IRA Financial Blog
Insights, strategies, and expert answers on self-directed retirement, taxes, and alternative investing.
The 9 Questions You Must Ask Any ROBS 401(k) Provider Before Signing
A Rollover as Business Startup (ROBS) is one of the most powerful and least understood business financing tools available to entrepreneurs. It allows…
Self-Directed IRA Disqualified Persons: What You Need to Know
A Self-Directed IRA allows you to make alternative asset investments with your retirement funds. In other words, it gives you more options than just…
Solo 401(k) Contribution Timing: How to Maximize Deductions When Your Income Fluctuates
Variable income is the defining financial reality for most self-employed investors, and it is the scenario where Solo 401(k) contribution timing…
IRA Financial vs. Benetrends
Benetrends has a unique claim in the ROBS space: they invented it. Founder Leonard Fischer pioneered the Rollover as Business Startups structure in…
Can You Hold a Precious Metals IRA Without a Depository? What the IRS Actually Says
Precious Metals IRAs are one of the most misunderstood corners of self-directed retirement investing. Dozens of promoters advertise "home storage…
The Rise of Progressive Politics and the Roth IRA: Why Locking In Tax-Free Wealth Matters More Than Ever
If there is one lesson I have learned during more than two decades practicing tax law, it is this: tax laws never stand still. Congress changes.…
Crypto IRA Tax Reporting: What Forms You Need and What Most Providers Get Wrong
Crypto IRA tax reporting sits at the intersection of two areas where errors are common: cryptocurrency taxation and Self-Directed IRA compliance.…
Self-Directed IRA Fee Structures: How Flat Fee and Asset-Based Models Compare Over Time
Most Self-Directed IRA investors compare custodians by looking at the annual fee headline number. That comparison is almost always misleading. A…
AI, the S&P 500, and the Self-Directed IRA: Why Diversification Matters More Than Ever
If you are a Self-Directed IRA investor or anyone building long-term retirement wealth, the rise of artificial intelligence raises a question most…
IRA Financial vs. Guidant Financial
If you're looking to fund a business using your retirement savings, you've probably come across two well-known names in the ROBS space: IRA Financial…
Checkbook IRAs Can Be a Smart Choice in a High-Interest Rate Environment
When interest rates rise, the conventional wisdom is to move money into bonds, CDs, and money market funds. What that advice ignores is that a…
How to Use a SEP IRA and Solo 401(k) Simultaneously: The Rules and the Math
Most self-employed investors know they can open a SEP IRA or a Solo 401(k). Far fewer know they can hold both simultaneously, and that in specific…