Many people are wanting more control over their retirement plans in order to take advantage of the recent surge in the economy. More and more are considering the Check Book IRA. In order to help with the decision on whether this investment tool is right for you, we’ve listed four of the advantages it provides.

1. Lower fees
With a Check Book IRA, the only asset of your IRA is the LLC. You still have a custodian for your IRA but all of your assets are owned by the LLC which is, in turn, owned by your IRA. The result is the custodian only charges the IRA for one asset. As your Check Book IRA-LLC makes different investments and transactions, you’re never charged a single penny from the Custodian because those transactions occur in the LLC. Our custodian does NOT charge a fee based upon the value of your IRA.

2. Increased control
The Check Book IRA gives one the ability to move quickly on investment opportunities. Have you ever attempted to make an investment with your IRA only to find that the processing times of your Custodian is simply too long and too cumbersome?

It is great to have the power, as the LLC manager, to sign all the necessary documents and then simply pull out a checkbook and write a check for the investment. Need a bank wire sent out or a Cashier’s Check to complete the transaction? You can just stop by the bank and take care of it-Today!

You get control so you can invest in a timely manner.

3. Ability to creatively structure a deal
This reason piggybacks somewhat on the previous reason. Part of what makes the ability to move quickly on an investment so valuable is your ability to creatively structure a deal. We don’t mean “creative” in the tax avoidance way; we mean creative in the sense that you have the power to draw up an agreement that works for all the parties involved. We’ve all run into investments that needed a bit of tweaking and left us scratching our heads for a day or two until the “Aha!” moment came along. Suddenly we see how to structure the deal so that everyone involved is happy and comes out well. With a Check Book IRA, you’re always in the driver’s seat when it comes to having the ability to structure a deal.

4. You get to invest in what you know
This is a biggie. We have one client in Arizona who has been a successful real estate investor for 30 years or so. He’d become an expert in that particular market, and has made millions doing it. Yet, despite this, he had an enormous retirement plan in New York that was stuck in the stock market – something he knew nothing about. By setting up a Check Book IRA, he was able to gain control of his retirement funds and put them to use in an area he knew inside and out. Your expertise might not be real estate, but everyone is good at something, and a Check Book IRA allows you to invest in what you know.

There are other advantages to the Check Book IRA and the Solo 401(k). Contact the experts at Check Book IRA today to see how your retirement might benefit from this control.