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

I ran across something today that may surprise you. I was reminded of why I founded the IRA Association of America. I hear some of the craziest things from prospects and new customers, such as

“My understanding is that my IRA can loan money to a Corporation I own part of.”

“I’ve heard that my company can do business with my IRA if things are structured right.”

First of all, these statements are both incorrect, and would each result in a prohibited transaction, triggering hefty tax penalties. Now, when I hear these type of statements I wonder where they come from. I’ve always figured that they must originate from various new, inexperienced companies with educational materials that are simply inaccurate. Today, I found out that I’m half correct. It is coming from inaccurate materials and sources, but to my surprise, these sources aren’t always new and inexperienced.

This post is in reference to an LLC facilitator called CHECKBOOK IRA located at www.checkbookira.net and www.checkbookira.com. These guys may be familiar to you because, at the time of this writing and for the past several years, these web sites come up in search engine results for terms like “ira llc” and “self directed ira”. Now, I’ve never met or spoken with the owner, Steve Sheperd, so I can only comment based on the information on his web sites.

Currently, if you go to CHECKBOOKIRA.net and click “legal rulings” it links to a ruling that says “Your IRA can make a loan to a company owned less than 50% by the IRA owner.” This caught my attention because the claim was contrary to the understanding given to me from seasoned Department of Labor agents. So I clicked the link and read the entire document. (It’s important to note that (more…)

The intent of this blog is to share information relating to:

• Self-Directed IRAs
• Solo 401(k) plans
• Private investments
• Raising capital
• Making your money work for you
• Taking control of your investments

In 2003, I started what grew into the IRA Association of America, an educational nonprofit association dedicated to providing the most comprehensive educational materials on the aforementioned subject matter. Over the past several years, I have been working to integrate all of the relevant information into a format that makes sense and minimizes misinformation.

In a nutshell, I’ve spent 5 years helping some people invest with their self directed IRA/401k. I don’t run 401k or IRA accounts for anyone, I just enable people to run their accounts themselves without limitations on investment choices. The investment decisions are always up to the accountholder, so I’ve done a lot of watching, and believe it or not my conclusion is:

Most self directed IRA/401k investments involve common, avoidable mistakes.

Future posts will aim to to spotlight these avoidable mistakes as well as offer alternative solutions that have helped to make self directed investing safe, effective, and profitable for those who’ve used them.