Insight & Updates

Be honest. When you first hear about Self-Directed IRAs, your first instinct might be to get a little carried away. Investments of almost any type, wrapped in the tax protections of a retirement account, can sound too good to be true. And in some ways, it is—at least if you misunderstand how these accounts really …

If you bought gold five years ago, congratulations: price movement in 2025 and 2026 means you’re likely doing quite well. But as a Self-Directed IRA administration firm, we don’t tell you what to buy with your retirement account. Instead, we explain how to buy it and execute the transaction on your behalf. So what should …

Let’s say you’ve made the decision. You’re ready to add more alternative assets to your retirement account because you want more diversification than simply owning stock funds. That could mean access to real estate, precious metals, tax liens, and more. But then you start wondering how this is going to look in practice. What kinds …

You’ve heard of Self-Directed IRAs. The proposition is simple: holding your IRA with a Self-Directed IRA administration firm allows you to choose alternative investments that a typical brokerage might not offer. But when it comes to the specific account type you use, that’s a different question. Is a Roth IRA best for you? A Traditional …

Many investors are excited to learn they can invest in real estate within a tax-protected Self-Directed IRA. Then they realize something important: they may need a loan. And since loans typically involve personal guarantees and credit checks, that can seem complicated at first. But there is a specific type of financing that works with retirement …

In our recent webinar collaboration with American IRA, we focused on a question we hear from self-directed investors all the time: How do you pursue real-estate-backed returns without signing up for tenant calls, rehab surprises, and single-property concentration risk?   One potential answer is secured private lending—and, specifically, using a professionally managed, diversified private debt fund to access short-term, real-estate–secured loans in a more passive …

Let’s face it: tax liens don’t get the attention that gold or real estate do. But that doesn’t mean they’re any worse. If you use a Self-Directed IRA, after all, you want alternative assets. And for the right investor, tax liens can actually feel surprisingly straightforward. Still, a lot of people read the word “tax” …

The free lunch. Many people think it’s a myth, but when you’re talking about “tax-free” with retirement investing, the next best thing is the Roth IRA. A Self-Directed Roth IRA is famous for taking after-tax money (meaning your contributions aren’t tax-deductible), and allowing you to grow these funds tax-free in your retirement account. Then, when …

You know about the HSA—a Health Savings Account. Most people think about these accounts only in terms of healthcare, which makes sense. But fewer people think about them as financial tools, and that’s a shame. A Self-Directed HSA is a powerful way to set money aside for medical expenses, but it can also serve as …

For a younger investor, retirement is a long way off. It’s hard to think about what you’ll be doing when you reach retirement age (officially 59 ½, based on when you can start taking out distributions without penalties) when you’re only 25 years old, for example. But the beauty of that arrangement is that if …