What are the best investments for retirement accounts such as IRA's?

I know IRA is a tax shelter account, so what are good investments?

99% of the time, your best bet is to spread out your money in simple no-load index funds. Managed funds fail to beat their index 80% of the time, and they often charge you 5.75% upfront PLUS higher annual maintenance costs. So they're often useless and cost you money.

You should really go out and hire a fee-based financial planner. This is important, as most financial planners are paid based on commissions, so their advice is often geared towards products that pay themselves better, not what's best for you. It's better to pay someone a flat rate for time spent, and get real advice. Spending a few hundred dollars now could literally be worth hundreds of thousands over 40 years. Seriously. Make the investment today.

Equities are what makes the most money. A diversified portfolio of closed end funds(ADX PEO), Etfs (EWA EFA) & Mutual funds (Index funds) will do the job. Never in a bank. No cds, bonds, guaranteed income until 50 or so. Do not use safe in the wrong way. It is safe to say you will never retire successfully with your money in the bank while inflation & eventual taxes make it worthless. if you want to ever stop working your money has to start working - today.

All lot of your decisions should be based on how old you are. If you are a younger person, you might want to invest in something not as risky so you can build your wealth as time goes on. If your an older person you might think about some higher risk investments to get a higher return quickly. Either way, investing is some low fee mutual funds or stocks listed in the big indexes are a pretty good idea because the market is doing well right now. You may want to talk to an investment advisor. Usually the company that you choose to hold your IRA gives free investment advice

The best investments for your retirement are low cost stock index funds (international and U.S.).

The tax shelter aspect of an IRA is important, but your investment decisions should not necessarily be based on tax planning--just on your financial plan. However, investments that give off a lot of income like REITs and dividend stocks are much better to hold in an IRA because the frequent interest/dividends are not taxed. Also, if you like to trade stocks/ETFs, it's better to do so in an IRA because you avoid taxes on short and long term capital gains. You should never hold an annuity or tax advantaged/tax free mutual funds in an IRA because you already are getting the tax advantages that those investments offer.

An IRA is not "tax sheltered", it is simply "tax deferred".

The type of investment that is appropriate within an IRA depends on your circumstance; the younger you are, the more aggressive it should be.

have you considered annuity's aig account which is tax deferred.