This week I opened a new Roth IRA account under my wife's name in BrownCo, a discount brokerage affiliated to JP Morgan. We are sending $5,000 as Roth IRA contribution ($3,000 for tax year 2003 and $2,000 for tax year 2004). The cash is mainly from my liquidation of RJR shares.
My choice of BrownCo is mainly based on two considerations:
First, with $5/trade fee schedule, BrownCo is a cost-effective place to park retirement funds. I can immediately save 50% of the commission compared to AmeriTrade or Fidelity.
Second, BrownCo will open the door for me to JP Morgan equity analysis. I already have a number of research reports, like S&P Report, Citigroup Research, Lehman Brother Research and Argue through my other brokerage accounts and a lot more from Intelliscope, but it does not hurt to have analysis from one more big players like JP Morgan.
I didn't contribute the full $6,000 because there are not many opportunities I can see in the market. I still have a year from now to contribute to the full amount for tax year 2004.