How quickly will a client who has just started a traditional IRA be vested?

When a client opens a traditional IRA, they are immediately vested in their own contributions to the account. This means that the money they contribute, along with any earnings on those contributions, belongs to them outright from day one. Unlike employer-sponsored retirement plans, which often have vesting schedules for employer contributions, IRAs do not impose such restrictions on the individual's own contributions. As a result, the client has full access to their funds without any waiting period.

Vesting typically becomes a consideration in employer-sponsored plans, where the timing for access to employer contributions may vary based on the plan's specific rules. Since the context involves a traditional IRA with individual contributions, the correct understanding is that the vesting is immediate.