The Plain Truth About Your IRA

Hundreds of millions of dollars in IRA money is fleeing Wall Street each month into the vaults of Self-Directed IRA custodians. This migration of dollars is, at best, an irritant to Wall Street. However, if this monthly outflow was to change from millions to billions of dollars, and that is very likely to happen - then there is hope that Wall Street may change its tune and begin to do "for" the investor, rather than doing "to" the investor, as has been the case for far too long!

Theoretically, Wall Street could offer self-directed IRAs, but it has no incentive at present to do so. If it did, then its clients would be able to buy such things as real estate, mortgages, notes, and tax liens - but if it did that then Wall Street would not make a dime!

Stock brokers, financial planners, banks and insurance companies offer us a limited menu of Wall Street financial products like stocks, bonds, mutual funds and annuities for your IRA. Selling these financial products is how they make money - and they are not likely to change what has worked successfully (for them) for decades.

Wall Street not only controls your IRA funds, it also routinely extracts money from them via transaction fees, management fees, documentation fees, and the like. But Self-Directed IRA custodians don't charge commissions. They just charge a fee for being the custodian of your IRA portfolio. That's how they generate income. And if your IRA funds are held by a Self-Directed IRA custodian, not only can you buy real estate, tax liens, and even lend money, but you can also purchase Wall Street financial products.

In other words, a Self-Directed IRA empowers you to decide what to buy, when to buy, how long to hold, when to sell, and how to sell. But of course, having the privilege of being able to make your own decisions also carries with it some responsibility. With a Self-Directed IRA, you have the responsibility to make sound financial decisions for your Self-Directed IRA dollars.

I believe that Self-Directed IRA's are a prudent choice for serious investors. Just remember that along with the power and control it gives you, you also have the responsibility to do your homework before paying out your hard-earned IRA money for any investment.

We have located three (3) firms who act as custodians for self-directed IRAs, and you can find them in our "Links" section as follows:

Link: "IRA-PLUS" - to find the firm, "Entrust Group."

Link: "IRAs-Your Way" - to find the firm, "Pensco Trust Company."

Link: "Self-Directed IRAs" - to find the firm "Equity Trust Company."

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