How to Find IRA Rates
Because an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is an investment structure, it doesn't have rates per se. The investments within the IRA have rates or returns contingent on the type of investment it is. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows your IRA to include a wide variety of investments--bank savings, brokerage investments, real estate and certain precious metals--making investment choices and research more complicated. Finding IRA rates means first finding the type of investment you are comfortable with and then researching the existing rates and history for that specific investment.
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Instructions
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Choose the level of risk you are comfortable with. Some people want their principal guaranteed and will accept lower rates in exchange for the guarantee. Others will tolerate moderate to extreme principal fluctuations in hopes of greater returns over a longer period of time (more than five years).
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Find the right resources to investigate your particular risk category. Compare time certificate rates at local banks or ask your brokerage firm about "brokered CDs," which are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. but may have higher rates. Go to financial research sites such as Yahoo Finance or MSN Money to locate historical data on stocks, bonds and mutual funds to give you an idea about how a brokerage investment fluctuates and obtain a hypothetical return over a five- to ten-year period based on historical data.
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Listen to the expert analysis of economic conditions and the projected effects on interest rates and stock market investments. If the projections are for tumultuous stock conditions, explore more conservative investments. If you are investing in conservative interest-bearing investments and rates are projected to decline, look at longer-term time certificates or bonds to lock in higher rates.
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Tips & Warnings
Investments in Roth IRAs versus traditional IRAs have the same returns. The difference is the tax treatment of money going into the IRA and being distributed. Traditional IRAs deduct contributions and defer taxes. Roth IRAs have no deductions with tax-free growth.
