When you consider your retirement, do you fret and worry, or do you think about it with confidence? That might be the most important question in all of retirement planning—and yet too many people answer with the former and not the latter. Why is that? One reason may be that too many investors have not taken the time to even open an account that will encourage them to invest. But if you’re unsure about opening a Self-Directed IRA account, now is the time to add certainty to your life. In this article, we’ll address what you can do to open a Self-Directed IRA account with as minimal stress as possible. You might be surprised to find out how quickly it can go. Here’s what to do.

Opening Your First Self-Directed IRA Account

If you’ve already done your research and know that you want to open your account with a specific Self-Directed IRA administration firm, then good: you can skip to the next section for more practical steps. But if you’re still unsure of what a Self-Directed IRA is, we should probably highlight the key things you’ll need to know first:

• A Self-Directed IRA is a valid retirement account. An IRA can be a Roth IRA, a Traditional IRA, a SEP-IRA, or even a Self-Directed Solo 401(k). This will be a legitimate retirement account, but with one key difference.
• You will work with a Self-Directed IRA custodian. To keep your account, separate from your personal investments, an IRA works through a custodian, such as New Vision Trust Company, and American IRA, LLC who will serve as the third-party administrator on the account. You’re still the one who owns the IRA and who controls what goes into it. But you will issue buy/sell orders through this custodian to maintain a degree of separation between your personal investments and your retirement investments, which is a key distinction that makes retirement accounts possible.

With these key points out of the way, it’s now time to consider what it looks like when you want to open the Self-Directed IRA account and start investing.

The Steps to Create a Self-Directed IRA

Once you know your priorities and what type of account you want to open, you should click “Open a New Account” under our menu. You’ll notice this takes you to a list of application kits. The American IRA application kits include kits for Traditional and Roth IRAs, Solo 401(k) plans, SIMPLE IRAs, HSAs, Coverdell accounts, and SEP-IRAs. (Note: this is why we noted how important it is for you to consider what type of account you want to open before getting started).

The next step is to fill out the application. You can sign these forms digitally once you’re ready. After that point, with the application approved, you can go on to funding your account. We also provide forms for that, including transfer forms, rollover forms, deposit slips, direct withdrawal documents, and more.

Click on “Purchase Your Investment” and you’ll also see the possibilities of buy orders within the Self-Directed IRA, such as real estate, notes, private entities, and more. You’ll even see a “General Instructions” document under “Other Asset Types,” which helps highlight just how many options are available to you when you use a Self-Directed IRA.

Interested in learning more about Self-Directed IRAs?  Contact American IRA, LLC at 866-7500-IRA (472) for a free consultation.  Download our free guides or visit us online at www.AmericanIRA.com.