Saving enough for retirement remains a daunting goal for many Americans. A 2018 survey by financial services company Northwestern Mutual found 41% of respondents worried about their retirement savings. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) can help keep your blood pressure down by providing you with a powerful savings tool for retirement with significant tax advantages.
While you may associate IRAs with investing in stocks and bonds, one of the safest places to open an IRA is with a bank or credit union in the form of a savings or money market account. The list of IRA savings accounts below are the best for earning a high interest rate on your savings while keeping your future nest egg secure.
Account |
Minimum opening deposit |
APY |
---|---|---|
Patelco Federal Credit Union Money Market Select IRA (Traditional, Roth, CESA) |
$0 |
2.00% |
Premier Members Credit Union IRA Money Market Account (Traditional, Roth) |
$5 |
2.00% |
All America Bank |
$100 |
0.60% |
Connexus Credit Union IRA Savings (Traditional, Roth, CESA) |
$0 |
0.25% |
Signature Federal Credit Union IRA Savings (Traditional, Roth, CESA) |
$0 |
0.70% |
CommunityWide FCU IRA |
$2,000 |
0.60% |
Latino Community Credit Union IRA Share Account (Traditional, Roth, SEP) |
$25 |
0.60% |
Alliant Credit Union IRA Savings (Traditional, Roth, SEP) |
$0 |
0.55% |
Ally Bank IRA Online Savings Account (Traditional, Roth, SEP) |
$0 |
0.50% |
Lake Michigan Credit Union (Traditional, Roth) |
$5 |
0.50% |
Patelco Federal Credit Union’s rate is dependent on the size of your deposit. This APY decreases the more money you have invested; the rate begins dropping after $2,000. Patelco is based in California, and you’re eligible to join if you live, attend school or worship in certain California communities. Students at a few universities also qualify, as do employees of one of their member companies and associations. If none of these apply to you, you can also join by becoming a member of the nonprofit Financial Fitness Association, and your first year is on the credit union.
Premier Members Credit Union is the merged company formed by two well-established credit unions: Boulder Valley Credit Union and Premier Members Federal Credit Union. It caters to residents of Colorado, but you can also join through their affiliation with Boulder Valley School District’s charity Impact on Education. It’s worth noting that you’ll only earn this high APY on your first $2,000. After that, the rate drops down in tiers.
This Oklahoma-based bank makes its accounts available to anyone by calling, and those looking for an IRA savings account earning a high APY should take a look. While this bank doesn’t offer some of the more specialized IRAs that others do, All America Bank provides the tried-and-true traditional and Roth IRAs for a modest minimum deposit of $100.
Membership at Connexus Credit Union is open to employees, retirees, students and alumni of a small list of groups, as are their family members. Residents of a few communities are also eligible. But for everyone else, all you need to do to join is make a $5 donation to the Connexus Association.
Connexus offers traditional and Roth IRAs. There’s no minimum opening deposit, but you’ll need a balance of $10,000 to secure this rate. Lower balances also earn a decent rate, and any amount over $5,000 will still get you an APY that makes this list.
Membership in the American Consumer Council qualifies you to join up with this Virginia-based credit union, which offers Traditional, Roth and CESA IRAs. The barrier to funding these IRAs couldn’t be lower—there’s no minimum deposit required, meaning you could open an IRA savings account with the change you find under a couch cushion (though we recommend trying to save more for your retirement). The APY should also entice you, as the interest earned starts to rapidly drop off the further you get down this list.
Anyone can become a member of Communitywide FCU by joining the Michiana Goodwill Boosters or the Marine Corps League of St. Joseph Valley. Communitywide offers both traditional IRA and Roth IRA accounts, with a $2,000 deposit needed to open, with dividends paid into the account on a monthly basis. You’ll need to contact the credit union directly by phone to open an account, as you cannot open an IRA account online right now.
This North Carolina credit union offers its banking products to anyone in the nation so long as they make a one-time $10 donation to the Latino Community Development Center, a nonprofit promoting financial literacy and general economic development “for low-income Latino and other immigrant communities in North Carolina,” according to its mission statement.
The credit union offers an IRA share account — their version of a savings account — with either a Traditional, Roth or SEP plan. The account requires a minimum deposit of $25.
Although based in Illinois, it’s a simple matter for anyone in the country to join this credit union. A $10 donation to Foster Care to Success qualifies you for membership and the ability to take advantage of Alliant’s personal banking products, including their IRA Savings account.
Alliant offers three different plans for its IRA savings: Traditional, Roth and SEP. You must maintain an average daily balance of at least $100 to receive the paid dividends on the last day of each month.
Ally may be an online-only bank, but its history stretches back to the beginning of the 20th century as a financial institution that helped automaker General Motors finance sales. In its current iteration, Ally offers a wide range of competitive savings products, including an IRA account that earns the listed APY. Ally offers three different types of plans: Traditional, Roth and SEP, covering a variety of retirement needs while offering a high rate of return.
You don’t have to belong to any specific industry, company or organization to join Lake Michigan Credit Union. Becoming a member allows you to access all of their products and services and requires only a minimum donation of $5 to the ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) Foundation if you live outside Michigan or Florida.
Lake Michigan Credit Union offers traditional and Roth IRA plans, with no maintenance fees to earn the listed APY.
Like any IRA account, an IRA savings account provides tax advantages to the saver. The exact benefits depend on the IRA plan or type you choose. While the two most common types of IRA offered are Traditional and Roth, more specialized versions of the account are also available, including:
You can contribute money to your IRA savings account anytime, just as you would with an ordinary savings account. However, because this is an IRA product, it’s still subject to a 2021 contribution amount limit of $6,000 (or $7,000 if you’re age 50 or older), the same as an IRA account at a brokerage firm.
In that same vein, the penalties for withdrawing money early from your IRA remain in effect for the IRA savings account. Taking money from your Traditional IRA savings account incurs a 10% penalty if you’re younger than 59 1/2 years old (and assuming you don’t qualify for one of the special circumstances allowing a penalty-free withdrawal, such as a first-time home purchase).
Source: https://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/best-of/ira-savings-accounts/