Diversify Beyond The Traditional Investment Mix, Invest In What You Already Know, Obtain Control Your Retirement And Your Future
You are the person who best knows the value of your hard-earned money. It therefore naturally follows that you should have the freedom of deciding how to build your retirement nest the way you want. Why leave the important decisions about your retirement lifestyle to an outside agency, when you can set up a truly self directed IRA and use investment strategies to create the future that you want for yourself?
What’s Wrong with My Existing IRA?
The truth be known individuals with a ‘standard’ self directed IRA are only slightly better off than those with a traditional IRA in that they have access to a few additional investment opportunities. However, both a traditional IRA and a standard account requires that you navigate within your custodian’s bureaucracy, which can be burdensome and costly. In other words, you need your broker or custodian to grant you permission to invest your own money and you are only able to move their investment purchases at the speed of their custodian, which may lead to missed opportunities.
In addition, as you are waiting for your investment transaction to unfold, you have the added privilege of incurring layers of additional custodial fees through the their fee schedule. There is fortunately good news for those would like to avoid these headaches, would like to put an end to what seems like endless compounding fees and that is with truly self directed IRA services that offer you checkbook control.
How Does An IRA With Checkbook Control Differ From Traditional Services?
A truly self directed account is a specialized account that allots the owner direct checkbook writing privileges. In the industry, this know as checkbook control. Having oversight of the funds provides you pretty much the complete freedom to decide how, when and where to invest your money—so long as you remain within the IRS guidelines. Stocks, bonds, tax liens, real estate, silver, or gold – whatever your preference, you can choose your investment from a wide spectrum of options.
Standard self directed IRAs can be a real drain on the very money you are seeking to save. Whether you’re reviewing investment deals, carrying out a transaction, earning a profit, or even simply holding an account, standard self directed IRA companies can charge you fees for every single action.
Contrast this with a truly self directed IRA, where you retain funds in a self directed IRA owned bank account. You get the same range of services, but pay only a nominal amount just once a year. In other words, you stop the drain on your resources and have the potential to save a sizable amount more during your working and investing years.
Why Choose To Make The Switch To A More Flexible Solution?
Selecting an IRA LLC offers a few significant benefits, such as:
- Limited liability and asset protection
- True checkbook control and flexibility to invest in what you want when you want
- Flow-through taxation that ultimately gives your entity the tax-deferred or tax-free benefits of an IRA
- Definitive separation between your IRA’s investments, your investments, and other investments made under the same custodian
- A tax advantage over other investors who are competing for margin
- A time advantage over other investors who are competing for the same investment
You no longer have to worry about bureaucratic red tape, which may cause delays and potential loss. With a checkbook IRA, you are the sole decision maker, with the freedom to make instant decisions for the best possible results.
Other Benefits
In the end, truly self directed IRAs tend to be easier to operate and have the most flexibility. They are generally less expensive to administer and provide the owners with several less obvious benefits, including:
- Minimal IRA custodial intervention
- Maximum liberty to make investment decisions
- Easier investment in foreign assets (this depends on the custodian you select)
- Added protection from litigators and creditors
- A tax-free account with a Roth plan
- Less paperwork, which means faster processing
- The ability to make investments that would not be feasible through a custodian
- The ability to get in and out of multiple investment markets and trends in one consolidated vehicle versus various brokers and custodians.
One of the biggest advantages of a self directed IRA LLC is that it recognizes your full rights to hold and grow your individual retirement account. All custodians, whether they hold your deposit, securities or private investments, have their own in-house restrictions on what assets they will allow your IRA to purchase. According to the rules, however, an IRA is only restricted to certain transactions and investments that would circumvent its the ultimate purpose, which is to save money for retirement. As long as you don’t make one of these prohibited investment transactions, you can invest into any vehicle you want.
What Else Should You Know?
Want more convincing reasons for why truly self directed IRAs are your best option? Ask any economist about the best ways of generating wealth and I’m sure real estate investments will be at the top of the list. It is also prudent to invest in assets that you can research, know, and understand rather than securities or other investments that can be tedious or nearly impossible for ordinary investors to truly grasp. You may be thinking, Okay, then why doesn’t my broker or custodian recommend this as a vehicle to grow my retirement portfolio? The answer is usually because your real estate or “investment” doesn’t pay commissions or generate real wealth for anyone except you. You’ll cut out a long line of middlemen and paper pushers, but lucrative returns don’t necessarily mean high risk. The downside is that you will need to make all of the decisions yourself. This may mean that you’ll need to hire a professional at times. Do the pros outweigh the cons? That is for you to decide. Unfortunately, most people don’t know that it is perfectly legal for IRAs to invest in real estate. The bottom line is that it makes good economic sense to add real estate along with other allowable assets account.
