Benefits of a Self Directed IRA LLC

A self directed IRA LLC, or Limited Liability Company, has more advantages than a standard, conventional IRA. This structure allows you to have ‘checkbook control’, meaning that you will be allowed to make just about any non-traditional investment you want (see note below). A standard IRA set up requires you to consult with the custodian before making any decisions regarding the investments you would like to make in your account. This can cost you the valuable asset of time. However, with an IRA owned LLC account, you can invest your funds and purchase an asset by simply writing a check for the investment you are interested in acquiring.  Since you are handling part of the administrative process, you will also spend less on custodian fees. Check out our video below to learn more…

Another benefit of a self-directed IRA LLC is you typically only have to pay a set up fee and a nominal annual fee to the custodian in order to keep your account in good standing with them. A self directed IRA LLC can provide more savings than a regular IRA because you will be able to make all the decisions and investments, without paying the custodian or dealing with a custodian for every transaction. This means less money spent on fees, which in turn means more money is able to remain within your retirement account allowing it to work for you.

An IRA LLC allows an investor to invest in foreign real estate with an IRA, mortgages, commercial properties and foreclosures. For example, you are could try your hand at foreign real estate investing to purchase an investment property, if you so choose. However, before we get to far ahead of ourselves, you should be made aware that you can’t vacation at your investment property even if you pay your IRA rent. Kind of does not see fair, huh?

Besides real estate, you may also invest in stocks, make loans to non-disqualified parties and purchase tax liens with your IRA. Additionally, you are also allowed to buy foreign currency, bonds, precious metals or mutual funds. You are truly only limited by the IRA prohibited transactions, so to preserve your hard earned money, make sure that you know the IRA rules put out by the IRS and speak to a knowledge IRA specialist. Also, if you are looking to purchase foreign real estate, as mentioned previously, then get to know the rules for purchasing real estate in whatever country you are looking to make an investment since every country plays by a differing set of rules.

Investing in gold has always been one of the prudent choices amongst investors. Traditionally, gold has been on a steady rise, but global concerns in Europe have made gold tumble to a four-month low. The year started off with gold consistently rising and seeing prices hit a yearly high of around $1,800 per ounce. The current market price has dropped by 13% since its high and prices are now hovering around $1,560 per ounce. This may make some investors worried of the gold market’s current state and some very eager to buy in.

Benefits

Historical data from Kitco.com shows that gold has been on a steady rise since December of 2000. However, the price of gold was sporadic in 2008 when prices went from to $1,002.50 on March 14, 2008 to $723.70 on October 31, 2008. This was over a 25% drop in a short time, but the market rose to today’s low of $1,560. This means, those who bought into gold a few years ago have almost doubled their money. This can benefit those who have the little extra money to risk on gold because history shows that it generally rises eventually. So why the sudden dip in gold prices?

Fears

Although historical data is in favor of buying gold, there is always a chance that things will change. Currently, the stock market has seen substantial gains throughout the year and those who invested in stocks are doing much better than gold buyers. The fear of losing money in the gold market can be offset by purchasing stocks. However, the European concerns can also cause a drop in stocks as their debt rises.

The market, at the current time is fluctuating drastically. Gold prices have risen fast over the first four months of the year and now yet seem to be declining at an even higher rate. This might be the result of stocks rising and more investors returning to them, providing a decline in gold prices. The fears and concerns among gold investors is warranted and time will only tell if their investments will surge back like they have in the past. Are you bullish or bearish about Gold after today’s news?

A self-directed IRA has been allowed to invest in so-called alternative investments such as real estate, precious metals, tax liens and one can even do so without permission from a custodian. However, one has to make sure to use the services of a professional that is very familiar with the prohibited transaction and disqualified persons guidelines set by the IRS. You don’t want to make any mistakes here as the penalties imposed can be quite severe and are definitely not worth putting the retirement you have worked so hard for at risk.

There is no point in trying to memorize all the prohibited transactions or go it alone. Although many of the rules are straightforward, there are a number of them that may not be so clear cut, especially when you are working to structure an alternative investment transaction. Also, the rules can change from time to time so you will want to bookmark this blog in order to keep you up to date with anything new that may emerge. The best plan of action is to seek a professional and confirm that what you want to invest in does not violate any of the IRA rules.

