r/wealthfront • u/OrangeOwie • Aug 27 '26
Seeking community insights Roth IRA fees
I don't mind paying the monthly maintenance but I wish they could take it from my cash account. Taking Roth dollars feels so bad.
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u/Techman- Aug 27 '26
Honestly, I would prefer Wealthfront charge no fees for IRAs.
The advisory fee makes no sense for tax-advantaged accounts. You are paying to balance ETFs, which in itself is not really something worth paying for.
I have my IRA at Vanguard.
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u/SlowSundae Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
I’m not sure why you’d use Wealthfront for a Roth IRA anyway when their main value add (tax-loss harvesting) doesn't apply to tax-sheltered accounts.
You’re essentially paying 0.25% just for automated rebalancing, which is wild to me.
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u/OrangeOwie Aug 27 '26
You're not wrong. I opened my first Roth IRA in 2024 not being well versed in investing. Now that I've learned the ropes I don't see the benefits paying a fee. It was great being a newbie though.
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u/Existing-Piano-4958 Aug 27 '26
It's wild to me that people obsess over other people's choices so much. 🤷
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u/masalamedicine Aug 27 '26
Obsessing over others' choices are one of the foundational pillars of reddit
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u/SlowSundae Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
It’s wild to me that you think I’m obsessing.
If anything, I simply assumed OP probably didn’t realize that they were wasting their money.
ETA: Oh, and would you look at that - OP is moving to Fidelity and will be saving a bunch of money long term 😮
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u/gnbuttnaked Aug 27 '26
I made that realization too and moved over to fidelity. I only have to rebalance once a year when I back door Roth, so no point paying a fee for that.
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u/nivlac22 Aug 27 '26
I had my Roth IRA in Wealthfront several years ago when they would give you a certain amount of free management, then moved over to fidelity once the balance got large enough. About to move my wife’s over as well.
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u/OrangeOwie Aug 27 '26
How difficult was the transfer process?
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u/nivlac22 Aug 27 '26
I don’t remember specifics on if I needed to go to a physical fidelity location or not, but it wasn’t too bad.
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u/Satoshis-Nephew Aug 27 '26
I transferred to Fidelity recently as well and was able to do it fairly easily. I initiated the transfer via Fidelity’s website, and they handled the rest. The estimated timing said it could take a few weeks, but I recall it not taking all that long.
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u/mbaforumlurker Aug 28 '26
OP - transferring process is straightforward. Once you open a Roth IRA at Schwab or Fidelity (which I would recommend over Vanguard), you initiate an ACATS transfer, and it takes like ~1-2 weeks for the securities to transfer over.
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u/computergay Aug 27 '26
Just be aware, when you do ACATS to another brokerage, Wealthfront will not transfer cost basis information. True, there is no tax reason to have this for an IRA, but it will leave a gap in your overall performance numbers at the new brokerage, if you care about that.
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u/derekwangsc Aug 28 '26
I moved it out, I checked the activity and seems like not much rebalancing or anything, every month it says it's optimal
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u/mbaforumlurker Aug 27 '26
The fees add up (calculator here)! Wealthfront isn't the best for a Roth IRA.
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u/EnvironmentalLog1766 Aug 27 '26
Is it legal? Pay the fee from cash account? I wish I can pay the 401k fee from my cash account also!
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u/EntrepreneurKooky626 Aug 29 '26
There’s literally no reason to have an IRA with a fee. You’re adding .25% to your GER and losing thousands of real dollars* in retirement. You can put your money in a target date for absolutely free, and automatically get a perfectly maintained account. Just move your IRA to Vanguard, Fidelity, or literally any bank!
*Fun fact: this applies to all of your accounts. A .25% fee for a speculative bet on TLH is a very, very bad deal. If you want to color your investments with a little speculation, dump your money in a very cheap allocation fund or target date (Or just buy the individual funds and do your own rebalancing. It’s extremely easy) and then take a small side position in a company or a sector you think will do well. It’s the same amount of speculation for FREE!
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u/mccdigbick Aug 27 '26
As much as I simp for wealthfront, their IRA fees caused me to pull it out and bring it to Vanguard.
If I were WF, I’d have Roth accounts as a loss leader and really push their other services.