How secure are you? We at AmericanIRA.com feel like we know a thing or two about this area and have put together some essential Self-Directed IRA strategies for feeling—and being—more secure with your retirement portfolio.

We don’t mean psychologically—that’s a blog post for another day. We’re talking about the feelings of real financial security. When it comes to their retirement portfolio, some people are plenty secure—but we also find that a great many people are worried about the future and aren’t sure that they’re doing enough to build up a nest egg that will stand the test of time.

So how do you create a retirement portfolio that will feel more secure while actually being more secure than the average Joe’s retirement portfolio?

Become Truly Diversified

“Hedging” is one of the most popular phrases you’ll hear in investing. But what does it mean? Well, to many people, hedging simply refers to placing some safe bets to go along with your riskier bets—that way, even if things go awry, you can feel safe knowing that some part of your overall investments will work.

But how many people actually stop to think about how they can hedge their retirement portfolio? Most people don’t. They follow the traditional advice of investing in the stock market, trusting fund managers to do the hedging for them, and poof—their money follows the market and nothing else. What kind of diversified portfolio is that? If you ask us, more work is needed.

Becoming truly diversified means not only expanding your stocks, but expanding your overall investments. That means not only having a vast stock portfolio, but looking into other ways to hold your money, such as:

• Real estate
• Precious metals
• Private equity

It’s the 21^st century—it’s time to get past the traditional method of only investing in stocks and learn what it truly means to be diversified. That way, you won’t live and die by the stock ticker; instead, you’ll feel comfortable knowing your money is truly diversified, and the word “hedge” actually has meaning for you.

Invest in Areas You Know Best

One thing that bothers casual investors about retirement investing is that they don’t feel they know enough about stocks and mutual funds to make retirement investing decisions. So they stay out of the fray. But what if you did know a little more about other areas, including areas like real estate? Self-Directed IRAs allow you to invest in these types of assets and take advantage of the experience and knowledge you already have. The best way to feel secure about your investments is to make investments where you feel more comfortable. A Self-Directed IRA allows wide enough horizons for you to accomplish exactly that.

Get Active in Your Portfolio

The quickest way to feel insecure about your finances is to ignore them; eventually, you forget what they’re even comprised of. But you’ll feel far more secure—and you’ll be far more secure—if you take an active interest in your retirement portfolio, even if it’s only to review your accounts every few months or so. If you want to step up and take action, we think that’s a great idea. Keep reading all about your options here at AmericanIRA.com or contact us at 866-7500-IRA(472) to start learning about how you can expand your retirement portfolio and embrace some of the strategies you read about here. Having money set aside for retirement is great, but confidence that your money will be safe is even better—so get active and keep learning!