by Kimberly J Johnson

Created on: September 02, 2009

We all know how important it is to save for retirement. And many people are looking for ways to save even more money beyond their traditional employer sponsored 401ks. One great option is to invest in an IRA or ROTH IRA. With an IRA you can receive a tax deduction in the year that you make contributions. With a ROTH IRA, although you do not receive the tax benefits up front, you do not have to pay any additional taxes when you withdraw it at retirement age.

Unfortunately, many of the companies that offer these services require a large initial deposit just to open an account, which prohibits many from even opening one to begin with. But there is a solution. Here are four companies that allow you to open retirement accounts with as little as a $50.00 deposit.

T Rowe Price (www.troweprice.com)

With as little as $50.00, you can open an account as long as you enroll in the Automatic Asset Builder program. This program enrolls you in automatic deposit of $50 each month into your account.

American Century (www.americancentury.com)
They offer Livestrong and OneChoice portfolios which require only a $500 initial investment when you sign up for automatic investment. They also require that you deposit at least $100 each month.

Vanguard (www.vanguard.com)

Most Vanguard funds require a high initial deposit, but their Star Fund only requires a $1000 initial investment.

USAA (www.usaa.com)
This company is only available to military and their family members.
They have a great plan where there are no initial investment if you enroll in automatic deposit. Monthly investment minimum is $50.

Note that most companies will charge a yearly account maintenance fee for accounts with low balances. This fee is automatically deducted from you account at the end of the year. Although it is usually not a geed idea to pay additional fees, in this case, it is a good idea to invest even if you are charged a maintenance fee. The reasoning is that it is better to invest and be charged a small fee than not invest at all. You should try to get your balance up to the minimums as soon as possible though to avoid the fees. If you are regularly contributing even small amount to your account, your balance should be high enough within one to two years to avoid the additional fees entirely.

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