Investor Services
Watching your retirement savings dwindle in today’s economic environment can be particularly discouraging. Unexpected and unpleasant market risk discoveries, like Bernie Madoff, or the Goldman/Sachs controversy left many investors suspicious and dissatisfied – particularly “baby boomers.”
Many investors have adopted a strategy to manage public market hazards by investing their retirement savings in private ventures through a “self-directed retirement account” (we call it a “SDRA”), sometimes referred to as a “self-directed IRA.” A SDRA can open up a myriad of investment options not otherwise available, such as real estate, promissory notes, small businesses and the like.
But if you’ve never done it before, you’re wondering how to get started. That’s where we come in. Our SDRAStartup™ Services are designed for individual investors who want to get started with a self-directed IRA, ROTH IRA, Solo(k) or SEP IRA.
How to Get Started with Our SDRAStartup™ New Account Service
To get started you have to take two simple steps:
- Establish a self-directed retirement account with a qualified custodian, and
- Transfer or contribute retirement funds to it.
Those funds have to come from your existing retirement account. Our SDRAStartup™ New Account Service is designed to help you establish your new SDRA account with one of our approved custodians and transfer assets from your traditional account.
SDRAStartup™ Rollover Service
If your account is already established with one of our approved custodians, you may want to transfer new assets from your traditional account to your SDRA account. We will prepare the paperwork for you to do that.
SDRAStartup™ Planning Review
When you get started in SDRA investing, it’s important to make sure your beneficiary designation is consistent with the other aspects of your estate planning. Any time you establish a retirement account you should be sure to designate the beneficiary. If you don’t, the retirement funds in the account will end up going to your “estate” – and that can be an income tax disaster for your beneficiaries. Our SDRAStartup Planning Review™ service helps make sure your SDRA’s beneficiary designation fits with the rest of your estate plan.
SDRAStartup™ Beneficiary Designation Service
When you get started with your new self-directed retirement account, the custodian will ask you to designate your beneficiary on the account, like any other retirement account. We can help you make sure your beneficiary designations are consistent with your overall estate and retirement planning and that if you are disabled, the appropriate person will be able to control the account on your behalf.
SDRAStartup™ Investment Directive Service
Once you get your new account started, you will need to choose an investment and direct your SDRA custodian to make the investment. Investment directives should be carefully prepared in light of the special IRS and Labor Department compliance requirements in order to permit the custodian to accept the instructions. We will prepare all the instructions to direct your custodian to make the investment. (This service does not include assistance in structuring the investment vehicle. See SDRA Startup Initial Transaction Review™, the Direct, Solo and Private Placement Services.)
Contact us at 617-379-6931 to get started!