conversation: User (a1m4fun): "I am a young \[21\] man in need of a little guidance. I've done a decent amount of reading, both in this subreddit and just googling things about the subject of Roth IRA's but still have some questions. I've come across a ton of places offering Roth IRA's but how do i choose which one to go through? Is it just about finding one with low expense ratios? Also I don't really have that much money to put into it (like $2100), is it worth it, or should I keep saving? And I also have some stock market experience (mainly options trading; call and put spreads and covered calls), can my stock market knowledge help with investing in my IRA? Do I have to get a specific type of account to be able to choose my investments? I am quite overwhelmed by my lack of knowledge as far as this is concerned and appreciate any help!\n\nEDIT: Having read about 401(k)'s as well, is the only benefit of the Roth IRA that you get to withdraw contributions? What are the tradeoffs involved when choosing between a 401(k) and an IRA?"
  Self: "Every bank offers IRAs but for the low cost, high variety and ease of use, stick to one of the big ones like Fidelity or Vanguard.\n\nWhen you first put the money in, it will be just sit in a money market account until you go in and pick what you want to invest in.\n\n"
  User (a1m4fun): "If i was looking to compare the big 3 that are mentioned (Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab) is there anything in particular that I should be looking for, or is that dependent on my goal for the IRA?"
  Self: "They are all good.  If you knew you were going to do something like invest mainly in a target date fund or something, you could compare each side by side.\n\nI personally went for Fidelity rather than Vanguard because I like having a physical branch I can walk into and talk in person.  \n\nI have actually only needed to do that once, but it was a plus for me when I was choosing."
  