Anonymous wrote:I do wonder if stocks will continue their inexorable climb when the population reaches peak retirees.

Go look at a 50 year chart of the S&P 500, lower left to upper right. Affluent retirees aren't selling stocks, they live off the dividends and interest.

Yes, save $$$ in Roth brokerage acct. Focus on growth ETFs like SPY or QQQ. Or stocks if you have the time and expertise. Rising GDP with inflation increase stock prices. Time in the market beats timing the market. CDs are fixed income and will lag stock market returns.

I did this for many years OP. The first time I had a job and did my taxes the family accountant told me I could put money into an IRA. I said I didn't want to put it in the stock market because my family taught me it was gambling (immigrants). He told me you could open an IRA CD at a bank. I did that for many years (I'm embarrassed of the number). So so dumb. It took a lot of courage for me to finally put it into Fidelity (FZROX and VTI). Suffice it to say it's gone up way higher in the brokerage in a much shorter period of time. Don't make the mistake I did.

OP, check the early withdrawal penalties on the CDs. It may make sense for you just to cash out the CDs early and pay the penalties as opposed to leaving that money in a CD that's earning a pittance. And since CD early withdrawal penalties are usually determined in terms of the interest (e.g., you might have to pay 12 months interest on a 5-year CD), the low interest rate your getting may mean that the early withdrawal penalty won't be that high, either.

Then take that money and put it in something with higher growth potential. There are lots of opinions about what a good investment mix looks like, but the three fund portfolio (see: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio) is sound and popular and doesn't require a lot of effort or expense to maintain.

I do wonder if stocks will continue their inexorable climb when the population reaches peak retirees.

The whole point is to get a Roth IRA when your income is on a growth path, and a regular IRA if your income is on the downslope. Pay the taxes when your tax rate is lowest.

CDs should have never been in retirement that is decades ago. That volatile stock market goes up in the long run. If it is down for a year or two, your money buys you more pieces and that's a good thing.
Regular savings account would have paid you more last year.

Are there any disadvantages to opening a Roth IRA brokerage account? Let's say I will be retiring in 30 years. I've had IRA accounts with CDs for many years, but some of the interest rates are really crappy and I now have FOMO (how do I have a 5 year CD that gives 0.5%??).

Right now the CD rate is like 4% through my bank. Could I do better opening a Roth IRA at my brokerage and using it to buy individual stocks or an S&P index fund? But maybe a 4% guaranteed return is a better deal than the volatile stock market. Also wtf do I do about those horrible low rate CDs?