Hi Francis – The rate of return depends on what you invest in. As to losing money, you can if you invest in risk investments like stocks and mutual funds or ETFs. If you invest in bank CDs, you won’t lose money, but your returns will be lower.

Hi Caroline – It really depends on your age, your long-term goals and your risk tolerance. For most people an investment brokerage account is the best place, since it enables you to invest in different types of investments – stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. Finding the right mix is tricky, so you may want to sit down with a financial advisor who can point you in the right direction. Banks are good if you’re looking for absolute safety, but they’re poor on growth, and that’s what you really need.

Hi Jessica – Roth IRAs are self-directed, so you would chose the where the money is invested. If you want no risk of losing money, you can invest a Roth IRA in either certificates of deposit at your bank or credit union, or you can also look into short-term US Treasury securities, which you can invest in through Treasury Direct, which is a US government web portal. If you’re willing to take some risk for higher returns, you should look into robo advisor platforms, like Betterment. They will handle all of the investment selection and management for you, and all you need to do is open an account and fund it regularly.

@ Joe

That’s the point. You can’t throw out a “reasonable wild guess”. There’s too many factors at play here.

I’m sure most would like to earn an 8-12% rate of return on their Roth IRA, but once again – it all depends on what they are invested into.