Here are some common-sense guidelines that are worth knowing so you don’t go into self directed investing totally unarmed:

1. Make sure you only use retirement funds in the transaction unless you have the appropriate entities in place.
2. The transaction should not involve any disqualified persons (check with a professional on the specifics).
3. All income or gains need to return back to the self directed IRA.
4. Only funds from the IRA itself can be used to pay for costs or expenses related to the IRA investment.
5. No disqualified person can provide services to, or receive compensation from a self directed IRA, directly or indirectly.
6. Precious metals being bought with IRA funds need to be held in a US bank.

Note this is just an overview. This list is not exhaustive. Check some of our other posts to learn more.

While self directed IRA investments are designed to provide freedom and flexibility, they are most definitely governed by a strict set of rules. Make sure you play by them to avoid any negative complications.

Roth IRAs

• The maximum contribution limit is $5000.
• No taxes on dividends or capital gains.
• All contributions aren’t tax deductible.
• Individuals of 50+ in age can contribute an additional $1000.

Traditional IRAs

• Maximum contribution limit of $5000.
• Freedom to contribute an additional $1000 if you are 50+.
• Gains are taxable on withdrawal.
• No taxes on dividends or capital gains.
• Contributions are tax deductible Simple IRAs.
• A maximum contribution limit of $11,500.
• An additional $2500 contribution if you are 50+.
• Employers are required to make contributions.
• Works similarly with 401k.
• Employers make matching contributions of up to 3%.
• Non-elective contributions should be 2% of an employee’s salary.

SEP IRAs

Maximum contribution limits for small business owners or self employed people should be 25% of the employee’s salary or simply $50,000 whichever is smaller

• It has low administrative costs.
• Contributions are deductible.
• Has the highest contribution limits.
• No additional contributions at the age of 50+.

For employees, SEP IRA allows them to make non SEP contributions. You can make contributions up to your maximum IRA limit. Contributions in this case are tax deductible.

IRA Contribution Limits for 2012

If you have a dream to invest for your retirement, then you need to know what IRA contributions limits are like. This ensures you know exactly what amount of money to set aside for this.

In case you are under the age of 50, there are specific IRA contributions limits for 2012 for contributors falling within your age bracket. The maximum you can contribute below 50 years is $5000. Setting aside this amount in time is the smartest way to approach the contribution task.

Individuals of 50 years and above can make a contribution of $6000. Also, anyone who is 50 years and above is allowed to make an additional payment of $1000 on top of the $5000. It can start anywhere after hitting 50, till they retire. It is a wise move making that extra $1000 of saving each year, because it is primarily free from any tax.

It is an excellent opportunity for you to maximize as a contributor, as the IRA contribution limits for 2012 are favorable. All you need to do is choose the plan that suits you and make maximum contributions that will be of benefit to you in the future.

Roth IRA Contribution Limit

The Roth IRA contribution limit is exactly the same as that of traditional IRA. It is simply $5000 to individuals of 50 years and below and $6000 to individuals of 50 years and above.

There are annual income limits for you to contribute to Roth IRA. It also depends on your status i.e. if you are single, married, separated or simply the head of the household. In this case your modified adjusted gross income (MACI) must range from $110,000 to $125,000. If your MACI exceeds $125,000, then you cannot make contributions anymore.

In case you are married and filing jointly or a qualifying widow, you can make a contribution when your MACI ranges from $173,000 to 183,000. If it exceeds $183,000, you cannot make any contributions any longer.

If you are married and filing separately and living with your partner, your MACI should range from $0 to $10000 to make a Roth IRA contribution.

401k Rollover Options

In case you are employed and considering a 401k rollover option, you have the freedom. You can literary rollover an IRA from any given account to the other at any time. This, however, depends on the circumstances. If it is a corporate layoff or if you are changing jobs the terms of rollover will be different. This simply means each type of job has different terms that one should ensure they are aware of before making any steps relating to this.

