Who offers the best Traditional IRA?

I'm rolling over my 401k account to a traditional IRA account (I'm leaving my employer). I'm not sure what service offers the best traditional IRA. I've heard of Fidelity, American Funds and others, but wanted to see if anyone had suggestions based on their own experiences with traditional IRAs (preferably from those who have seen good returns!). Thanks for any insight.

You've listed Fidelity and American Funds, so let's start with the difference between the companies.

American Funds company which sells their own mutual funds. The funds are loaded (which means that they have an expense) that is charged to you just for purchasing their funds. You can't buy American Funds directly, you have to go through a registered representative. The load is used to pay the advisers.

Fidelity is a company which sells no-load mutual funds. They aren't a mutual fund company, think of them as a grocery store which sells many funds from many companies. You purchase them chose the funds and purchase them directly from Fidelity.

Personally, we have money at both. American Funds is a fabulous company been around for almost 80 years. We our kids 529 plans there because we get a State tax deduction (VA).

We like Fidelity because that is where our 401K was held originally. We just rolled the cash into their retail side and purchased mutual funds that way. They were very helpful and the process was seamless.

Who ever you go with, decide if you want to go with no-load or load funds. Most go with a Fidelity, Schwa, E-trade, Scott etc. Why? Because your money is working for you immediately and you aren't paying someone else to do work for you. It's not that difficult if you keep in mind your risk tolerance and your investment horizon (how long do you have to invest).

Good luck!

I've used ScotTrade for a while now. Unlike other sites they don't require a huge minimum deposit or charge a bunch of fees. Their site isn't the easiest to use, but I don't do much trading. I just have my money sitting in good mutual funds and let it grow.