• Print
  • Default text size A
  • Larger text size A
  • Largest text size A

Traditional IRA

With a Traditional IRA, you make contributions with money you may be able to deduct on your tax return. Any earnings potentially grow tax-deferred until you withdraw them in retirement.

Tax advantages

Contributions

Tax-deductible contributions1
Earnings

Any earnings grow federal income tax-deferred.
Withdrawals

10% early withdrawal penalty may apply for other withdrawals taken prior to age 59½ if no exceptions apply.

Penalty-free withdrawals for first home purchase and certain college expenses

Minimum required distributions (MRDs) starting at age 70½

Account features

Eligibility2

Individuals less than 70½ years of age

Must have employment compensation
Maximum contribution

2014 and 2015: $5,500 ($6,500 if age 50 or older)
Investment options

Access to a wide range of investments offering growth or income including mutual funds, stocks, bonds, ETFs, and FDIC-insured CDs
Support and guidance

One-on-one guidance—in person, online, or over the phone

Research and tools to help you create a long-term plan and choose investments

Fees

Account opening and annual maintenance fees

None*


*There is no cost to open and no annual fee for Fidelity's Traditional, Roth, SEP, and Rollover IRAs. A $50 account close out fee may apply. Fund investments held in your account may be subject to management, low balance and short term trading fees, as described in the offering materials. For all securities, see the Fidelity commission schedule (PDF) for trading commission and transaction fee details.

Trading fees3

$7.95 for online U.S. equity trades

Next steps

Open a Fidelity Traditional IRA.

Fund your account. lock_green

Choose your investments.

