I’m in the middle of reorganizing some of my retirement accounts and had this random thought — can you have multiple IRAs at once? Like, I already have a Roth IRA through Vanguard, but I was thinking of opening a traditional IRA somewhere else to roll over an old 401(k). Then I started wondering… is that allowed? Or does the IRS freak out if you have more than one IRA open?
I’ve seen conflicting info online. Some places say you can open as many as you want, as long as you don’t contribute over the annual limit. Others make it sound like it’s risky or could screw up your taxes if you’re not careful with reporting. I’m not trying to max out across multiple accounts — just want to be strategic and keep things a little more organized (or maybe take advantage of different platforms for different purposes).
Also wondering if anyone’s had issues managing multiple IRAs across different custodians. Is it a hassle at tax time? Do you just combine everything when you file, or do you have to track everything separately?
If you’ve done this — had a Roth here, a traditional there, maybe even a SEP or rollover IRA in the mix — how’d it go? Smooth? Complicated? Worth it? I’m just trying not to mess up my retirement game while trying to be smart about it.