An IRA allows you to save for retirement and invest your money in real estate, stocks and bonds, mutual funds, and more. You can also use your IRA assets to invest in startup equity, through startup funding platforms or “accelerators” that bring investors together and provide other services to new businesses. An IRA allows you to save for retirement and invest your money in real estate, stocks and bonds, mutual funds, and more. You can also use your IRA assets to invest in startup equity, through startup funding platforms or “accelerators” that bring investors together and provide other services to new businesses.
How Can You Use Your IRA to Fund Startups?
Investing in startups or precious metals such as gold and silver is not normally an option with traditional IRAs, but a self-directed IRA allows you to choose exactly where your funds are invested. You get far greater control over the division and investment of your assets, which makes this the perfect option for long-term startup investments.
Why Should You Invest in Startup Equity with a Gold IRA?
These are some of the main benefits of buying gold or other precious metals with a self-directed IRA:
- Consistent Market Performance – With high demand for the metal in emerging markets such as China, negative interest rates and rising levels of debt, the value of gold has grown tremendously and consistently in recent years. Gold has outperformed the stock market by over 300% in the past 10 years.
- Unaffected by Market Downfalls – Unlike mutual funds, stocks and bonds, gold is not affected by fluctuations in the market. It moves in the opposite direction to most other investment vehicles, which makes it less vulnerable to economic ups-and-downs. If you want to keep assets safe, gold is the way to go.
- Keeps Pace with Inflation – The price of gold has continued to rise throughout the years, keeping pace with the rising cost of living. Since it’s not subject to market fluctuations and the Government can’t just print more, gold is a lot more dependable and offers more purchasing power than paper money.
- Diversifies Your Investments – If you want to diversify your portfolio and balance high-risk investments with secure assets, purchasing gold is the right move. The precious metal offers more value and security than any other investment option, protecting your assets from market risk and fluctuations.
How Does the Process Work?
First, you need to set up a self-directed IRA with a custodian, which could be a bank, credit union, trust company, etc. The IRA custodian holds your assets, keeps a record of them and oversees the administration of your account. You can also create an underlying LLC (owned by the IRA). The LLC acts as the investment arm for your IRA. Using this method, there are precious metal investments you can take possession of and store where you wish.
You can move any portion of existing IRA assets into precious metals in two ways:
- Transferring to a Gold IRA – Assets need to move directly from one custodian to another when you transfer your existing IRA to a precious metals IRA, so you need a check from the old custodian made in the new custodian’s name instead of yours.
- Rolling Over to a Gold IRA – You can withdraw funds from one IRA account and move them to another. The rollover needs to be completed within 60 days to avoid being treated as an early distribution, and it can only be done once in 12 months for each IRA.
If you want to know more about IRAs, 401k plans and tax/retirement planning, contact the experts at Self Directed Retirement Plans LLC today!
Rick Pendykoski is the owner of Self Directed Retirement Plans LLC, a retirement planning firm based in Goodyear, AZ. He brings over 30 years of diverse experience as a financial advisor. Rick takes great pride in giving honest and very experienced advice. Rick can readily converse with business owners and people looking to take control of their retirement accounts.
