Holding Alternative Investments in a Roth IRA

The typical stereotype when opening an IRA account is that all underlying investments must be exchange traded stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Stock market volatility frequently intimidates retirement investors to the point that they simply do nothing and forego crucial retirement planning. Roth IRA account owners will be pleased to know there is an entire spectrum of alternative investments unrelated to the stock market that can be held under a ROTH umbrella. 

Before opening a Roth IRA with the intention of holding alternative investments, be certain that your intended Roth IRA custodian is willing to work with you. The most common type of custodian allowing alternative investments specializes in what are called “self-directed IRA accounts.” Self-directed IRA providers are a small but growing niche. Let’s take a look at the applicable Roth IRA rules with regard to acceptable and prohibited alternative investments.

Acceptable Roth IRA Alternative Investments

A common alternative investment held in Roth IRAs is real estate. Just about any type of real estate can be held in a Roth IRA including single family homes, apartment complexes, and commercial buildings. It’s important to note that Roth IRA investments are not for personal use and must be held for investment purposes only. The funds used to purchase real estate must originate from a Roth IRA account but non-recourse financing opportunities are an option. Existing real estate assets cannot be transferred into the ROTH IRA account. Other broad categories of alternative investments include, but are not limited to: 

• Promissory Notes
• Private Equity
• Shares of a Business (Non S-Corp)
• Oil & Gas
• Precious Metals 

Prohibited Roth IRA Alternative Investments

With so many accepted Roth IRA investment alternatives you may be wondering what isn’t allowed? There are three such investment types:

• Collectibles. This category includes artwork, rugs, antiques, metals, gems, stamps, non-marketable coins, alcoholic beverages, and certain other tangible personal property. These types of investments are ruled out because valuations are often difficult to achieve on a regular basis and IRA rules demand regular account value reporting for tax purposes.
• Life Insurance. Because an IRA account is not a human being, it becomes difficult to own and administer life insurance and is therefore prohibited. 
• Shares of an S-corporation. S-corporations follow specific IRS taxation requirements and the tax-deferred nature of a traditional IRA or Roth IRA would go against those requirements. 

It is highly recommended that an investor keep on top of all applicable IRA rules when investing in alternative assets. One false step may result in IRS penalties which is why many self-directed Roth IRA owners rely on the guidance of their trusted custodian. 

Refer a friend to open a self-directed IRA account and save!

New Direction IRA, Inc. (NDIRA), an IRA administrative services provider, will give you a $50 credit if you refer a friend to open an account. The new account holder will get a $10 discount on the application fee.

NDIRA is a self-directed IRA provider that lets investors take control of their retirement funds. With an NDIRA account, you can invest your IRA in real estate, precious metals, private equity and more alternative assets.

Most IRA providers will choose your investments for you, or will require you to pick investments that the company has pre-determined. Typically, these investments are limited to publicly traded securities like stocks, bonds and mutual funds. However, an SDIRA puts the power back in your hands by enabling you to invest in what you know and trust.

NDIRA clients keep coming back and referring their friends and family because they are the best in the industry. We have unique technology that makes everything from buying property to collecting rent to exchanging gold assets for silver assets a breeze.

In the last year, NDIRA grew its client base more than 15 percent. That increase is largely because of the NDIRA’s innovation. By listening to investors, financial advisors and industry professionals, NDIRA has developed a service model of great technology and exceptional customer service that meets the unique needs of every partner.

Call us at NDIRA today to get started with alternative asset investing with self-directed IRAs. Whether your goal is to have a real estate IRA, gold IRA, health savings account (HSA) or anything in between, NDIRA can help.

IRA Plan Types Explained!

Saving for retirement is crucial and the IRS has provided several tools to help you do so.

The most common plan type is the Individual Retirement Arrangement or IRA. An IRA is like a bank account that you contribute to but can’t withdraw from until you are 59.5 years of age. As a bonus, the IRS has given IRAs special tax treatment to allow them to grow faster.

There are two types of IRAs: Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs. With a Traditional IRA, contributions (deposits) are made with pre-tax funds and are normally removed directly from your paycheck. This type of plan is called a tax-deferred plan because taxes are paid when the funds are distributed (withdrawn) at retirement. On the other hand, Roth IRA contributions are made with post-tax funds and since tax has already been paid there is no tax on distributions at retirement.

Complementary to the above Traditional IRA, the IRS offers two employer plans: the SEP IRA and the SIMPLE IRA. These plans increase employee’s contribution limits and allow the employer to contribute to their IRA as well. The SEP IRA is normally found in small companies and lets employees defer an additional $4,000 and allows the employer to contribute up to 25% of the employees salary to the plan. With a SIMPLE IRA, the employee can contribute an additional $10,000 a year and the employer contributes 3% of the employees’ compensation (or matches their contribution, whichever is less.) SIMPLE IRAs are often implemented in small to medium size companies because they are much more affordable than a 401(k) plan.

401(k)s, unlike SEPs and SIMPLEs, have no relation to Traditional IRAs other than that funds from a past employer’s 401(k) plan can be rolled-over into a Traditional IRA. Due to their relatively high cost, 401(k) plans are normally found in large companies however the plan is much more flexible than the other plans.

Unknown to most people, the IRS allows a broader rage of investments than securities. In fact, the IRS code only prohibits two investments: life-insurance and collectibles. This means that real estate, notes, LLCs, private stock, gold bullion, (and much more) are all possible investments in any of the above plans. Although these are all allowed, most administrators don’t offer them because each investment is unique and there is a high time involvement working with the client. To invest in these types of non-traditional investments, you need to move your plan to a self-directed administrator that specializes in this field of investing.

For more information on self-directed plans and non-traditional investments, contact New Direction IRA at 303-546-7930 or visit us at www.NewDirectionIRA.com