<prompt> Human: Hey all, long time lurker here at PF and first time poster.So I recently graduated college with no debt and got a job out of school right away, plus a job that I do on my own time as a hobby as well. Together I am estimating this will bring in around 41-42k. I had talked with my local credit union about opening an IRA with them, and they suggested I first open a money market account to accrue some more savings; and then when I am at a good standing with that I could open up an IRA.I did some research on the money market they offer, and it does have much higher interest than the regular savings account I have now. Now, the minimum I need to open this money market account is 10,000 which I do have saved up. There is a fee I am unaware what it is when the account balance drops below 10,000. Now I understand why it would be beneficial to stick all of my savings into this account because it will gain much more interest and over time it will compound and I essentially will be letting my money earn more money - but if I have my sights on opening a Roth IRA account as well, once I open that up I will want to contribute. This leads back to my true question: if I am penalized for having my money market account drop below 10,000 what can I ever do with that 10k? Yes I can add all of my savings into that account and it will gain a pretty penny but at the end of the day I will have 10k that is essentially stuck, correct?Thanks for any help you can provideAssistant: Dont open up an IRA with your credit union. I highly recommend either going with Vanguard or Schwab, depending on if you wish to use Vanguard or Schwab funds.Opening an IRA online with them is super easy and you can contribute up to 5,500 of earned income per tax year.Human: Why do you suggest skipping over my credit union and opening one online? Just curious. I figured it would be easier to have all of my money under one roof.  <response>: Retirement vehicles should be fully allocated to investment in securities such as stocks and bonds. How you hold them individually or through a fund is insignificant. Online brokerages allow you to buy these products at a much lower cost than a physical bank branch might, and often credit unions dont offer this service at all. 