Little Tortilla Boy posted:

Question: I'm (almost) 21 right now, and I've been socking away money from a great college internship. All the money I've saved is for nearer term goals (house, engagement ring, etc.) in an ING Direct account, but I'm wanting to start a Roth IRA and contribute a bit of my income towards that. Right now I'm looking at about a $150 initial investment and about $90-$100 monthly contributions, so I don't qualify for Vanguard at the moment. I've been looking around at different brokerages that would let me contribute that, but there aren't many. Does anyone have any suggestions for my situation?

I'm not wanting to park the $100/month in my ING direct account, because it'll be forever until I have the $3k to open a Vanguard account. I'm also figuring that taking advantage of the bear market to start investing isn't a bad idea since I'll ride this out for about 35 years to retire at 55. I'm sure I'll get a nice return in the long run. Of course right now, since my portfolio will be very small, I'm going all in an S&P 500 index fund.

Also, if I open my account at another brokerage (say Schwab or something), can I move it over to Vanguard later on, or would I just be better off staying there since Schwab will allow me to invest in Vanguard's funds anyways?

Thanks!