Roth IRA rollovers

[Guest abunai]

Right now I have a small amount in a Roth IRA Money Market account. If I decide later that I want to change this to a different type of investment, and/or change financial institutions, will I be charged a fee to do this? Is this a simple rollover?

[John G]

You are allowed by law to transfer assets from one IRA custodian to another. Like to like is what I think you are suggesting. Your current custodian may charge an exit fee if you are in a loaded mutual fund, which should not be the case if you are in a money market account. They may charge a fee if the account was just recently opened. An account closing fee is relatively rare. Ask them.

The key word is "transfer" of your account. The best way to do this is to go to the second custodian and fill out forms asking for them to initiate a direct fund transfer. Bear in mind that custodians vary in the annual fees they charge. Zero is good, but found with a small number of institutions. $10-15 is a modest amount. Anything over $25 is a ripoff. If the next institution suggests they will have an annual fee, ask them to waive it.