Best Roth IRA Accounts for Teenagers in 2026: Where Teens Should Invest

Most of what’s written about Roth IRAs for kids is aimed at parents of young children being paid through a family business. Teenagers are a different — and honestly easier — case. A 15-, 16-, or 17-year-old with a W-2 from a lifeguarding job, a grocery store, or a summer camp has unambiguous earned income, real paychecks, and only a few years before the account becomes fully theirs. The setup questions change accordingly.

Here’s where I point families with working teens in 2026, and why the apps teenagers actually like don’t make the list — yet.

The Rules, Teen Edition

A teenager under the age of majority can’t open an IRA alone — a parent or other adult opens a custodial Roth IRA and manages it until the teen reaches adulthood (18 in most states). The eligibility rules are the same as for any Roth IRA:

• Earned income is required. For most teens this is trivially satisfied: W-2 wages from a part-time or summer job count in full, including tips. Self-employment income — babysitting, lawn care, tutoring, selling content or crafts — also counts (net of expenses).
• The 2026 contribution limit is $7,500 — or the teen’s total earned income for the year, whichever is less. A teen who earned $4,200 lifeguarding can have up to $4,200 contributed.
• The money contributed doesn’t have to be their paychecks. Parents or grandparents can fund the contribution as a gift, as long as the teen earned at least that much. Many families let the teen spend their actual wages and fund the Roth on their behalf — or match contributions dollar-for-dollar.
• Taxes are usually a non-issue. The 2026 standard deduction for a single filer is $16,100; a teen earning less than that from wages owes no federal income tax. Filing a return anyway creates a tidy paper trail for the contribution.

Fidelity: Best Roth IRA for Teenagers Overall

Fidelity’s custodial Roth IRA (the “Roth IRA for Kids”) wins for teens for the same reasons it wins for younger children — $0 to open, $0 maintenance, fractional shares, and the ZERO index funds (FZROX charges literally nothing annually) — plus one teen-specific advantage nobody else matches:

The Fidelity Youth Account. This is a separate, taxable brokerage account that teens 13–17 own and operate themselves, with their own app login and debit card. It is not a Roth IRA and doesn’t replace one. But the pairing works beautifully in practice: the parent manages the custodial Roth (the serious, don’t-touch-it money) while the teen learns hands-on with small amounts in their own Youth Account. When they turn 18, both accounts and the habits transfer.

Full details in our Fidelity custodial Roth IRA review.

Schwab: Best Learning Platform for Teen Investors

Schwab’s custodial Roth IRA is also $0-minimum and $0-fee, with S&P 500 exposure at a 0.02% expense ratio via SWPPX and fractional-share investing through Stock Slices. Where Schwab stands out for teenagers specifically is education: its learning hub is genuinely good, and a motivated teen who gets hooked has thinkorswim waiting when basic charts stop being interesting. Our Schwab custodial Roth IRA review has the full breakdown.

Vanguard: Best for Index-Fund Families

Vanguard’s custodial Roth IRA offers VTI at a 0.03% expense ratio and the strongest buy-and-hold culture in the business. The platform is more utilitarian than Fidelity’s or Schwab’s — which matters more with a teen you’re trying to engage than it does for a parent quietly managing a 7-year-old’s account. If your household already runs on Vanguard, consolidation wins; see the complete Vanguard custodial Roth IRA guide.

What About Robinhood, Ally, and the Apps Teens Actually Use?

This comes up in almost every conversation with parents of teenagers, so let’s be direct:

• Robinhood does not offer a custodial Roth IRA. Robinhood added UTMA custodial brokerage accounts, but those are taxable accounts — not retirement accounts. A teen can’t get a Roth IRA at Robinhood until they turn 18, at which point they can open Robinhood’s adult IRA (which offers a contribution match). Until then, it’s not an option for a minor’s Roth.
• Ally Invest does not offer custodial Roth IRAs either — Ally supports UTMA/UGMA custodial brokerage accounts only.
• Cash App, Venmo, and similar offer no retirement accounts for minors at all.

If your teen is drawn to those apps, the Fidelity Youth Account scratches the same itch inside a full-service brokerage — while the custodial Roth compounds quietly next to it.

Is There a Roth 401(k) for Kids or Teens?

Parents occasionally ask about opening a “Roth 401(k) for my child” at Fidelity, Vanguard, or Schwab. There is no such product to open: a 401(k) — Roth or traditional — exists only through an employer’s plan. You cannot set one up for your child, and most teen employers either don’t offer a plan or impose age and service requirements teens don’t meet. (A teen whose employer does offer a Roth 401(k) with no age restriction can certainly use it — that’s just uncommon.)

The custodial Roth IRA is the parent-drivable equivalent, and for a teen in a near-zero tax bracket, Roth treatment is close to ideal anyway: the income was barely taxed going in, and it’s never taxed again.

Side-by-Side for Teens

Why a Teen’s Roth IRA Is Worth More Than It Looks

A single $4,000 contribution at age 16 compounds for roughly 50 years before traditional retirement age. At 7% annualized, that one summer’s contribution grows to about $118,000 — tax-free. Three working summers roughly triples that. No later-career contribution gets five decades of compounding; this is the cheapest retirement money your child will ever save.

Two housekeeping notes as they approach adulthood: the account transfers to their sole control at the age of majority — here’s exactly what happens to a custodial Roth IRA when your child turns 18 — and if the “earned income” in question is chore money rather than a real job, read the IRS rules on paying kids for chores first, because not all of it qualifies.

For a teen who shows real interest, The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens is a readable starting point that treats them like the account owner they’re about to become.