IRA Checklist: Three steps to open your IRA  

005
5508tridion
Rated 4.3 out of 5 by 423 reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5 by IRA Review This IRA is easy to navigate, extremely easy to process distributions and the ability to transfer money electronically to an outside account is a BIG advantage. December 18, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Reliability and Service Fidelity has a excellent display of information for a person to look at its IRA for him/her to administer by one's own initiative or with the help/guidance of a Fidelity representative that is very knowledgeable that keeps you updated and well informed. July 22, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Good selection of funds Fidelity is one of the largest retirement planning companies, and with their prominent size comes a wide selection of mutual funds and brokerage services for my IRA. I liked the research tools that compare fund performance and fees, with clear recommendations via fund picks. Contributions are easy to make. I'm happy with the Fidelity IRA offerings. July 1, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Financial Empowerment Fidelity's website has all the research there for you so you can feel confident making an informed decision. I spoke to an investment professional who guided me when I wanted to diversify. When I traded/sold it was easy to connect to my bank account, no cost and efficient. January 29, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Mr Great support staff, and one of the best web sites made this my number one investment choice. Fidelity meets all expectations with answering questions , follow up and support from staff. This is my first try of an on line investment company, and fidelity has been a positive example of doing things right. Many on line services are hard to get any personal service when things go wrong, but Fidelity Investments is fantastic. Would recommend to all my friends and family. January 29, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by My IRA at fidelity I love my Fidelity IRA. I can access it easily, it is secure and I can see how my investments are doing over time and day to day. I have been very happy with the service provided by Fidelity, the cost of the account, the price of trades and the depth of information available to research positions. The research information is probably the strongest asset of the account. I do not need to buy a position in order to research its performance. The trades are done quickly, I can access information any time I like, and I can call an account representative if I have a question. Their service over the years has been outstanding. I have had absolutely no complaints about Fidelity. June 26, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Great online research resources Super representatives and great online research resources. Customer service is always ready to help and very accommodating. All assets have been transferred to Fidelity because they exceed in all areas. Left a broker offering free trades for the convenience, research and customer service I get from of Fidelity. June 26, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Fidelity Traditional IRA I have been a Fidelity customer for about 20 years. I have rolled over all my 401K money from my prior employers into a Fidelity Traditional IRA. You have excellent asset allocation tools, thousands of no load mutual funds and even a very good selection of no transaction fee ETF's to choose from. For someone like me who chooses to manage my own investments, I think Fidelity is hard to beat. February 22, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Great Investment Vehicle Fantastic company and a great way to invest in the market. They have been very helpful in getting me up and running and have provided great insight on how to reach my financial goals. March 2, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Longtime This IRA was opened over 30 years ago and we have happy ever since. Wide range of investment options and good service. February 25, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by 401K rollover and investment counseling I had a 401K account with Fidelity for many years. I retired and discovered that my only distribution option with my 401K was total. I rolled my 401K into the current IRA account with the help of Adam, (my Fidelity premium accounts advisor). I called your 800 support number looking for assistance with my 401K options and was not informed that I was entitled to support from a local Fidelity investment counselor. I discovered the local Fidelity office on your website and called and spoke with Adam. He informed me that that I was entitled to support from a local premium accounts advisor and that he would be my advisor. I would not have kept my investment with Fidelity if it had not have been for Adam and the local office. Adam has done a fabulous assisting me with my 401K rollover, investment planning and fund analysis and selection. He has been everything that I could ask for from an investment counselor. I have worked with 4 different advisors at my other brokerage firm and none of them compare to Adam. February 25, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Good A little overwhelming at first but lots of options. February 23, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by IRA review The only feature missing from your account interface is the ability to view personalized rate of return. I was told by a very helpful customer service rep that my balance is not high enough to "earn" this feature. This is a basic feature seen else where that every investor, no matter how big or small, should have access to. February 23, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by It's just perfect My experience with Fidelity and their custumer service is perfect. Talk to real person every time I called, their screen and trading platform is just perfect. I'm glad my husband introduced me to Fidelity. I was using other company but switched to Fidelity after he showed me how convenient and customer friendly Fidelity platform is. Love it. February 13, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by Trying to get funds out is a pain... Dear folks, My only experience with my IRA has been when I tried (am still trying) to withdraw $5000 for expenses of selling our home. It seems that every term on your website, especially the ones you brag about, is geared to folks who spend a lot of time buying, selling, and analyzing. All the terminology is geared to professionals in the financial business, not to ordinary people who just want to invest some money, earn a reasonable return, and not second guess the market every day. Maybe I'm the exception to your average clientele, but your website makes me feel like I really don't belong here! There is no help screen I could find that simply explains the steps of how to sell shares in a mutual fund and have the check sent to my bank account. Why not have a tab that says "sell shares" rather than "execute a trade", once I found this link last Wednesday and used it, I still don't have my money and it's Monday night....the message is that "transaction is still pending". Maybe you don't have enough clients like me to justify a more user friendly website, but I'm an accounting professor and I'm used to being able to explain financial matters clearly and distinctly. I guess I'd expect to have explanations given to me to be just as clear. Perhaps you need to have the high level financial/it folks who put this together step back a bit and let some communications/training folks, or English majors, have more input into the user interface. At any rate, thank you very much for at least asking for our feedback! February 2, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by Professional and Helpful I have had my IRA account with Fidelity for approx. ten years. I have enjoyed the relationship, everyone is courteous and helpful. I have gained a lot of worth while information as to how to research stocks, etc. January 30, 2015
Rated 1 out of 5 by Wasted time last night I wasted an hour last night trying to transfer money from my bank to Fidelity in order to purchase an IRA. I spent a lot of time explaining what I was trying to do. When we could not go any further, I was put on hold while she went for assistance. Never came back, instead new person came on and want to start all over. I explained what I just went through and he said he would contact the person I was working with. Put on hold again, phone rang, but got another message saying that the person was on another call leave message. By that tiime, my portable phone battery gave out. At one point I was suppose to give a cell phone number. Only option on the screen. I DON'T HAVE A CELL PHONE. All that time wasted. January 29, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by quality The quality of your investment vehicles is outstanding. Your customer service is outstanding. Your employees go the extra mile for me whenever I call. January 12, 2015
Rated 3 out of 5 by Fidelity Traditional IRA review My traditional IRA has been easy to manage through Fidelity. January 12, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by IRA Extremely amazing and thorough .Would recommend to anybody. January 9, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by I'm Impressed I wasn't sure about using Fidelity online for my IRA and retirement planning. I am in the insurance industry so I am knowledgeable, but no stock broker or mutual fund expert. The process was easy to set up and I really like being able to check my investments anytime online. It also allows me to contribute to my retirement easily, instead of call in an order to a broker. January 5, 2015
Rated 3 out of 5 by Clumsy website Even my MD has a better website that allows me to plot test results. If there was one thing I would expect from IRA account it would be show the progress of my IRA by week, month, quarter and years. If it exists it is beyond me to find in your clumsy website. January 5, 2015
Rated 1 out of 5 by Difficult to open account Won't let me do it electronically No instructions on how to do it by mail representative polite but clueless December 28, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Terrific Company for IRA/MM I have no complaints! Really! From what I can tell everything is going to plan. Thank you for a wonder 2014 and look forward to a better 2015. December 9, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by IRA Management Wide range of features for research and management December 9, 2014
Rated 3 out of 5 by regular IRA - not Roth I put money into this IRA a while ago, because I wanted to postpone taxes. It would be helpful if a representative from Fidelity that I meet with would have gone over how this money is invested. December 9, 2014
Rated 4 out of 5 by Convenient I like the convenience and the value that it provides. Very easy to contribute, execute investment decisions and monitor the portfolio. December 9, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Very easy Account was very easy to set up, very quick. Will recommend it to anyone November 15, 2014
Rated 1 out of 5 by Mr Your system of reporting info is very confusing.I would love to talk to someone and explain myself,but I doubt anyone will call. November 11, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Say what? I have been impressed with all of the staff in Bellevue. My first account agent (who was fabulous) left Fidelity...and they helped me find a new account rep tailoring my needs to the person. I am very happy with the service! November 11, 2014
2 3 4 5 ... 15 next>>

