If your IRA facilitator works with you in such a way that you have total control over your investments, then chances are you have a self-directed IRA. However, you might be in a standard IRA or ROTH IRA and already think you have total control of your retirement funds, when in reality you simply don’t. Though you may have been told otherwise, the only real way to ensure total control over your IRA investments is with a truly self-directed IRA.
Control over your IRA investments all begins with the IRA facilitator. Here are three ways a facilitator can help you gain control over your IRA and the investments it contains:
1. Checkbook Writing: Working with the proper IRA facilitator to set up a self-directed IRA will result in you having full check writing privileges on your account. That means you can invest in what you want with very few restrictions. Additionally, by having check writing privileges you can invest in assets according to your own time table. You don’t have to wait for a check, then deposit it into your bank, then hope the investment is still available. With a self-directed IRA you are in control at all times.
2. Own Physical Precious Metals: If you want to own gold the best you can do in a standard or ROTH IRA is own gold stocks. However, with a truly self-directed IRA you have the ability to own both physical gold and silver. This allows you to own the actual metals instead of a stock in a company that owns stockpiles of these metals or companies that might mine for the metals.
3. Own Real Estate: Yet another restriction with standard and ROTHs is actual real estate. You can buy real estate investment trusts, or REITS, but you can’t buy properties that are commercial or residential inside your retirement and hold those properties inside your account. By working with an IRA facilitator to open a self-directed IRA you have the option of investing in just about all facets of investment real estate.
Having total control over all your investment portfolio all depends on your IRA facilitator. Like many, you might be under the impression that you can only invest in certain types of assets, but that is not the truth if you have a true self-directed IRA. There is a big difference in making some of the decisions and making all of the decisions and it all starts with finding and working with the right IRA facilitator.
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