In case you fall between the age of 59 and 70; you have an option for lump sum distribution. Your 401k plan provider should write you a check reflecting the value of your account less 20%. The 20% is a withholding tax, and the IRS mandates it. The deducted percentage is counted against any income tax payable. Still, you can opt not to do anything and leave your savings with your former employer, provided the amount is greater than $5000. Amounts less that this gets distributed to you irrespective of your age.

For that individual below 59 the options will be taking a lump sum distribution. A 20% withholding tax is charged, and the IRS mandates it. An additional 10% withdrawal penalty is charged. The 20% is withheld, but the penalty is not. This means only the 20% charge gets counted against the income tax payable. You can opt to leave your contributions with your former employer untouched. The sum should be above $5000. Amounts less than this get distributed to you too regardless of age, but they are always less the 20% withholding tax.

If you are 70 years of age or older, your 401k service provider simply writes you a check reflecting the exact value of your contributions account, less a withholding tax of 20%. This deducted tax percentage is held against the income tax payable. Alternatively, you can decide to leave it with the employer 401k plan but commence taking the set minimum distribution. You can leave the sum with your former employer too, provided it is above $5000. In case you opt for this, a 50% of the set minimum distribution is taxed. Amounts falling below $5000 get distributed to you irrespective of your age.

You need to consider all IRA contribution limits for 2012 to ensure you plan your future well. Know these limits to make a responsible contribution that is sure to secure your future. It is important to seek information from quality IRA sites like this one to ensure you make the right choices regarding your contributions. Get tips too on the best things you can do with your IRA account with all the information you are in better position to determine what suits you best. It is also advisable to all get information relating to the same from reliable sources to avoid the major blunders that people make.

The reason is because certain metals are useful and rare beyond the stretch of time. Think about this for a second: before anyone printed a currency on paper and defined that as legal tender via a central bank or treasury, the first commonly accepted currency was gold. The only way to trade gold without actually having it was through a note of debt to a certain amount of gold in a bank.

Of all the precious metals, 4 of them are most notable and due to their industrial use, it makes them precious.

Gold, the first universal currency

As a metal, gold has more uses and more rarity than any other metal on the planet. To some it might seem like a shiny object with a purely aesthetic appeal, but the reality is, gold has been used in industries such as electronics, dentistry, aeronautics and even the automobile industry. The reason for this is because gold is strong, doesn’t rust and acts as a powerful conductor of electricity.

One of the most commonly known uses for gold is as the conducting metal for airbag circuitry. In the event of an auto accident, the firing mechanism for an airbag has to go off 100 percent of the time in order to make sure the passenger is safe. By utilizing gold as the conducting unit for this firing mechanism, it insures passenger safety 100 percent of the time rather than using other metals, which have been known to rust.

Silver, the best conductor in the world

Many in the investing community debate as to whether silver or gold is a better investment as a hedge. In terms of usefulness, gold actually has a bit less appeal than silver, as silver is a better conductor. Silver is a more commonly found metal, so it naturally has developed a much lower price point. This plus the generally perceived smaller appeal of silver as a jewelry metal has caused it to become less in demand.

Platinum

Another excellent hedge against changing times, platinum continues to be one of the most resilient metals ever found. Unlike other precious metals, platinum has been known to have an extremely high tolerance for heat in addition to being an excellent conductor. This gives it a long term investing appeal and makes it perfect for manufacturing in automobiles and other high-powered machinery.

Palladium

Similar to platinum in its uses, palladium is a bit different in that it is a bit more flexible than platinum. They are both commonly used as catalytic converters in vehicles. Palladium has become a more mainstream option because of its flexible nature and is also pretty common when it comes to fuel cell technology and information technology.

Utah is officially the first state to announce that both gold and silver will now be allowed as an alternative to the US dollar. It all became official when Gary Herbert signed House Bill 157 in March 2012. However, the bill goes on to state that only certain types of gold and silver coins will be allowed as legal tender. Forget walking into Best Buy and buying a nice, new camera with a Canadian Maple leaf as they will only recognize coins issued by the United States of America.

It also means that gold and silver coins are exempt from sales and use taxes and are also eligible for a tax credit when sold for paper money. This means gold and silver investors won’t need to pay capital gains taxes anymore if they make profits on a sale. Of course the usual federal taxes still apply. This means gold and silver is now treated as currency and not an asset. This is Utah’s bold stand on the issue and it looks like other states might follow suit.