Questions?

From our experts

More information

ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses. Unlike mutual funds, ETF shares are bought and sold at market price, which may be higher or lower than their NAV, and are not individually redeemed from the fund.

1. For a Traditional IRA, full deductibility of a contribution for 2014 is available to active participants whose 2014 Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) is $96,000 or less (joint) and $60,000 or less (single); partial deductibility for MAGI up to $116,000 (joint) and $70,000 (single). In addition, full deductibility of a contribution is available for working or nonworking spouses who are not covered by an employer-sponsored plan whose MAGI is less than $181,000 for 2014; partial deductibility for MAGI up to $191,000. For 2015 full deductibility of a contribution is available to active participants whose 2015 Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) is $98,000 or less (joint) and $61,000 or less (single); partial deductibility for MAGI up to $118,000 (joint) and $71,000 (single). In addition, full deductibility of a contribution is available for working or nonworking spouses who are not covered by an employer-sponsored plan whose MAGI is less than $183,000 for 2015; partial deductibility for MAGI up to $193,000.
2. You must be at least 18 to open an IRA at Fidelity.
3. $7.95 commission applies to online U.S. equity trades in a Fidelity account with a minimum opening balance of $2,500 for Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC retail clients. Sell orders are subject to an activity assessment fee (of between $0.01 to $0.03 per $1000 of principal). Other conditions may apply. See Fidelity.com/commissions for details.
The initial customer ratings and reviews for this product (those dated before 3/16/2012) were provided to Fidelity through an email solicitation for feedback on the product. All ratings and reviews are provided to Fidelity on a voluntary basis and are screened in accordance with the guidelines set forth in our Customer Ratings and Reviews Terms of Use. For additional information on which ratings and reviews may be posted, please refer to our Customer Ratings and Reviews Terms of Use. Featured reviews have been selected based on subjective criteria and reviewed by Fidelity Investments. The average rating is determined by calculating the mathematical average of all ratings that are approved for posting per the Customer Ratings and Reviews Terms of use and does not include any ratings that did not meet the guidelines and were therefore not posted. Ratings and reviews are added continuously to the website (after a delay for screening against guidelines) and average ratings are updated dynamically as reviews are added or removed.
The ratings and experiences of customers may not be representative of the experiences of all customers or investors and is not indicative of future success. The accuracy of information included in the customer ratings and reviews cannot be guaranteed by Fidelity Investments. Customers who post ratings may be responsible for disclosing whether they have a financial interest or conflict in submitting a rating and review.
Please contact a Fidelity representative if you have additional questions or concerns about the ratings and reviews posted here.
560589.9.1