When determining the best platform for retirement, it helps to look into a couple of specific things. E*TRADE offers low rates for active traders, but passive investors looking to save for retirement can still leverage some of the useful features on offer. E*TRADE offers more than 2,600 mutual funds and over 100 commission-free ETFs. Some of these mutual funds have minimum balances, and it helps to check them out to know what you are investing in. E*TRADE has the edge over Fidelity in the retirement savings space due to the plethora of retirement planning tools available. The My Virtual Advisor tool allows you to come up with a hypothetical retirement portfolio and see how much you can save within a few minutes before you commit your money. Fidelity equally has fantastic investment options for those looking to save up for retirement. You get access to over 3,5000 funds that you can transact in without paying anything. This platform was the first one to bring market index funds with a zero expense ratio.