Expert Retirement Planning

TommyJoe A. Valenzuela ("TJ") Valenzuela, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Trust Administration Services, offers the following information about the  self-directed IRAs.

Benefits of Self-Directed IRAs
Valenzuela summarizes the Benefits of Self-Directed IRAs as follows:

Like traditional IRAs, a self-directed IRA allows taxes on assets held inside the IRA account to be deferred or postponed until the money is withdrawn from the account.

With a self-directed IRA, account owners have the hands-on ability to improve investment returns because they choose assets that are not publicly marketed.

For real estate investors, this represents an opportunity to capitalize on real estate knowledge.

Additionally, taxes on appreciation and rental income are deferred, thereby allowing the investor’s portfolio to grow at an even faster rate.

Another possibly larger benefit of a self-directed IRA is broader diversification. Recent volatility in the stock market has forced many investors to take a hard look at their investments' allocation, to ensure that they represent a proper mix of opportunity and risk.

A self-directed IRA provides a broader mix of investment opportunities beyond the traditional publicly traded assets, including a broad choice of real estate investment options, including residential rentals, commercial properties, condominiums, mobile homes, raw land, trust deeds/mortgages, and mortgage pools

What this means for investors:
According to Valenzuela, “Many investors have become increasingly disenchanted with recent stock market volatility, not to mention corporate scandals and corruption that have seriously depleted investor confidence as well as their retirement accounts. It's no wonder more and more retirement accounts have begun to include alternatives that provide more control over their retirement nest eggs:  The self-directed IRA.”