How to Open a Custodial Roth IRA for Your Kid (Step by Step)

Opening a custodial Roth IRA takes about 15 minutes once the pieces are in place. This is the step-by-step walkthrough: what to confirm first, what to have ready, where to open it (and the places that don’t offer them), and how to fund it correctly. For the deeper background — what counts as earned income, documentation, strategy by age — the full guide is Custodial Roth IRA for Kids; the rules and limits live in Custodial Roth IRA Rules and Contribution Limits.

Step 1 — Confirm your child has earned income this year

This is the gate. To contribute anything, your child needs earned income for the year: W-2 wages, 1099 freelance income, documented cash work (babysitting, lawn-mowing), or paid work in a family business. Allowance, birthday money, and investment returns don’t count. No earned income = nothing to contribute yet — open the account when the first real earnings exist. If your teen just got their first paycheck, start with Your Teen’s First Job.

Step 2 — Pick a provider that actually offers custodial Roth IRAs

Every major brokerage does — Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and Vanguard all offer custodial Roth IRAs with no minimums and no maintenance fees, and E*TRADE, Merrill Edge, and Interactive Brokers do too. Two places that generally don’t: robo-advisors (Betterment, Wealthfront) and app-first teen products like Greenlight or Acorns Early — those are typically UTMA/UGMA accounts, a different account type with different tax treatment. If you already have a brokerage for your own accounts, opening the kid’s there keeps statements in one place.

Step 3 — Gather what you’ll need

• Your child’s Social Security number and birth date
• Your own ID, SSN, and contact details — you’re opening the account as custodian, in the child’s name
• A record of the child’s earned income for the year (a simple log of dates, work, and amounts is enough)
• A bank account to fund from

Step 4 — Open the account

On the provider’s site, look specifically for “custodial Roth IRA” or “Roth IRA for minors” — not the regular Roth IRA application, and not the custodial (UTMA) brokerage application. You enter yourself as custodian and your child as the account owner. The application is usually 10–15 minutes, and there’s typically no minimum to open.

Step 5 — Fund it (this is where the rules bite)

Contribute up to whichever is less: the child’s total earned income for the year, or the annual Roth IRA limit ($7,500 in 2026). The dollars don’t have to be the child’s actual paycheck — you or a grandparent can fund it while the kid keeps their earnings, as long as the total contributed doesn’t exceed what they earned. Contributions for a tax year can be made until the following year’s tax-filing deadline (typically mid-April), so a summer job can still be matched the next spring.

Step 6 — Invest the money and keep the records

A funded account holding cash grows like cash — pick the investments, because the account is just the wrapper. (What to invest in is your call; the shape most parents settle on is covered in the full guide.) Then file the earned-income log with your tax records. If your child earned over $400 of self-employment income, or more than the dependent standard deduction in wages, they may need to file a return — a tax pro for the first year is worth it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I open a custodial Roth IRA for my child?

Confirm the child has earned income for the year, then open a custodial Roth IRA (sometimes called a Roth IRA for minors) at a major brokerage — Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard all offer them free with no minimums. You open it as custodian using the child's Social Security number, fund it up to the lesser of their earnings or the annual limit, and choose the investments.

Can I open a custodial Roth IRA online?

Yes. Most major brokerages let you open one entirely online in about 10–15 minutes. A few providers still require a paper form for minor accounts, but online opening is now the norm.

At what age can I open a custodial Roth IRA for my kid?

Any age — there's no minimum. The practical constraint is earned income: a baby with legitimate income (like modeling) can have one, but a child with no earned income has nothing to contribute yet, regardless of age.

What's the deadline to contribute for a given year?

The following year's tax-filing deadline, typically mid-April. So contributions counting toward this tax year can still be made next spring — useful when you're matching a summer job's earnings after the fact.

Does the contribution have to come from my kid's own money?

No. A parent or grandparent can supply the dollars while the child keeps their paycheck. The IRS only requires that the child's earned income for the year is at least as large as the total contributed.

Can I open a custodial Roth IRA at a robo-advisor or a teen investing app?

Generally no. Robo-advisors typically don't support custodial accounts, and app-first teen products are usually UTMA/UGMA accounts rather than Roth IRAs — a different account type with different tax treatment. Use a full-service brokerage.

The bottom line

Earned income, the right account type, the right funding cap — that’s the whole game. The account converts to a regular Roth IRA in your kid’s name at the age of majority, so the years in between are for showing them what they own and letting them watch it compound. The first contribution doesn’t have to be big — it has to be made.