When two people see a spider, they can have two very different reactions. One person can see a harmless little arachnid that’s just trying to get out of the cold. Another person can see a terrifying intruder that has to be destroyed immediately. One person will remain calm and go back to what they were doing; the other person will leap up, grab a can of bug spray, and spring into action. The lesson: our fears help determine our actions. And when it comes to our fears about retirement and a phrase like Self Directed IRA, our fears can sometimes cost us thousands of dollars—and maybe more.

So what are your Self Directed IRA fears, and what do they have to do with your reactions as an investor? Let’s explore some of the most common fears and see if we can learn a better way to deal with them:

Fear: A Self Directed IRA Gives You Too Much Control

This is one of the most basic fears new investors have: they feel lost. They feel unconfident. They’re certain about only one thing: that they have no idea what they’re doing, so the more control they have, the worse off they are. But if you step through that fear and educate yourself about investments, about retirement accounts, and learn about all of the protections you can get with these retirement accounts, you’ll soon learn that the fear never had a real hold on you in the first place: it was you getting in your own way all this time. As always, fight fear with education.

Fear: You Can’t Turn Back

True, there can sometimes be penalties and fees associated with reversing a decision you make in an IRA. But that doesn’t mean there’s no turning back from some of your investing decisions. Many people will contribute investments to their IRA and forget about them until it’s time to retire; other people need the money or need to make adjustments. The truth is, there are ways you can change your decisions and modify your retirement portfolio without excessive fees and penalties. Don’t let the fear of not being able to turn back to where you started determine the decisions you make—or the decisions you don’t make.

Fear: Leaving the Beaten Path

What if you’re making the wrong choice and everyone else around you is making the right choice? That’s one of the most common fears there is: the fear that you’re making a mistake by leaving the herd. And in the case of the Self Directed IRA, the “beaten path” refers to the types of investors who put their money in mutual funds and bonds and absolutely nothing else.

The truth about the situation is that you don’t have to completely abandon this path. It’s not an “either/or” proposition in every single case. You can make alternative investments in gold and precious metals and hold a majority of your investments in stocks and bonds. You can invest in real estate while still building up a traditional Roth IRA. Stop believing that in order to leave the beaten path, you have to abandon it completely. Sometimes, it helps to beat the beaten path by taking the better road.

Fear: Not Knowing Enough

One of the most common fears is that you don’t know enough about retirement investing to take action. We’re here to help in that respect. Keep reading about the Self Directed IRA here at AmericanIRA.com and call us at 1-866-7500-IRA(472) if you want to know more about what these retirement accounts really function like. The more you learn, the better chance you stand at beating your fears and grabbing hold of your financial destiny.