Insight & Updates

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 …

Did you know that one alternative investment you can use in a Self-Directed IRA is…a private lending strategy? It can be especially helpful for investors who want income in their IRA, but don’t necessarily want to tie their IRA to a real estate asset, or dividend-paying stocks. But let’s get specific. What kinds of loans …

The stock market is great. We have nothing against it. But not every investor wants to invest in the stock market with every last dollar, either. That includes money in your retirement account. So, what can you do to hold retirement assets outside the stock market? Simple. Acquire a Self-Directed IRA. This method of arranging …

Imagine it: rather than stocks in your IRA, you hold real property. A single-family home generating monthly rent. Raw land, growing in price via appreciation. Whatever it is, the answer is yes: it’s possible to buy real estate within your Self-Directed IRA without breaking IRS rules. But what will investors need to know about this …

Want to feel secure in your retirement? Imagine a Roth IRA that owns land. Roth IRAs, as you know, are after-tax accounts that don’t require additional tax payments when you make withdrawals once hitting retirement age. And since land is scarce, holding raw land within a Self-Directed Roth IRA gives you the peace of mind …

Every market swing reminds investors just how little control they have over what happens next. But a Self-Directed IRA is different. You can use it to hold assets that don’t necessarily move in lockstep with Wall Street. That’s one of the biggest reasons these accounts have gained attention in recent years. Investors want steadier ground. …

They say that buying a house feels different than renting, because if it’s your first time, the feeling of ownership changes things. Now the house is yours. But what about when your IRA owns a piece of investment property? How does that change things? Holding real estate inside a Self-Directed IRA is indeed different than …

You like to get your hands dirty? Welcome to the club. Here at American IRA, we’re all about self-direction. That means Self-Directed IRAs, or retirement accounts where you get to pick what investments end up inside them. But how does that work exactly? How can a Self-Directed IRA make your retirement feel more “hands-on”? And …

Everyone wants a safe retirement. The question is, what’s the best way to create a safe retirement? For many investors, the answer to that question is Self-Directed IRAs in which you can choose the investments you hold. For other investors…well, they sound like they’re a little too far off the beaten path. So how safe …

Is “traditional” always better? Not necessarily. Sometimes, sure. Other times, traditional simply means an old way of doing things. But the specific case of the Self-Directed Traditional IRA is a bit more complicated than these paradigms. There are reasons to contribute to a Traditional IRA, after all, and it will always help retirement investors to …