President Obama recently announced his new retirement account, the MyRA, which he hopes will help raise the number of people who save for retirement. But even though the MyRA should help give greater access to retirement-savings options for many people of modest means, it has some shortfalls that make it a less-than-perfect retirement saving option.
In the following video, Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool's director of investment planning, explains some of the problems with the MyRA. Even though the MyRA encourages tiny contributions, the only investment choice participants have is in bond-like investments. That doesn't give investors the growth prospects they could get from Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI 0.93%), SPDR S&P 500 (SPY 0.95%), or other stock investments. Dan notes that with many brokers offering access to commission-free index ETFs and mutual funds for those who are able to contribute as little as $50 to $100 per month, many people don't need the additional flexibility of $5 minimum contributions that MyRAs offer and should instead take advantage of the growth opportunity that stocks provide.
