How To Open Your Roth IRA at Vanguard.com

Today I knocked off part of my 2007 goal to open a Roth IRA & automate contributions: I opened my account at Vanguard! Because I always want to know what I'm getting into when I begin an online registration process, especially when it concerns $3,000, here's a complete walkthrough for those of you who are considering Vanguard.


You start by heading on over to Vanguard. It's a pretty intuitive site, if slightly cluttered, and two clicks will take you to the account opening process (the "open an account" link is at the top left of the personal-investment home page, then the "invest now" link on the left). You don't need to register with the site first (do that later), and you don't need to get there through an IRA-specific link. It will ask you what kind of account you want to open. Select "Roth IRA," and off you go.

You'll need the following information:
1) Basic identifying information
I'm guessing you probably know your address, phone numbers, email address, and social security number off the top of your head.
2) Account information for your linked account
You'll need the routing number of your bank and your account number for the account from which you intend Vanguard to pull its payments. You can get this information by looking at a physical check or, if your bank does this, by looking at an image of a check through your online banking. Vanguard offers a convenient diagram that tells you which information is which.

You'll need to consider the following issues:
1) What will you be investing in?
You probably chose Vanguard because you want to reap the benefits of their low-cost funds. That means that you choose "Vanguard Mutual Funds" when it asks you what type of investment you're looking for inside your IRA. But which funds? Because you can't contribute more than $4,000 per tax year and most Vanguard funds require a minimum contribution of at least $3,000, you can't really buy more than one fund. When I balked at this, my commenters and my subsequent research assured me that Vanguard's target fund is well-balanced and low-cost. If you're 18 to 25, you're probably looking to retire in either 2045 or 2050. Pick the fund with the date that best corresponds to your preferred retirement year, and dump your full contribution into it.
2) Who do you want to name as beneficiaries?
The signup process asks you to name beneficiaries, both primary and secondary. You can choose not to do this part, and I'm sure you can go back and change it later, but for now, if you want to name a beneficiary, you'll need to know his or her date of birth. I named my sister. She's also the beneficiary on my life insurance, so if I go missing, you know whom to investigate.

That's pretty much it. After you click "continue" for the last time, the site will give you your account information and prompt you to register for an account to manage your new IRA online. Do that. It involves the new security measures like pictures and questions about the hamster you had when you were eight. You can subsequently automate your contributions: go to the "My Portfolio" tab and select "Account profile," where the "Automatic investment" link will prompt you through a simple automation process.

You're really done. Once I'd made the decisions in advance, it took me 20 minutes to go through the entire account-opening process, register for the site, and add the new account to my net worth calculations in Bank of America's My Portfolio feature. No deterrence here.

So go give it a try!

Update 1/18/07:
I was reminded by a comment on the Consumerist post that linked here that I neglected to discuss the fee structure at Vanguard. That's an important topic, so:

Vanguard charges a fee of $10 for each fund with a balance of less than $5,000. If you're just opening your account, it's likely that you've only got one fund, because of the fund minimums, but if you have $2,000-$5,000 more (that is, above the $3,000 minimum) available to transfer into your Roth, you're in luck: you can avoid this fee. Until tax day, you can contribute either for the 2006 financial year or the 2007 financial year. That means that your initial contribution ($3,000-$4,000) can be for 2006 (the website allows you to differentiate by entering the amounts in different boxes on the contribution screen) and that you can subsequently contribute another $1,000 for 2006 and up to $4,000 for 2007. Max out for 2006 and add another $1,000 for 2007, and you're fee-free.

Welcome Consumerists! Thanks for checking out An English Major's Money. I'm a 2006 college graduate trying to figure my way around my financial life. I believe firmly that instead of following generalized "rules of thumb," the best way to get on top of my money is to figure out how I can tailor my finances to my personal goals. I invite you either to figure it out with me or to follow along whilst pointing and laughing at my ineptitude and occasionally tossing me a crumb of information. Either way, please poke around!

You might want to start here, where I lay out my financial goals for 2007. Another popular post was this one on emergency funds.