Did You Also Know You Can Invest In Real Estate?
When it comes to investing in real estate, the sky is virtually the limit. Depending on your preference, you can choose from a wide range of investment options including:
- Foreign real estate
- Investment property purchase, including commercial and residential single and multi-family homes
- Rentals
- Raw land
- Mortgages and deeds of trust
- Partnerships
- Private developments
- REITS
- Foreclosures
- Tax liens and deeds of trust
The possibilities are virtually endless.
Diversify Your Investments The Way You See Fit And Put The ‘I’ Back In IRA
Choose the area in which you feel most comfortable. It is widely established that the more you diversify your investment portfolio, the less risk you incur and the greater your ability to weather a financial storm
If real estate is not your cup of tea, then don’t fret. You can invest in several other asset classes, such as:
- Discounted notes
- Mutual funds
- Bonds
- Physical silver and gold
- Tax liens and deeds
- Stocks and options
- Private placements
- Foreign currency
- Forex Trading
- Futures trading
- Secured and unsecured loans
- Grain, wheat & other commodities
Your account comes with check writing privileges grants you the same facilities as a business checking account, but it is owned by your IRA and not you. After you complete the necessary formalities with our firm, you will receive the checkbook and a debit card for this special account. Maintaining your account is as straight-forward as balancing your regular bank account. How difficult is balancing a checkbook and maintaining a file folder for supporting documentation, bank statements, settlement statements, and contracts? With a checkbook IRA, there’s no more waiting for approval with fingers crossed or agonizing over your custodian prohibiting investments that are legally allowed. Once you decide on making an investment, all you need to do is sign the check or use the debit card, and you are ready to move forward!
What Is The Custodian’s Role In All Of This?
An experienced custodian is an invaluable asset to an account holder. In fact, as a provider of IRA services, we work with several competent custodians. Even when you set up a truly self directed IRA, you still need a custodian because they are required in section 408 of the tax code. Once you are truly self directed, you will not have to run every transaction through your custodian to determine if it is allowed in their plan document and administratively feasible for them to hold. You will only utilize the custodian to invest and hold your IRA LLC and to report to the IRS on an annual basis. For more FAQs, visit here or read our blog with is full of great additional information.
Take Control of Your Retirement Plans
When you work hard at your job day after day, month after month, and year after year, your retirement funds may be put aside and out of sight. However, that doesn’t mean they should be out of mind. Just like your take-home pay, your retirement funds are your money and should be there for you and your future. Unfortunately, many people buy into the belief that it is better to let the “experts” handle your life savings. Many of us have seen what the so-called “experts” can do, and we aren’t buying it. When it comes to your future and the future of your family, there will never be enough, so why simply hand over your future to an outsider without thorough research and due diligence? Learn about the importance of picking the right team to help you make the best decisions. Although, nothing is guaranteed, you should think ahead and put together a winning team.
A Word of Caution Before Moving Ahead
When operating on your own, you need to steer clear of any transactions that are prohibited by the self directed IRA rules. To the trained eye, these rules are very easy to identify, but the average investor can easily violate them without even knowing it. Unknowingly violating these regulations invalidates the IRA and makes you liable to pay taxes and possibly hefty penalties. When you choose a truly self directed IRA, your custodian may not always be there to point out potential violations—although you are always free to contact the custodian who oversees your IRA account and ask questions. Sometimes they may tell you to find an expert in that particular field, because there are many areas of tax and law. which they cannot give advice. If you have a question, you want to make sure someone will be there to help. This is where we come in. Not only do we make sure your IRA LLC is set up to be in compliance with IRS rules and regulations, we meet the individual custodian’s requirements and facilitate the whole process to make sure that everything flows smoothly through the proper channels. We are also there for support after the fact.
Call Us Today If You Want To:
- Enhance your retirement investment options with alternative assets.
- Increase your return on investment by saving on custodian fees.
- Get checkbook control of your future IRA transactions.
- Close investment opportunities in a timely manner and move to a truly self directed IRA.
- Receive ongoing support with your questions.
Take the first step toward growing your retirement nest the way you want to. Call and speak to our one of our specialists today.
