Jeff Nabers’ Self Directed IRA & Solo 401(k) Blog

A question I get all the time is “Can I personally mow the lawn, maintain, and/or repair properties owned by my IRA LLC?” My answer is “No” which usually creates the response “But another company said I could.”

First, let’s summarize that the accountholder/participant of a retirement plan generally can’t have a transaction between themselves and their retirement plan. This includes the furnishing of services, sale of property, lending of money, and extension of credit between a plan and disqualified person (such as the accountholder). Next, let’s establish that active landlording means mowing the lawn, repairing, and fixing up properties, while passive landlording means collecting rent, paying mortgages/taxes/insurance, and contracting out the more active tasks to non-disqualified-persons. So is active landlording allowed? No, and I’ll provide two answers - the technical and the layman’s.

The Technical Answer

The argument for why active landlording for your IRA LLC’s property is not a prohibited transaction goes something like this…

As a general rule, the Internal Revenue Code provides (more…)

If there is one conversation central to society right now… it’s energy. More specifically oil. With gasoline passing the $4 per gallon mark in many parts of the country, it’s hard not to wonder what are our alternatives to the internal combustion engine automobile.

In the mid 90s, GM came out with quite a successful electric vehicle (EV), but mysteriously repossessed and destroyed all of them. While there are many theories as to their GM’s motives, perhaps it is more useful to focus on the car companies who are producing efficient, working, zero-emmissions vehicles that require no gasoline, oil, or internal explosions to operate:

Telsa Motors

Elon Musk, cofounder of leading online payment processor Paypal, has spearheaded the development and productions of the Tesla Roadster…

Driving Range: 221 miles
0 - 60 mpg in under 4 seconds
To Speed: 125 mph
Energy cost: $0.02 per mile (about 10 times cheaper than a gasoline car)
Retail Price: $110,000
Full charge: about 3 hours

This isn’t a “we hope to offer it in the future” car. It’s already been produced. Over 600 have been sold or reserved, and there are an additional 400 on the waiting list. The roadster is a car that will hang with Ferraris and other exotic, high performance sports cars.

More importantly, Tesla plans to introduce a $60,000 luxury sedan in 2009, and a $30,000 model soon thereafter.

EV’s Longer car life

If you think $110k or $60k for an electric vehicle is expensive, think again. While the (more…)

Probably one of the must unknown facets of retirement planning is that you can distribute before age 59 ½ for any reason without paying the extra 10% early distribution tax. How?

Substantially Equal Periodic Payments

1. Set a distribution schedule calculated using IRS tables
2. The schedule must have regular payments of a certain consistent amount.
3. You must make receive these distributions from your retirement account either until you reach age 59 ½ or for a 5 year period… whichever is longer.

Internal Revenue Code Section 72(t) is where the extra 10% tax for “early distributions” (before age 59 ½) is imposed. However, if you read on to IRC 72(t)(2)(A)(iv) it is explained that the 10% tax is not applicable to any distribution that is part of a series of Substantially Equal Periodic Payments - or SEPP for short.

To give you an idea of how this works using calculations from IRS life expectancy tables, let’s examine a fictional case study with round numbers for simplicity:

Jared is considering early retirement at age 45, and over the years he has grown his IRA to an asset value of $2,000,000. He isn’t sure whether he wants to completely retire, work part time, pursue a career change, or start a new business. Let’s take a look at his options… (more…)

Solo 401(k)’s most touted feature is its uniquely large annual contribution limits ($46k - $102k). A lesser known feature may be just as useful for some: participant loans.

What is a participant loan?

A Solo 401(k) participant can borrow up to either $50,000 or 50% of their account value with the following terms:

• To be repaid over an amortization schedule of 5 years or less
• Regular payments no less frequently than quarterly
• At a reasonable rate of interest… generally interpreted as prime rate + 1%

Such a loan may only be made in accordance with the Solo 401(k) plan documents. While most plan documents disallow this type of loan, the Unlimited® 401k offered by my company does allow it.

Under what conditions is this allowed?