There is another problem however.

The coins are still only worth their face value as far as the state is concerned. So that $50 (face value) 1oz gold coin, which is worth today roughly $1600 on the street for it’s gold content, is still only worth $50 in the eyes of the state. So if you really want to buy a Coke with a valuable gold coin you can by all means, but you might just lose some money in the process.

Governor Herbert has been reported as saying that the reason he passed to law was simply to do away with capital gains on a very popular investment. Of course the other reason it was passed was to take a stand against the Federal Reserve. Many states, and countries for that matter, believe that the Fed has permanently weakened the value of the dollar by printing so much of it and pumping it into the monetary system.

While this might be a step in the right direction, the state treasurer Richard Ellis stated:

“In my mind there’s still no practical way of making this happen”.

Unfortunately, the sad fact is that the state is not equipped to store gold and silver coins, never mind the hassle of authenticating them. There is hope though, that with this move, banks might start offering bank accounts backed by real gold and silver coins, helping consumers regain some trust in the currency as a whole.

Warren Gillman, mining industry analyst and CEO at CEF Holdings predicts a gold bull market all the way through 2014 on the back of central bank buying and US monetary policy. Negative real interest rates worldwide along with central banks that are long on US dollars (while trying to diversify their holdings to include gold and other currencies) will keep prices strong he states.

Barclays analysts are bullish on gold too with prices predicted in the region of $1700 in the near future.

Tom Fitzpatrick, Citibank strategist believes gold will hit $1790 an ounce in the not-too-distant future, going as high as $2400 within the next year and $3400 not too long after. He believes it will keep getting stronger against the dollar but even more so against the Euro. In an environment of governments printing vast quantities of money, gold is being sought out as the safe, hard currency that it is, he states.

Matthew Bishop, NYC bureau chief for the Economist and author of ‘In Gold We Trust‘ feels that the long-term trend for gold has been so successful because of a deep-seated and new-found lack of confidence in paper money. He suggests that this trend is far from over and that gold is only half way through it’s meteoric rise. Governments failing to manage the economic crisis wisely are only making things worse and this could propel gold to $3000 per ounce, he reveals.

Director at Commtrendz Research, Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, suggests the weaker dollar and rising crude oil prices will only help gold to get stronger. He also believes it’s being viewed as a viable alternative to the US dollar now.

Speaking of a viable alternative check out our article now: Utah now has taken steps to make gold an approved currency…

Eugen Weinberg, also at Commerzbank stated: “You need to look at gold as a currency, as a safe haven, as an insurance…I think that the risks in the economy are still, going forward, very high and although the markets seem to get accustomed to the bad news coming on an almost daily basis from the euro zone, I don’t think that the problems are over.”

MacNeil Curry, Bank Of America analyst sees no end to gold’s rise with it reaching anywhere between $3k to $7k since it has held this rising trend for the last 11 years. It has continued through inflation, deflation as well as both equity bull and bear trends.

Recent Timeline:

Looking to the start of May, there have been a few noteworthy occurrences that have had an effect on the gold price such as:

30 April: The elections in France and Greece as well as the European central bank meeting helped to bolster the dollar while the gold price came down a touch to $1658.50 per ounce.

1 May: Five days of gains saw gold hit a two-week high price of $1669.50.

2 May: US unemployment figures saw some improvement, which signaled a boost in morale for the nation. This saw dollar prices lift with gold feeling the pressure somewhat. Prices hit $1637.30 per ounce.

3 May: The US experienced higher factory orders, euro zone manufacturing eased, European unemployment rose to a record 10.9%, the dollar gained somewhat and European unemployment rose as well. These factors combined to lower the gold price to $1652.10.

Gold has a track record for doing well during tough economic times and uncertain periods such as wars and depressions. However, just one question remains: “How much longer will it last?“

As a retirement holder, it would be a monumental task to research, learn and understand all the IRS rules, laws, regulations, prohibited transactions, investment options and disqualified entities involved in a possible self-directed transaction. This is precisely where custodians come in. They can help explain all these subtleties to you and help you navigate your way through it all.

