Choosing the Best Roth IRA Investments

Because a Roth IRA is significantly different from a traditional IRA, the best Roth IRA investments are also very different. Traditional IRAs offer limited options for investing, for saving, and for how you use the money in your IRA.

A Roth IRA, however, is designed for people who are ready and willing to take a gamble. Those who choose a Roth IRA are choosing to have taxes taken out on the front end, not the back end, betting in essence that their tax bracket will get higher after retirement rather than lower. It only makes sense that a person using a Roth IRA would also be a person preferring to take aggressive risks with at least part of their IRA investment.

When you're young and anticipating at least ten years growth before you start cashing in your IRA. aggressive investing is best. With the Roth IRA, limits on investing are minimal and mostly concern keeping the direct and most indirect benefits away from you. For this reason, you can't buy a home to rent out with your IRA - and then rent it to yourself. Otherwise, the sky is the limit.

If you don't really understand investing but you want to move your IRA cash into something that will build equity faster than your bank probably will, the best Roth IRA investment for you is probably a low-cost diversified mutual fund. What you're actually buying is a share in a pre-diversified stock pool, which means the overall risk is lowered while keeping the yield and growth of the fund high.

Another of the best Roth IRA investments you can make is real estate. Few realize that the rules for IRAs are set up so that you can purchase real estate to include in your IRA portfolio. A common choice: purchasing your retirement home now with IRA cash, then renting it out until you're ready to retire and move in. This transaction will have to be set up through a custodial account. Work with an IRA firm or counselor who has done this before because an error in transacting the deal can result in huge penalties from the IRS.

If you like to take chances and to take a direct interest in the work your money is doing, it's possible that the best Roth IRA investment for you is to create a venture capital investment fund within the account. You can use this to make small or large investments in start-up and growing companies, and though the risk of losing your money is much higher than with other investments, you'll find that there is a great deal of satisfaction in watching what your money is doing.

If you're closer to retirement, however, your best Roth IRA investment may be to just let the bank handle it. As your IRA reaches its maturity, your money should be in accessible low-risk investments like bonds. Your bank will know the right things to use it for.

When investing with a Roth IRA, limits are only in your mind. The best Roth IRA investments are the ones that are appropriate to your fund's age, to your interests, and to the amount of cash you have right now to sink into it. Whatever your dreams, your well-invested IRA can help you get there.