Any. As long as the plan documents allow for it & the proper loan documents are prepared and executed, a participant loan can be made for any reason.

When is this useful?

This can be useful when (more…)

Do you have an IRA/401k-owned investment property that has a mortgage and negative cash flow?

Something I’ve been running into lately is Self Directed plan investors who speculatively bought a house or condo in previously hot markets (think Vegas, Florida, Phoenix, etc). Some of these areas have experienced declining values and declining rental income for short term rental properties.

If your plan (IRA or 401k) bought a house & obtained a non-recourse mortgage loan qualified based on short term rental income that has declined, you probably have negative cash flow. How can you avoid foreclosure? Loan money to your IRA/401k.

Loaning money to your IRA or 401k

A little known (more…)

We all have that friend who is financially irresponsible. You know, they have a new cell phone every time one comes out. They lease a brand new car every 2 years. Their credit cards are maxed out. And they don’t really have a game plan on how to pay for the stuff they have. The best I can tell is that our government is kind of like that. If you look at the timeline, all major tax changes result in increased taxation. Let’s just look at what happened with Social Security:

• In 1935, the Social Security Act was passed, and the Social Security benefits systems was created. Benefits were not to be taxed.
• In 1937, FICA began payroll taxes of 2% in order to fund the payout of SS benefits.
• In 1950, payroll taxes were raised to 3% in order to fund the payout of SS benefits.
• In 1956, payroll taxes were raised to 4% in order to fund the payout of SS benefits.
• In 1972, payroll taxes were raised to 9.2% in order to fund the payout of SS benefits.
• In 1977, payroll taxes were raised to 9.9% in order to fund the payout of SS benefits.
• In 1983, payroll taxes were raised to 10.8% in order to fund the payout of SS benefits.
• Starting in 1984, up to 50% of an individual’s or couple’s Social Security benefits were (more…)

With tens of thousands of self directed IRA investors utilizing LLC structures to enjoy “checkbook control” authority of their self directed IRA investments, this post may serve as great news for those who aim to follow suit.

Solo 401(k) retirement plans can grant direct checkbook control without the use of an LLC or custodian.

The concept of custodian comes from Internal Revenue Code Section 408(a)(2) and is defined in Section 408(n). This entire IRC section 408 is devoted to Individual Retirement Accounts, or IRAs. The code basically explains that an IRA is normally a trust, and the trustee must be a bank. It then defines bank as a bank, trust company, or any company specifically approved by the IRS. This capacity of trustee to an IRA is known as “custodian”. This trustee role is simply that of investing the plan as directed by the accountholder.

A Solo 401(k) plan is a type of 401(k) that is designed for self employed individuals whose businesses have no full time employees. All 401(k) plans are qualified plans, and qualified plans do not have any special restrictions on who can serve as trustee.

So the significant difference is that with a Solo 401(k), the participant can actually be the trustee and handle (more…)

I recently talked to a real estate investor friend online who I have known for about 4 years. He started investing in the height of the housing bubble, and now I think he’s finding it difficult to shed the “bubble mentality”. In our conversation I did my best to cause him to question his perspective and his investing strategy.

I’ve pasted our Instant Message conversation below (with the screen names changed for privacy). I didn’t correct capitalization, punctuation or spelling errors, so you’ve been forewarned.

I thought this would be a useful post because of how tightly this gentleman seemed to grip onto his investment strategy he’d been using since 2004. How tightly are you gripping onto your investment strategy?

