There’s something that most “successful” Self-Directed IRA investors do that can spin them out of control and get them into trouble.

I say “successful” in quotation marks because I’m talking about the particular kind of Self-Directed IRA success that is sexy enough to be frequently written about.

What is this dirty deed that leads to massive profits and the potential implosion the very same Self-Directed IRA that got those profits?

Entrepreneurship.

Bad Entrepreneur!

Yep. Entrepreneurship is so powerful that it seems to be the source of all aggressive wealth creation. So where’s the danger?

Let me explain. Some of the most [initially] profitable Self-Directed IRA stories sounds something like this…

Joe, a Self-Directed IRA investor, knows how to work real estate deals into profits. So he buys and sells real estate in his Self-Directed IRA. Sometimes he involves bank financing. Sometimes he involves private financing and partnering.

But one thing is for sure: Once Joe purchases a property, the work has just begun. He has a system. He only buys properties that meet a certain criteria. After the closing, he usually has repairs and/or remodeling work done.

And his system works. He’ll put $30k or $40k of his Self-Directed IRA money into a deal and get $80k to $100k out, often less than a year or two later.

First, applaud Joe for being a successful entrepreneur.

Did you catch that? Joe is being an entrepreneur rather than an investor. This is because his deals have his active involvement rather than the passive placement of his money.

The Pinless Grenade

Unbeknownst to Joe, he’s no longer in control of his financial outcome. His choice to try to sneak business activity inside his IRA gives the IRS an open invitation to tax the hell out of him.

How much?

Well, the IRS can declare Joe’s IRA deals to be a “trade or business” in which they’ll apply the UBTI tax. Also known as the most aggressive tax schedule in the United States. It ramps up to 35% federal tax after only $10,000 of profit.

Will the IRS make this move? When?

That’s unknown, and Joe is no longer in control of his financial outcome.

Terrible Success

All kinds of strategies fit into this same category. I have a friend who has done over 100 deals inside his Self-Directed IRA, producing a return-on-investment of over 9,000%.

And he’s hiding under a rock. He won’t returns the calls of the newspaper and magazine reporters who want him to share his strategies with the world. He rarely teaches investing seminars, and when he does he only invites people who he has personally met and known for at least 6 months. He essentially lives a life of fear because he knows the day his Self-Directed IRA gets audited is the day he gives up at least $1,200,000 plus late penalties and interest to the IRS.

Enjoyable, Controlled Success

Do you know how to do deals that turn pennies into thousands? Thousands into millions?

Fantastic.

Don’t ever consider not pursuing massive profits, and don’t ever lock away your talents and skills to be unused.

Just take a few minutes to educate yourself about the best way to structure your deals to keep you in control.

More info coming in Part Two of this post soon  :-)

Finally! I’ve received many requests to make the book available in Kindle format. We started working on that about 6 months ago, and as of just a few days ago, it’s available.

Go here to purchase 5 Steps To Freedom on Kindle.

The book is more than financial education… it’s an action plan. And it’s more than only an action plan… it’s a proven action plan backed by over a dozen cases studies. It shows you true stories of friends and clients who have found massive success in their self-directed wealth management.

You’ll find that most case studies involved the use of a Solo 401(k) or a self-directed IRA LLC. If you’ve been brainstorming ways to make the most of a self-directed IRA LLC or Solo 401(k), then 5 Steps To Freedom can really pull things together for you in how it brings real success (and failure) stories to you. Knowing what works and what doesn’t can mean the difference between incredible achievements and embarrassing failure when using your self-directed IRA LLC or Solo 401(k).

Perhaps the most powerful information in the book is the simple exercises you can follow to remove the confusing “inflation goggles” and see what’s really happening to your wealth.

Check out the book in Kindle today and feedback is always welcomed!

• If your IRA owns mortgage-leveraged real estate, you owe UBIT.
• If your IRA or 401(k) owns an active business structured as a pass through entity (such as an LLC or partnership), you owe UBIT.
• If your 401(k) owns mortgage-leveraged real estate AND the mortgage is a “seller carry”, you owe UBIT.

UBIT, or Unrelated Business Income Tax, applies to tax exempt organizations including retirement plans. To pay UBIT, Form 990-T must be filed with the IRS. If this is all news to you, once you are done scolding yourself, you may want to file for an extension using Form 8868.

*** This is Part 3 of a series about the dangers of letting an administrator act as custodian. Make sure you read Part 1 and Part 2 first to make sense of this post. ***

The illegitimate custodian test

Ask “Who should the check be payable to for the rollover contribution or transfer?”

Ask “If my IRA buys real estate and rents it out, to whom should the tenant make the rent checks payable?”

Ask “If my IRA owns real estate that needs repairs, who issues and signs the check to the repairmen?”

These questions will tell you who is actually serving as custodian. For instance, if you live in TX and unregulated company Dotrust is marketing its self-directed IRA services to you, the answer to one or more of the questions above will probably be something like Dotrust of Texas, Inc. If this is the case, ask to see its bank or trust charter – if it is an illegitimate custodian it won’t have one, and it will insist that another bank is technically the custodian. It not only matters who’s the custodian on the paperwork is; but it also matters who is acting as custodian as uncovered by the answers to the 3 questions above.

Why would somebody operate an illegitimate custodian company?

First of all, if it’s a franchise operation, the franchisee might not even know that he or she is part of an illegitimate IRA custodian scheme. Secondly, there can be a lot of profit to be made in an illegitimate IRA custodian scheme. The company can earn interest off of your IRA funds, and it may pass only some (or even none) of that interest earned on to you. It may also be able to earn higher interest rates when it collectively has custody of hundreds of millions of dollars in funds.

Surprised?

You may be thinking “This sounds like a company I’ve run into. But it promotes and and advertises and has been in the business for decades… it can’t be illegitimate, can it????”

Many high-profile schemes have been shut down. The private annuity trust scheme was promoted for over a decade before the IRS shut it down. Additionally, being in business for decades doesn’t guarantee that business is legitimate. Look at Bernie Madoff.

Madoff may be a harsh comparison. Those involved in an illegitimate IRA custodian scheme may not be knowingly harming anyone. They may even be attorneys or CPAs. They may believe they’ve merely created a loophole for themselves with the “stepped transaction” arrangement. They may be good people. But the bottom line is that there are significant risks you take in using their services, and you will pay the consequences if uncovered by the authorities. In my opinion, it never makes sense to use an illegitimate custodian because there are dozens of regulated/legitimate self-directed IRA custodians out there. There should be a balance between risk and reward. There is significant risk of using an unregulated/illegitimate custodian, and it offers no unique reward that isn’t offered by other self-directed IRA custodians.

Confused? If you have a self-directed IRA or are thinking of opening one at a custodian company, perform the illegitimate custodian test as described above.

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