A self-directed IRA is one of the best, but least well-known retirement plan structures in the market today, especially if flexibility is a priority for you. You can use your self-directed IRA account to invest in real estate, bonds, precious metals, gold, oil, stocks or anything else you choose that is IRS compliant. Because there is such a diverse range of investments that an account holder can invest in, the custodian can help to inform individuals on what options are allowable to hold inside an account, but that is where the line is drawn.

Custodians are responsible for all the administration associated with your account. They are required to help you file all the relevant paperwork, issue statements and report tax information to the IRS. A custodian is often thought of as a person, but the fact is it can be a bank, savings and loan company or some other entity that offers financial services. Their primary role is to administer your IRA account and make sure it complies with all the IRS IRA rules and regulations and to file reports to the IRS annually.

The custodian is the middleman and you are the point person when it comes to making investments. You both call the play and quarterback the transaction. The custodian merely runs the play you draw up.

They make sure everything is peachy between you and the IRS and that no paperwork is left out of place. Think of them as your administrative assistant for your retirement account, if you will. Despite all the mythology being spouted on the web about what the responsibilities of a custodian are.

1. They cannot make predictions about an investment’s profitability or success.
2. They are not allowed to solicit you for an investment opportunity.
3. They don’t provide investment advice.
4. They don’t vet investments or investment promoters to determine what is a winning investment and which is a loser.
5. They are not responsible to teach you how to handle your own investments.

First of all, with so many investment opportunities it would be impossible to do so at an affordable cost. The responsibility for researching an investment and those promoting is the sole responsibility of the IRA owner. No matter how knowledgeable a custodian is, they are only passive players or a pass-through service provider and only direct your IRA funds at your specific direction.

Whether you feel like you need to have a custodian for your account is irrelevant, it is legally required. You are not allowed to administer your own account without one. You can only make the decisions. If you would like more control of your IRA account, then keep reading.

A self-directed IRA custodian can require that you pay extra fees such as transaction fees for every transaction in addition to your annual fee. Fees between custodians can differ drastically from company to company and it depends on things like their level of service and how much admin they are performing on your behalf.  You need to think of hiring a custodian like hiring a new employee. They are a vital element of your team and you need to make sure you get the best, but the most affordable cost.

A custodian needs to be accredited by the IRS and this process is very stringent to ensure that they meet all the standards required. The IRS needs custodians because, unlike mutual funds, a self-directed IRA account is much more difficult to monitor. This makes custodians their eyes and ears.

While some feel that they are an unnecessary requirement, a good custodian might end up being the best addition to your team yet, so choose yours wisely.

The Benefits of Going Truly Self Directed

One little thing you ought to know is: if you have an IRA, then it is required to have a custodian, however, if you are truly self-directed, then you can complete transactions on your own without any custodial interference. This is beneficial for many IRA holders who go the self directed route since it completely eliminates any confusion as to who is in charge or responsible for the account and you get checkbook control to boot. If you are truly self directed, then you have control of the checkbook, you have checkbook writing privileges and don’t have to go to the custodian to ask for permission to purchase any IRS compliant assets.

With a truly self directed account, the custodian is still required to report to the FEDs what assets you own and the approximate worth of the account. However, if you opt-in for a truly self directed IRA, then there is just a flat – annual fee annually. This can improve your ROI, so speak because you are allowed to keep more of the money that is earned inside the IRA over the lifetime of the account versus shelling out that money in fees. Make sure to consider these added savings when you are considering what route to take with your retirement.

 News You Can USE Lose

Many recent news stories have described self directed IRAs as scams. In fact, it appears the media have clumped investment scams, ponzi schemes and self directed IRAs together, giving the uninformed reader the distinct impression that these three terms are all somehow synonymous. But, they are NOT!

The real tragedy is not the misreporting, but the pervasiveness of it, the fact that almost every financial media is echoing (the repeaters as I like to refer to them) what is written up in other publications. This creates the disturbing impression that there is a wave of exposures sweeping across the country, but the only real truth is that the media thrives on sensationalism and no publication wants to be left out of the game.

The financial news media is no different than the local media outlets. If it bleeds it leads, The media makes money by sell advertising and by playing on our fears and our need for security. After all, what would the nightly news be like if every 30 seconds we weren’t over exposed or bombarded with all the murders, doom and let’s not forget robberies that take place across our cities on a daily basis. In fact, it has become so common. It is hard to image we still call it news to begin with.

