In 2010, despite the turbulance, the stock market ended finishing up well over 10% when measured by the S&P 500 index. In 2009 it was up over 20%. However, it still has not recovered to it’s highs in 2008 and 2007. What does the future bring, and when planning for retirement where do things look in 2011? Historically the stock market has produced returns of somewhere above 5% and below 15% per year depending on when you measure and whether or not you adjust that to account for inflation. If you are looking to retire, this might explain why the stock market is a popular place. It’s easy, scalable, and there are plenty of mutual funds encouraging you to trust them with their money so they can invest your money and collect fees while trying to provide you with a return.

Why do we work? We work because we want to live a good life, drive a nice car, have a nice home, provide for our family, and yes we can’t deny it, to enjoy our retirement. One of the best ways to prepare for the last goal would be to save for the future. And the best way to prepare for the future would be to open up an Individual Retirement Account or simply called an IRA. An IRA to put it simply is a retirement plan. But more than just a retirement plan an IRA is a tool by which individuals are given a way to maximize the money that is set aside for retirement purposes. If we just set aside money and put it in a regular savings account we can’t really expect that money to grow over the years. But if we set up an IRA we can do more and actually invest that money so it will grow several folds over the years. And if we choose the right IRA we can even use the money put aside as a tax deduction to our taxes.

One of the concerns in setting up an Individual retirement account would be choosing the right IRA company to invest your money in. There are several companies that offer the IRA service. One thing that we should always take into consideration in choosing the right company would be the company’s reputation. All other considerations can be weighed with its own pros and cons. What we should also consider in opening an IRA would be fees attached, are there minimum contributions, and the available investment options the companies are offering.

The investment options that the IRA companies offer would help much to get the best IRA rates you would want to get. Stocks and mutual funds are the obvious choices but also try to consider investing in real estate like land, houses and the like. Though considered non-traditional the trend now in investing are now geared towards these because as tangible as they are, these also give higher returns than stocks and mutual funds.

Some of the more reputable IRA companies that are also available online are Scottrade, OptionsHouse, and Tradeking. Scottrade is known for its no fees IRAs and no account minimums or custodial fees. OptionsHouse on the other hand boasts of its dirt cheap $10 mutual funds purchase and they likewise don’t charge fees for their IRAs. TradeKing offers low flat trading fees with no account minimums and easy to use investment tools to go with those.

Also, if you are looking for an IRA investment guide for 2011, you may wish to check out this great post on good stocks to invest in 2011.