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If you're wondering if you can – or should – own more than one Roth IRA, you’re not alone. We’ll explain some of the benefits of having multiple accounts, along with a few limitations.

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Can You Have Multiple Roth IRAs?

With tax advantages and other features that make it unique, it’s no wonder the Roth IRA has long been a popular choice for people trying to maximize their savings for retirement. If you’re wondering if you can own more than one Roth IRA – and if it would make sense to – you’re not alone. Here’s what you should know.

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Understanding Roth IRAs

What is a Roth IRA?

Let’s start with a quick look at some Roth IRA basics. A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account that – unlike a traditional IRA – you fund with after-tax dollars. So you can’t deduct contributions, but your contributions and earnings grow tax free. You can withdraw your contributions – but not your earnings– at any time, tax- and penalty-free. To withdraw earnings tax- and penalty-free, you need to be at least 59 ½ years old and have held your account for at least five years.

And there’s another big advantage to a Roth IRA: Because there are no required minimum distributions (RMDs) during your lifetime, you can leave money there for as long as you live and give it a chance to keep growing.

Contribution Limits

The IRS sets limits on how much you can contribute to an IRA each year, and they’re the same for both Roth and traditional accounts. For 2025, the limit remains $7,000. However, if you’re age 50 or older at any point during the calendar year, you’re eligible to make a catch-up contribution on top of that. Thanks to the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, the catch-up contribution limit is now indexed for inflation but remains $1,000 for 2025.

Your ability to make a deductible Ìýcontribution to a Roth IRA also depends on your income level and tax filing status. For tax year 2025, the income limit to make a full Roth IRA contribution is $150,000 if you’re a single filer, and $236,000 if you’re filing jointly. Beyond those limits, you can make a partial contribution at income levels up to $165,000 (single filer) and $246,000 (filing jointly).

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Can You Have Multiple Roth IRAs?

Rules and Regulations

Yes, you can have multiple Roth IRAs. But the annual contribution limit –$7,000 in 2025 or $8,000 if making catch-up contributions –applies across all your IRAs, not per account. You can divide it up any way you’d like, as long as you stay within the limit.

Benefits of Multiple Roth IRAs

Now that you know you can hold multiple Roth IRAs, the question is: Should you? Here are a few potential benefits to consider, and examples of different investment strategies you might pursue with multiple Roth IRAs.

Diversification Across Different Asset Classes

Diversifying investments across different types of assets – such as stocks, bonds and real estate – helps spread risk and smooth out volatility. By separating assets into different accounts, you can more easily track your risk levels and the performance of each asset type.

Example strategy:

• Roth IRA #1 is dedicated to stocks and equity-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
• Roth IRA #2 holds more conservative investments like bonds or bond ETFs.

Tax Strategy Optimization

Multiple Roth IRAs can help you maximize the benefits of tax-free growth and withdrawals. By allocating different tax-advantaged strategies to different IRAs, you could optimize for growth and for long-term income potential in a tax-efficient way.

Example strategy:

• Roth IRA #1 is used for high-growth investments, like tech stocks, knowing that the tax-free growth will be valuable over time.
• Roth IRA #2 focuses on income-producing investments, like dividend-paying stocks or real estate investment trusts (REITs). Since you don’t pay taxes on the dividends in a Roth IRA, you can help maximize tax-free income for retirement.

Withdrawal Flexibility

Remember that Roth IRAs allow you to withdraw contributions – but not earnings – at any time, without taxes or penalties. Having multiple Roth IRAs can ensure you have the flexibility to access funds before retirement – without risking your long-term growth strategy.

Example strategy:

• Roth IRA #1 is reserved for long-term, growth-oriented investments that you don’t plan to touch before retirement.
• Roth IRA #2 contains more liquid assets like cash equivalents, bonds, or dividend-paying stocks. This account would serve as a backup source of funds for near-term financial goals – like a home purchase, education or other major expense – that you could tap into with much less worry about penalties or taxes.

Estate Planning and Beneficiary Designation

Using multiple Roth IRAs can help simplify estate planning. You can have separate accounts for different beneficiaries, potentially leaving them different amounts or types of assets, and helping ensure a more straightforward transfer of assets.

Example strategy:

• Roth IRA #1 is set up with investments specifically for a child or grandchild, allowing them to benefit from tax-free growth and withdrawals in the future.
• Roth IRA #2 could be earmarked for a spouse or other beneficiaries, perhaps with a mix of more conservative investments, such as income-producing assets.

Simplifying Tax Filing and Recordkeeping

With multiple IRAs, you can keep track of earnings, dividends and contributions separately for each account. It can also make it easier if you want to rebalance your portfolio without mixing different strategies in a single Roth IRA.

Example strategy:

• Roth IRA #1 holds U.S.-based index-funds
• Roth IRA #2 holds international stocks
• Roth IRA #3 holds alternative investments like real estate or cryptocurrencies

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Managing Multiple Roth IRAs

Consolidation vs. Multiple Accounts

If you already have multiple Roth IRAs, you have a decision to make: Consolidate into a single account or maintain more than one account. Each approach has pros and cons.

Consolidating Roth IRAs: With just one account, managing your investments is simpler. You can easily track performance with less paperwork. Your investment strategy is more streamlined, and it can be cost efficient too, since the number of potential fees is reduced. On the other hand, you may have less investment flexibility and potential for higher volatility if you have a higher-risk strategy within your one account.

Maintaining multiple Roth IRAs: By owning more than one account, you can create tailored investment strategies, and potentially better manage risk and diversification across your portfolio. But you’ll be dealing with increased complexity and paperwork, possibly higher fees, and the risk of exceeding contribution limits, since you’re investing across several accounts.

Bottom line, it can make sense to consolidate if:

• You prefer simplicity with just one account to track and easier management of your portfolio
• Your investment strategy is not very complex, and you don’t need separate assets for different purposes
• You’re comfortable balancing risk in one place and can manage your asset allocation within a single Roth IRA

Tracking Contributions and Withdrawals

If you choose the multiple Roth IRA route, tracking what you put in and take out is essential. One of the biggest reasons? Avoiding costly penalties. If you contribute over the IRS annual limit – remember, that limit applies across all your Roth IRAs – you could face a 6% penalty on the excess amount. And if you take withdrawals without meeting the five-year holding period and age 59 ½ requirement, you’re subject to penalties too.

Accurate tracking also helps you manage your investment strategy and risk across accounts, helps ensure you don’t over-concentrate in one asset class, and can simplify tax reporting.

Here are a few ways to make staying on top of multiple Roth IRAs easier:

• Use financial software or a simple spreadsheet to track contributions, withdrawals and account balances
• Review your Form 5498 from each financial institution and compare with your own records
• Set up alerts for transactions, balances or contribution limits
• Talk to a financial professional, especially if your accounts are complex

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Consult a Financial Advisor About Multiple Roth IRAs

Having multiple Roth IRAs can be a useful and flexible strategy for retirement, tax and estate planning. But it’s not without complexity. To find out if it makes sense for you and your goals – and how it fits into your overall plan – it can help to talk it over with a financial advisor, especially one with tax planning expertise.Ìý