You may be thinking, “Boy, private lending sounds great and I’d love to participate.” You also may be thinking, “Boy, I wish I had more capital available to invest!” In today’s day and age a lot of investors that were once flush with cash and disposable income are saying the same thing. The average American isn’t very liquid as it’s become more and more difficult to save in rough economic times.

What most people don’t know is that the greatest source of investment funds don’t actually come out of investors’ pockets. Instead, savvy individuals are using their retirements accounts, including 401k’s, SEP IRA’s, Roth IRA’s SIMPLE Plans, pensions and profit sharing plans to invest passively in private loans. And when they do, the best part about their investment is that it’s still shielded by the tax-free or tax-deferred status of their retirement plan!

The majority of individuals think that it’s impossible to invest in anything other than stocks and bonds in their retirement plan, but that’s because they haven’t been introduced to the SELF-DIRECTED IRA. They’ve also been told by their retirement plan custodian that stocks and bonds are all that they offer. But you’re about to know better – you’re about to realize that utilizing a SELF-DIRECTED IRA you can invest in just about anything that you want from within your retirement account!

What is a Self-directed IRA?

A Self-directed IRA is a retirement account like any other. A traditional self-directed IRA allows you to save and grow your wealth tax-deferred until you are ready to begin withdrawing funds during your golden years. A self-directed Roth IRA allows you to save and grow your wealth tax-free until you are ready to begin withdrawing funds. The real difference in what the account custodian will allow you to invest in. Self-directed IRA custodians like Pensco Trust Company (www.pensco.com) and Equity Trust Company (www.trustetc.com) are two of the largest and most respected self-directed IRA custodians in the country. By rolling over your current retirement account to one of these custodians or starting a new self-directed account with them you will now have the ability to invest in private loans, real estate, precious metals, and other alternative assets directly from your retirement account.

How to Get Started

If you’d like to explore the options presented to you by a self-directed IRA custodian, you should start by contacting several custodians to see which one is going to be the best fit for your account. Once you’ve selected a custodian they’ll help to guide you through the rest of the account setup process and get you ready to invest in your first private loan utilizing a self-directed IRA.