I’ve blogged a couple of times here at RCG about the benefits of using a self-directed IRA as an investment vehicle in Real Estate. When I originally set up my self-directed IRA I loved that I could control my retirement funds not only in securities but also in real estate.  I had to educate myself by going to seminars and talking to the very few professionals that understood the process.  However, being the do-it-yourselfer that I am, I traveled around the country attending lectures and symposiums until it started sinking in.

I set up the necessary entity and rolled over my IRAs and Seps into a Roth IRA (paid the taxes), created an LLC to buy real estate and then had my Roth IRA buy shares of my LLC.  This has been a great way to grow my retirement without ever paying taxes on the profit.

However, the process was cumbersome, I never thoroughly understood all the scary laws that would cause my self-directed IRA to loose it’s status and it was not always as fluid as I’d like. Such as, had I not attended the classes and done the research, I wouldn’t have even known where to go for the custodian that is required for the self directed retirement accounts.  Then, I had to find an accountant and an attorney who specialized in them.  Again, hard to find. Additionally, although I had good services in my chosen Custodial firm, I didn’t have the ability to have instant access to my money, and in fact, last month when I tried to take a distribution, it took over a week to get the cash out.  What if I’d wanted to purchase a home on the court house steps? not possible with my custodian.  I have no access to cash, nor do I have a checkbook.

Recently, I’ve learned of a completely different way of investing with self-directed IRA’s that’s being offered here in our own backyard in Bellevue. The company is Guidant Financial and they’ve developed a product called ‘Auriga’, (Auriga means the helsman of one’s ship).  Although I’m just learning about this product, it appears to provide a solution to problems inherent in custodial accounts by giving you checkbook control over your retirement account.  Additionally, Auriga allows the retirement plan to invest in more than one vehicle, and in my case, where my LLC sometimes is the owner of the property and sometimes is the lender, it allows for that flexibility.  Guidant is not the Custodial account for the IRA’s but has negotiated a very low fee thru a custodial business relationship that is not based on increasing the fee as the account increases in value.  The way they do this is to provide all the legal, accounting and guidance as Guidant Financial, streamlining the custodial role. My experience is that the custodian cannot give legal, accounting or much of any assistance in setting up the account, but it does charge an annual fee based on the size of the account.  Guidant Financial charges a one time up front fee for the setup and continued operation of the IRA account.  As your account value grows, the costs are still minimal since the custodian fees are not based on the size of the asset.

For more information there will be a webinar on Wednesday November 28 at 12pm.  I know that I’m not alone out there with my self-directed real estate investing.