[19:00] re_investor: HI Jeff
[19:00] re_investor: How are you buddy?
[19:00] jeff_nabers: Hey there
[19:01] jeff_nabers: I’m doing good. How are you?
[19:01] re_investor: How have you been doing?
[19:01] re_investor: Im alright!
[19:01] jeff_nabers: How’s the RE market up there?
[19:01] re_investor: OH its tight!!
[19:01] re_investor: Its flat and declined over the pervious 6 months
[19:01] re_investor: TOUGH
[19:02] jeff_nabers: what about cash flow?
[19:02] re_investor: Its cashing …
[19:02] re_investor: but, its still tight. I actually was in the process of buying another one
[19:02] re_investor: I stoped canceled the purchase/sale
[19:03] jeff_nabers: how did your previous investments turn out?
[19:03] re_investor: Oh great actually..
[19:03] re_investor: I sold the one in Fairview park
[19:03] re_investor: I got a cash buyer
[19:03] re_investor: The other three are turning out fine
[19:04] re_investor: The one house I have I have 67K in equity right now
[19:04] re_investor: I am currently renting it for 1K
[19:04] re_investor: but, I cant do anything with it until the maket comes back
[19:04] jeff_nabers: Sounds decent
[19:04] jeff_nabers: how’s the cash flow return?
[19:04] re_investor: Its about 300 dollars
[19:04] jeff_nabers: renting it at $1k what do you net per year?
[19:04] jeff_nabers: i see so 6k per year
[19:05] jeff_nabers: how much money did you put into it?
[19:05] re_investor: I was just in the process of refinancing it
[19:05] re_investor: and the mtg company I was using closed up
[19:05] re_investor: so the refi stoped
[19:05] jeff_nabers: how much money did you put in tha tone?
[19:06] re_investor: I was bummed out
[19:06] re_investor: I put in 15K
[19:06] re_investor: to fix it up
[19:06] jeff_nabers: and the down payment was?
[19:06] re_investor: It was alot
[19:06] re_investor: I cant remember…
[19:07] re_investor: I am trying to do something with the equity.. but, I dont know what
[19:07] re_investor: There is not much I can do
[19:07] jeff_nabers: you don’t remember how much you put down?
[19:08] re_investor: why are you wanting to no such details?
[19:08] jeff_nabers: i’m curious what your return is
[19:08] jeff_nabers: cashing out would only decrease your cashflow
[19:08] re_investor: I got into it on no money down
[19:08] re_investor: I had good credit
[19:08] jeff_nabers: well then i would never refi it and never sell it
[19:09] jeff_nabers: you are making a 40% annualized return on the cash you put in
[19:09] re_investor: yeah. Its only worth so much you know
[19:09] jeff_nabers: why would you ever want to take an asset like that off your books?
[19:09] re_investor: To use the equity in the house
[19:09] jeff_nabers: with 10 - 15 of those you’d never have to work again
[19:09] jeff_nabers: to use the equity to do what? continue working real estate like a job?
[19:10] re_investor: right. I just need 9 - 14 more of them
[19:10] jeff_nabers: do your other properties cash flow like this one? (more…)

For many small businesses forming an LLC in your home state is the simplest and most convenient option. An LLC that does business in a state other than where it was initially registered must register as a “foreign LLC” (foreign meaning from a different state, not a different country) with the state in which it conducts business.

When an LLC is registered with a state, a registered agent must be named. This is the person or corporation designated to accept official documents on behalf of the LLC. This person or corporation must reside in the state of formation. If you are registering an LLC in a state in which you don’t reside, you’ll need to choose a person or corporation residing in that state to serve as your registered agent. There are many companies who provide a registered agent service for a nominal fee.

There are advantages to choosing certain states in which to initially register your LLC. Many large corporations choose to form an LLC in Delaware because (more…)

Did you get your $600 check yet? What will you do with it? Surveys are saying that most Americans will use their “Economic Stimulus” check to deal with gas, food, and catching up on bills. This doesn’t stimulate the economy.

Consumer spending stimulates the economy. In other words, the Department of Treasury sent out checks to us all totaling $150 billion in hopes that we would buy clothes, jewelry, and electronics. Let’s take a step back for a moment and assess how our system works:

Two thirds of our nation’s economic activity is coming from people spending money. When our economy is “going good” it is because people are spending money - often more than they make or have. When our economy is “doing badly” it is because people are saving money or living within their means.

Finances 101

This is America and everyone wants to be rich. How does one become rich?

Make more money than you spend.

Or spend less than you make… in case that hits closer to home for you.

A person following those rules is becoming wealthy, while a person who practices opposite rules is becoming poorer. Here’s where things start to look funny. Our economic system is booming when people are becoming (more…)