Roth IRA with no investments question (date, tax, employer, stocks)

[aeropg]

If I just put money into my Roth IRA without picking investments will it earn any interest? I don't know which stocks to choose yet. I keep seeing you can take money out of Roth IRA some times I see with penalty some times I see without. Not sure. I want to invest I am willing to take 50-60% risk

[mathjak107]

a roth is made up of various investment choices . no one knows what you picked . it may be a target date fund by default but we can't say .

[aeropg]

I didn't pick anything. I was thinking of target date funds

[mathjak107]

there is no such thing as not picking . your plan always has a default . maybe a money market , maybe a target fund if you picked nothing .

[aeropg]

I just have money in my roth IRA thats all every month I just out money in

[mathjak107]

noooooooooo , that is not correct . you may not know what your are putting money in . there is NOOOOOOOO such thing as any investment called a roth . it is a tax status assigned to an investment , not an investment

your plan has a default investment . it is likely a money market , stable value fund or target fund if you do not pick something . by a recent law employers are supposed to put you in a target date fund if you fail to pick something on your own .

[aeropg]

This was not done through my employer I just started it with Vanguard

[mathjak107]

then it is in a money market . that is the default . it is just a core account that gets just about zero interest .

[aeropg]

Thanks I will look into target date fund

[NewbieHere]

The default date usually is a target fund. At least for my sister and automatically 3% to start. But I think myIRA was not thought to start my it any good.