by moving the funds from an employer-sponsored retirement plan into an individual retirement account, also known as an IRA. To be eligible for a rollover, the owner of the retirement plan must experience a distribution event; most of the time, this means that they are no longer employed at the company that sponsored their existing retirement plan.
A retirement plan can be rolled over into a traditional or a Roth IRA. The contribution limits for an IRA do not apply to rollover IRAs. You can roll over the entire value of your 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan into a rollover IRA in the same year. You can even contribute to a separate IRA that year up to the annual contribution limit ($6,500 in 2023).
The rules for withdrawals and required minimum distributions (RMDs) apply to rollover IRAs the same as other IRAs. For all IRAs, you’ll be subject to income taxes and a penalty if you withdraw funds from the account before you turn 59 1/2. Once you turn 73, you must receive a certain amount of money from your rollover IRA and any other IRAs each year.
Who Is a Rollover IRA Best Suited For?
A rollover IRA is best suited for someone who wants to move control over their retirement plan from their former employer to themselves. Usually, this means that you’ve left a job that has a 401(k).
You might also consider a rollover IRA if an old employer goes out of business, dissolving the retirement plan you had with them. On a similar note, some people turn to rollover IRAs if their current IRA provider shuts down.
Finally, some people choose rollover IRAs to simplify their retirement savings. Even if you have a good relationship with a former employer, sometimes it’s just easier to have all your retirement savings in one place. By rolling over your old account into an IRA, you can continue contributing to that same account year after year.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rollover IRAs
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21 Cited Research Articles
Annuity.org writers adhere to strict sourcing guidelines and use only credible sources of information, including authoritative financial publications, academic organizations, peer-reviewed journals, highly regarded nonprofit organizations, government reports, court records and interviews with qualified experts. You can read more about our commitment to accuracy, fairness and transparency in our editorial guidelines.
- J.D. Power. (2023, April 4). Investor Satisfaction With Full-Service Financial Advisors Crumbles as Markets Fall, J.D. Power Finds. Retrieved from https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2023-us-full-service-investor-satisfaction-study
- Wealthfront. (2023, April 10). What Level of Support Can I Expect From Wealthfront? Retrieved from https://support.wealthfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037529012-What-level-of-support-can-I-expect-from-Wealthfront-
- SoFi. (2023, March 1). Rollover IRA vs. Traditional IRA: What’s the Difference? Retrieved from https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/rollover-ira-vs-traditional-ira/
- Sato, G. (2022, June 9). How Do IRA Rollovers Work? Retrieved from https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/how-do-ira-rollovers-work/
- Charles Schwab. (n.d). ETFs vs. Mutual Funds. Retrieved from https://www.schwab.com/etfs/mutual-funds-vs-etfs
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- Charles Schwab. (n.d.). Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. Retrieved from https://intelligent.schwab.com
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- E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley. (n.d.). Investment Choices. Retrieved from https://us.etrade.com/what-we-offer/investment-choices
- E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley. (n.d.). Our Accounts. Retrieved from https://us.etrade.com/what-we-offer/our-accounts
- Fidelity Investments. (n.d.). All Mutual Funds. Retrieved from https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/all-mutual-funds/overview
- Fidelity Investments. (n.d.). IRA Rollover FAQs. Retrieved from https://www.fidelity.com/retirement-ira/rollover-faq
- Merrill Edge. (n.d.). Mutual Funds. Retrieved from https://www.merrilledge.com/investing/mutual-funds
- Merrill Edge. (n.d.). Self-Directed Investing. Retrieved from https://www.merrilledge.com/investing/merrill-self-directed-trading
- TD Ameritrade. (n.d.). IRA Guide. Retrieved from https://www.tdameritrade.com/retirement-planning/ira-guide.html
- TD Ameritrade. (n.d.). Mutual Fund Trading. Retrieved from https://www.tdameritrade.com/investment-products/mutual-funds.html
- Vanguard. (n.d.). Costs, Fees and Minimums. Retrieved from https://investor.vanguard.com/client-benefits/investment-fees
- Vanguard. (n.d.). ETFs vs. Mutual Funds: A Comparison. Retrieved from https://investor.vanguard.com/investor-resources-education/etfs/etf-vs-mutual-fund
- Vanguard. (n.d.). Vanguard Digital Advisor®. Retrieved from https://investor.vanguard.com/advice/robo-advisor
- Wealthfront. (n.d.). Retirement. Retrieved from https://www.wealthfront.com/retirement
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