Thomas’ Story

What started out as an internet search about self-directed IRA’s has turned into a friendship that pays tremendous dividends. And, has allowed me and my family to feel piece of mind for my planned retirement.

I’ve been in the banking industry for 30 plus years and so I knew about the concept of Self-Directed IRA’s but trying to find a reputable, knowledgeable firm that could guide me, and handle the fiduciary responsibilities was something that eluded me…until I found Kaaren Hall and her team at uDirect IRA.

In my quest, I was looking for a “thought leader”, someone on the cutting edge but also fully accessible to each and every client. If I had a concern or even an observation, the uDirect IRA team was always there to answer questions.

In the beginning of the process, there are certain procedures, forms and other considerations (like custodial needs) to take into account. But once you get used to the process the interaction with the team is very easy to understand and follow.

But why a self-directed IRA, why not something else?

I’ve witnessed way too many friends put all their eggs in one basket and watch as their investments crash and they lose it all. In fact, I’ve been there, done that myself and have experienced more pain than gain. I’ve learned that diversification is very important not only to me but my friends as well.

So I did a couple of different things that ensure my retirement is fruitful but also protected against the “egg basket crash”. Because I’m close to retirement and wanting to obtain recurring yields from different assets I’ve taken some of my money and invested into real estate.

What I did was get into a number of real estate ventures that will give me recurring income. The assets are held in a self-directed IRA. Additionally, I used uDirect IRA to help me acquire a condominium during the downturn of the real estate market. I was able to hold on to that, manage it, had a tenant in there for multiple years and eventually I sold it for a 200% profit.

That was very rewarding and something that I couldn’t have done if I wasn’t using my self-directed IRA.

But timing is also a factor

and when there’s an opportunity in the real estate market when things get pretty beat up, that’s a great time to transition from the equity markets to some lower devalued assets. And that’s what we did.

So we expanded outside the normal realm of investing and used our self-directed IRA to become that vehicle that generates consistent returns. Since my goals were more retirement driven I clearly wanted more diversification. I was able to roll some funds from a 401k into a typical IRA then from that IRA, over to this self-directed IRA.

Kaaren and her team made the process very straight forward. They walked me through the process and outlined everything that needed to be filled out on every form. They were quick and made sure that I had all documents ready so the assets could be acquired in a timely fashion. And when I wanted to invest in things that were a little bit more exotic, Kaaren was there to help get me to my end goal.

Through the power of self-directed IRA’s I’m able to venture beyond the scope of typical real estate and invest in incubator companies and Kaaren’s group is there every step of the way. When issues regarding prospectus and the different instruments needed to fulfill the needs of the fiduciary arise, they make the process seamless and easy to understand.

As I move forward into my retirement, I’ve set a conservative bar that I want to achieve on a yearly basis of about 7.5%. And that my retirement assets generate a yield that produces enough income to replace my current working income.

I look at it this way, being around the equity markets for 30 plus years and experiencing with myself and others as well as with my clients, I watched valuations wax and wane over the years on different things that I had no control over. In a general sense, I watched as certain companies I had holdings with tumbled and their valuations went to absolutely zero.

So for me as I approach retirement, diversification of assets is more conservative than holding just equities. And having a team like uDirect IRA there to guide me, takes the risk out of investing.