In many instances, alarmed investors have gone after the custodians who have been handling their paperwork, even when there has been no evidence to believe that their accounts have been affected. This trend is even more grist for the sensationalist media to continue to trounce all self directed IRAs as fraudulent.

Although some alleged scammers may have targeted dubious IRA holders by name dropping financial institutions and the self directed IRA structure in order to allegedly exploit and steal from them. This does not mean custodians are scammers, nor does it mean that self directed IRAs are used for perpetuating scams. This is as absurd as saying that since some people make a living from creating counterfeit money, all money is likely to be counterfeit.

Putting Things In Their Proper Perspective

These and other cases continue to be reported in the news. In fact, the infamous Ponzi scheme king, Bernard Madoff, often used self directed IRAs to fleece his victims.

Does this mean self directed IRAs are instruments used to strip people of their hard-earned money or does it simply mean that some investment promoters have found this financial instrument a convenient way to pull off their investment frauds?

I’m simply saying that in ALL cases of investment fraud. The self directed IRAs is not the culprit. It is a lifeless tax deferred entity established by Congress under ERISA law. There are likely lots of people in some of these deals that when bad that were not investing with their IRA. The term IRA; however, seems to be the lightening rod in this story and it is being manipulated and sensationalized into a hyped media story.

In the end, we are trying to offer some balance and sobriety into the public discourse so don’t misunderstand what I am trying to say. There are legitimate cases of malfeasance and if the evidence supports it, then fraudulent investment promoters should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. However, let’s not conflate investments scams as IRA scams. This is just plain nonsensical and it is unwarranted.  For every case related to supposed investment fraud there are countless others, who are enjoying the benefits of self directed investing and are succeeding in this retirement vehicle.

The simple fact of the matter is despite widespread attempts to paint self directed IRAs negatively, this is not a true depiction of how IRAs and the custodians who work with their clients day in and day out.

Here are 4 points to put things into perspective:

1. The negative articles offer little to no advice for how people can distinguish between the legitimate uses of self directed IRAs and their illegal uses. They also offer no usable information on how an investor can avoid scammers and falling into traps they set for the unwary. Instead, they imply that all self directed IRAs are suspect.

2. There is no mention that all investments, whether they are through self directed IRAs or some other structure, have some risk involved. Investments can’t be guaranteed because markets are volatile, predictions about market trends are at best educated guesses as the local and national economy are subject to fluctuation. The bottom-line is there is not a financial expert who is right 100% of the time. Anytime your money is invested it is put at risk.

3. Investors need to do their own homework and due diligence before committing funds, IRA or otherwise, to an investment. Scam artists are clever people. They can use the right industry buzz words, make the promises people want to hear, and are deceptively friendly and engaging. One of the ways to avoid investment fraud is by doing a background check on the promoters and due diligence on the investments that they are pushing. also make sure to find out it the investment promoter has some skin in the game. Ask for references and ask to see the balance sheet. Numbers generally don’t tend to lie, unless they are cooked in the first place. Just don’t take someone else’s word on it. Here is a good lessen for all of us. The most expensive advice you can get it free advice. I think it was Robert Kiyosaki who said that in one of his financial books.

4. Any legitimate financial instrument can be used to pull off a scam, not just self directed IRAs. Stocks, bonds, loans, real estate, and so on are equally convenient.

Bad Investment Advice Is Evergreen

Let’s face it. It is very tempting to want to accumulate large sums of money and doing very little work to earn it. Here, I’m not just talking about the scammers themselves, who make promises that they have no intention of fulfilling, but of the investors as well.

Yes, the lure of easy money applies to investors as well as scammers. Investors are only too happy to turn over their hard earned money to someone who promises them a multiplied return without the need for further effort on their part. In fact, they are even content to skip the hard work of doing due diligence, to buy what is suggested, to hold on to it, and to pray for the market to never change from its current course so that their investments can increase without interruption.

The Blame Game

These media stories have taken fire because they play the blame game, which is always popular with readers and it fuels ratings and advertising dollars.

