Individual retirement accounts are perhaps the single most powerful tool you have in your retirement planning arsenal. You have greater control and flexibility over your retirement funds as compared to an employer-sponsored 401(k), and a Roth IRA can provide significant benefits for tax savings and estate planning purposes.
Self-directed IRAs take things a step further. Having an account with a custodian such as Quest Trust Company will allow you to invest in an even wider range of asset types, including a variety of private investments. Here are some ways to increase your portfolio allocation into these investment types by using a self-directed IRA.
Private Mortgages. Regardless of the state of the economy, people are always going to want (or need) to buy and sell homes. The IRS regulations permit you to use a self-directed IRA in order to issue private mortgages. Provided you understand the process fully, follow all legal requirements and evaluate your risks accordingly, you may find this to be a significant boost to your portfolio.
In fact, when prevailing interest rates increase and it becomes more difficult for the average home buyer to get a loan from a bank, you may have even more opportunities for making private mortgages.
Private Equity. Similarly, a self-directed IRA can be used to make private equity investments as well. Depending on the size of your portfolio and your overall financial situation, this can be a way to gain a completely unique risk/reward exposure that wouldn’t be available in any other investment you could make.
Some private equity investments will require that the investor be a so-called “accredited investor”. This is a legal term defined by the SEC to mean a person who either (1) has a net worth of at least $1,000,000 (not including the value of their primary residence), or (2) has an annual income of at least $200,000 over each of the last two years (or has a joint income of $300,000 in each year with their spouse) and a reasonable expectation to achieve the same income this year.
Note that even if you’re looking to invest with your self-directed IRA and your account meets these standards, you’ll still need to meet those standards individually.
Private Partnership Interests. You can use your self-directed IRA to invest in various types of private partnerships. These may include traditional businesses as well as natural resources development opportunities such as those that can be found in the oil and gas industries.
Remember that when you invest your self-directed IRA in a private partnership, you’re prohibited from benefitting from it individually while the investment is still held within your account. So if the partnership invests in vacation real estate properties, neither you nor your family or any other related parties can stay in the property while you’re still invested.
Regardless of the private investments you’re considering making, be sure to do your research and understand all the risks before you commit your account funds.