By Jim Ingersoll

Are you ready to take control of your own retirement future? Are you ready to begin to diversify your investments beyond the traditional stocks, bonds and mutual funds? Do you have what it takes to invest how, where and when you want? If you answered yes to these qualification questions, then you are a prime candidate to add rocket fuel to your retirement by utilizing a self‐directed IRA .

It is estimated that only two percent of the total assets in IRAs are held in a self-­directed IRA. The self-­directed IRA is a well-­kept secret and we are ready to reveal the powerful investment opportunities that await the savvy retirement investor.

Self-Directed IRA

The Self‐directed IRA is perfect for the investor who is prepared to make his/her own investments outside the arena of stocks, bonds, CDs and mutual funds. The types of investments that are possible with a self‐directed IRA extend to the following:

• Real Estate – Residential single family, multi-family, mobiles on land, commercial property and raw land

• Notes, Deeds of Trust and mortgages – secured with real estate, unsecured, automobiles, etc.

• Foreign currency – investing in the exchange rate between the US and other currencies

• Oil and Gas – Production, royalties, mineral rights, etc.

• Precious metals including gold and silver – Hedge against all political, social and other influences

• Private and Public Stock – Venture capital type investments

• Tax lien certificates – Investing in tax delinquent real estate

• Many other alternate investments – If you are ready to jump-start your retirement and give it new life for 2012, then you will want to consider jumping into some alternate investments that are not tied to the traditional stock market. There are a lot of great opportunities in each of these alternate investment classes. For instance, if you can learn to invest in real estate and mortgages, you can find investments that are returning 6–15% annually.

Prohibited Transactions for Self-Directed IRAs

There are some prohibited transactions associated with a self-directed IRA and I will highlight a few of the big ones for you:

• Collectibles such as stamps, antiques and rugs
• Life insurance
• Alcoholic beverages
• Lend money to yourself (IRA holder)
• Profit from investments must go back to IRA account
• Transactions with disqualified people including: Self, Spouse, Parents, Children

Both a traditional and Roth IRA can be self-­directed. The traditional approach for an IRA will have a custodian control your retirement account with services they sell which are typically stocks, bonds and mutual fund type products. However, with a truly self‐directed IRA custodian you are the one in control of your retirement account and you are responsible for making your own investments.

A self‐directed IRA is easy to establish and roll funds into. Once your account is established, the custodian takes the role of account administrator and will help direct your investment transactions. They will direct the paperwork and documentation as well as provide guidance to help you not make a prohibited
transaction along the way.

Investment Control

The account owner is the one who makes every single investment decision and ultimately determines how, where and when to invest the retirement funds. Now that the best kept IRA secret has been revealed, you are free to begin investing in any of the asset classes that you choose. You should choose your investment wisely based upon your knowledge and the risk you are willing to take with your retirement funds.

The good news is that there are plenty of great investment options that exceed the scope of traditional stocks, bonds, mutual funds and CDs. If you have the investing knowledge you may want to invest in oil by buying production, mineral rights or on a royalty interest. Maybe you are ready to invest in a precious metal such as gold or silver or maybe you are like me and ready to capitalize on the greatest transfer of real estate wealth of our generation.

The good news is that all of these investment options are available through a self-directed IRA.

Compound Interest

Are you ready to take charge of your own retirement for 2012? Now is the time to get yourself ready to take control of your own retirement investing. Albert Einstein said, “The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.” When Einstein makes statements like that, we need to listen.

Let me show you the difference between a 5% return, 10% return and 15% return starting with a $100,000 balance and investing for 20 years:

$100,000 with a 5% return for 20 years will grow to $271,264.32

$100,000 with a 10% return for 20 years will grow to $732,808.95

$100,000 with a 15% return for 20 years will grow to $1,971,555.75

Now is the perfect time to plan your future and determine what rate of return you need to meet your
retirement investing goals.

One way to take full control of your own retirement investing is to roll funds into a self-directed IRA using the investment of your choice as the vehicle to achieve your personal goals.