Instead of taking personal responsibility for making financial decisions, many investors would rather play the blame game, accusing the custodians of misusing their funds. The media, who loves to sensationalize stories to sell their stories, because, frankly, good news hardly ever sells. However, you can always count on bad news, to back them up. In order to set up some bad news, victims and villains are necessary.

In reality, custodians are not as powerful in making financial determinations, as the media likes to paint them. Custodians cannot predict whether an investment will become profitable or not. Accusing custodians of negligence is as lame as blaming your bank for your low balance in your bank account. If you lose the money in your bank account, then does this mean that the bank actively plundered or misreported on your account or that you failed to manage your funds properly?

Moreover, custodians are not to be construed as investment promotions. They are merely representing the interests of a financial institution. If they turn out bad reports, they first received inaccurate information from the company or investment promoter that reported it to them. They don’t have or would not have a reason to distort the information reported in order to provide false reassurance to the client.

What’s more, the promoter of any self directed IRA is not the same as the custodian of the account. The custodian is an account administrator and record keeper, making sure that IRS guidelines are followed and that the customer’s requests are pursued. Therefore, a custodian can’t be held accountable for bad investment decisions made either by investment promoters or the customers they are assisting with administration and IRS reporting and compliance?

Summary

Yes, there have been financial frauds that have used self directed IRAs, but this does not mean that custodians are devious and self directed IRAs are instruments used to defraud people of their retirement savings. Unfortunately, this bit of common sense has been distorted by the media feeding frenzy, which gives the impression that everyone and everything associated with self directed IRAs is highly suspicious. It is my hope that this article helped you put the latest media blowups into perspective and that you continue to make solid plans for your retirement based on your own ability to do your own due diligence on financial instruments and a thorough background check on the people who offer them.

Austin, TX — May 1^st, 2012 — A self directed IRA is a retirement account that enables the account holders to pursue other forms of investments, including real estate, gold, oil, gas and private business placements. Under a traditional, non-self directed IRA, the holder does not have such options. As a result, with a self directed IRA, you can “diversify your retirement and add real estate,” according to TSD-IRA, specialists who specialize in setting up self directed IRA accounts.

Such self directed IRAs have been subject to negative media attention recently. This is because a number of individuals have reportedly lost money as a result of poor investment choices they made with alleged unscrupulous investment promoters.

TSD-IRA believes that recent IRA media criticism is unjustified and out of balance. According to the self directed IRA specialists, people who lost money did so because of poorly researched investment decisions they made with their own IRA account; not as a direct result of the IRA account itself.

“Poorly researched investments lead to poorly informed investment decisions. They are not the fault of an IRA account itself,” said a company spokesperson. “If an investor does not bother to look into the investment itself prior to making it, then it is not the IRA’s fault or the custodian for the self directed IRA. It might just be a bad investment. But, the IRA account itself is not the scam.”

TSD-IRA affirms that responsibility for any and all investment decisions lies with the account holder and not the IRA custodian.

“IRAs aren’t risky in and of themselves, but the investments in an IRA most definitely can be, especially if the investment are also considered by the IRS as prohibited transactions. Investing is risky whether you have a self directed IRA or not. The bottom line is that when your money is invested, it is at risk, when it sits idle it is only at risk to inflation. There is no such thing as safe or guaranteed investment in the first place.”  If you are told that an investment is guaranteed, be leery.  “The best way to mitigate your risk, is to research what you are investing in,” says TSD-IRA Specialist.

Many people are likely to share the sentiments of TSD-IRA, due to the level of control that self directed IRA account holders are empowered with. Significant amounts of money can be saved as a result of cutting out onerous custodial fees and bureaucratic red tape, and adding to that the checkbook writing privileges gained by being truly self directed.

TSD-IRA believes that, when used correctly, a self directed IRA can “offer significant control & flexibility, and truly diversify your IRA.”

For more information about self directed IRA accounts and to download a free 40-page eBook titled “IRA secrets Most Custodians Don’t Want You To Know,” visit http://www.irallcpartner.com.

About TSD-IRA

TSD-IRA are self directed IRA specialists. The company structures self directed IRAs to enable the account holder to obtain absolute checkbook control over their retirement funds.