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When do I start seeing interest in my Roth IRA account?

Posted on 5/16/18 at 8:21 am
Posted by zacata88
Member since Mar 2014
1682 posts
Posted on 5/16/18 at 8:21 am
I know this is a stupid/newbie 101 question, but I opened a Roth IRA account a few months ago and so far my balance is the exact same amount that I’ve funded from my bank account. When does interest start accruing and how often does it happen? Monthly? Annually? Thanks.
Posted by Teddy Ruxpin
Member since Oct 2006
39581 posts
Posted on 5/16/18 at 8:36 am to
What did it go in?

Vanguard Money market is monthly.
Funds quarterly
This post was edited on 5/16/18 at 8:39 am
Posted by StringedInstruments
Member since Oct 2013
18394 posts
Posted on 5/16/18 at 8:37 am to
What did you invest in with your Roth IRA?
Posted by zacata88
Member since Mar 2014
1682 posts
Posted on 5/16/18 at 8:44 am to
Opened with etrade. Have about half in stocks and half in cash balance.
Posted by castorinho
13623 posts
Member since Nov 2010
82026 posts
Posted on 5/16/18 at 9:28 am to
quote:

and half in cash balance.

well.....
quote:

Have about half in stocks
which stocks?
Posted by Ace Midnight
Between sanity and madness
Member since Dec 2006
89527 posts
Posted on 5/16/18 at 10:13 am to
You're probably confusing a handful of issues - when you invest in "equities" - they're usually not associated with "interest" in the traditional sense. No one is committing to paying you "interest" when you buy even bundled shares of stock in companies.

What happens is - those stocks increase in value over time - now, they may dip. You can lose your entire investment, but ordinarily that will not happen in mid-cap and large-cap companies or even small cap companies that you invest in via a mutual fund.

Now, you can participate in "dividends" which looks a lot like interest on paper, but not all companies pay dividends and those that do don't always pay every quarter.

If you invest in bonds or bond funds, those will accrue interest - that is the main feature of those investment vehicles - a steady, although typically lower, rate of interest payments as you are literally loaning the company or municipality money in return for those interest payments. But you get no equity growth and do not participate in overall economic growth with those vehicles - typically when you're near retirement/need the income/investing in a bear market is when you choose to go heavily into bonds.

Another thing you're going to want to do if you're investing in equities (stocks) is to budget a certain amount and buy at regular intervals - what seems to have happened is that you bought a bunch of stocks/stock funds a few months ago and haven't added to it - you want to set a certain amount every pay day and contribute that. Your contributions over time are what are going to add up - the "growth" or "interest" are largely secondary concerns, particularly this early.

Hope I didn't muddy the waters too much.
This post was edited on 5/16/18 at 10:15 am
Posted by Ace Midnight
Between sanity and madness
Member since Dec 2006
89527 posts
Posted on 5/16/18 at 10:16 am to
quote:

half in cash balance.


They're going to pay a few tenths of a point on that, at most. Maybe not even that.

Do you have a retirement strategy? If you're this much of a newbie (no offense), you might benefit from a professional financial adviser - at least at this stage. Once your goals, objectives, risk tolerance and retirement window (or windows) are identified, a comprehensive strategy will be more effective than tracking interest payments a few months into this.
Posted by Croacka
Denham Springs
Member since Dec 2008
61441 posts
Posted on 5/16/18 at 10:28 am to
if you are far from retirement, don't leave your money in cash

you need to invest all of it in something



the cash will likely just lose value over time
Posted by seawolf06
NH
Member since Oct 2007
8159 posts
Posted on 5/17/18 at 8:20 am to
quote:

a few months ago


Not long enough

Put the remaining cash into these evenly divided:
FNCMX
FSTMX
FSSPX

or the Vanguard equivalents.
Posted by prokowave
Member since Sep 2017
28 posts
Posted on 5/19/18 at 3:07 pm to
Sounds like you need to do a lot of research. A Roth IRA account with most brokers is basically like a savings account - if you leave cash in it you will make next to nothing, maybe a few pennies a year. Saying you have stocks could mean anything - some pay dividends, some are held only for their value and others could lose value, in which case your account loses money. I would avoid buying individual stocks and instead look at a very broad market fund until you can learn more.
Posted by lsu xman
Member since Oct 2006
15551 posts
Posted on 5/19/18 at 10:45 pm to
I had put in $5500 into Vanguard a few days before tax day. Saw $3 of interest.
Posted by Pectus
Internet
Member since Apr 2010
67302 posts
Posted on 5/20/18 at 4:40 pm to
Just tell them class A, B or C
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