Solo 401k: How is it different than a Self-Directed IRA?

I was just making a “get to the point” chart showing how the Solo 401(k) is different than a Self-Directed IRA. Click the chart to view a larger version:

As you can see from the chart above, and as you may know from our free education posts, articles and videos… the Solo 401(k) can be structured to be much more powerful than any IRA.

These extra powers [Read more...]

Harsh Reality of Real Estate Investing Today

[Originally Published at JeffNabers.com]

You may be wondering why I haven’t blogged about real estate investing in a while. There’s a very good explanation video at Nabers.TV for you to check out.

Solo 401k in Wall Street Journal Again

Solo 401k was thrust in the spotlight again last week because of its powerful ability to reduce your self-employment income through large tax-deductible contributions.

Unfortunately, the writer of that WSJ article is mildly financially retarded. Take a look for yourself. Read the article to hear about the powerful tax benefits (albeit presented in a fantasy situation), and then read the comments to have some real people bring the concept back to reality.

How To Get Help

Positive Change

[Originally posted at JeffNabers.com]

Cliff notes version:

  • I will be offering free one-on-one phone consulting to qualified people
  • In order to make room for that, I will no longer be offering free consulting in the form of blog comment responses

Here’s the skinny >>>

I’m making some changes to how I focus my energy and how I am able to help you with your wealth preservation and wealth building, both inside a Self-Directed IRA LLC or Solo 401(k) and outside of retirement funds.

Here’s what these changes will do for you:

  • If you are aimed down a path that is likely to succeed, we may get a chance to work together more intimately
  • If you are aimed down a path that is likely to destroy your wealth and frustrate you, you won’t get my help

Let me explain…

The #1 biggest factor making an impact your wealth right now is inflation.

Some people are trying to “beat” inflation by taking bigger risks to hopefully get bigger returns that will be bigger than inflation.

For 95% of my readers, that won’t work. It won’t work because bigger risks increase the gains and the losses, and over the long term most people will have worse performance as a result of taking bigger risks.

Around 5% of my readers have maybe figured out how to get bigger returns by spending more energy on some sort of system or process that yields larger returns. Moving forward, I don’t think that will continue working either.

Why won’t aggressive investment strategies work in the future?

Well… they will work and they won’t work. They will work in terms of turning your dollars into more dollars. They won’t work in terms or actual value adjusted for inflation.

This is because there is no limit to [Read more...]

The Most Elusive & Dangerous Self-Directed Solo 401k Practice – Part 2

[Originally Published at JeffNabers.com]

In the last post, you learned about how doing an active “entrepreneurship-ish” deal inside your Solo 401(k) is an open invitation for the IRS to tax the hell out of you.

In this post, you’ll learn the solution.

  • The solution is not to avoid doing active deals.
  • The solution is not to stop pursuing massive profits or to lock away your talents and skill to be unused.

The solution is to structure both your active entrepreneurship and your passive investment activity in a way that that puts you in the most control. Put another way, avoid giving the IRS an open invitation to tax attack you.

I bet you can guess where this is going (one commenter had a pretty good [Read more...]

The Most Elusive & Dangerous Self-Directed Solo 401k Practice

[Originally published at JeffNabers.com.]

There’s something that most “successful” Self-Directed Solo 401(k) investors do that can spin them out of control and get them into trouble.

I say “successful” in quotation marks because I’m talking about the particular kind of Self-Directed Solo 401(k) success that is sexy enough to be frequently written about.

What is this dirty deed that leads to massive profits and the potential implosion the very same Self-Directed Solo 401(k) that got those profits?

Entrepreneurship.

Bad Entrepreneur!

Yep. Entrepreneurship is so powerful that it seems to be the source of all aggressive wealth creation. So where’s the danger?

Let me explain. Some of the most [initially] profitable Self-Directed Solo 401(k) stories sounds something like this…

Joe, a Self-Directed Solo 401(k) investor, knows how to work real estate deals into profits. So he buys and sells real estate in his Self-Directed Solo 401(k). Sometimes he involves bank financing. Sometimes he involves private financing and partnering.

But one thing is for sure: Once Joe purchases a property, the work has just begun. He has a system. He only buys properties that meet a certain criteria. After the closing, he usually has repairs and/or remodeling work done.

And his system works. He’ll put $30k or $40k of his Self-Directed Solo 401(k) money into a deal and get $80k to $100k out, often less than a year or two later.

First, applaud Joe for [Read more...]

World Wealth Report shows business ownership is the leading cause of wealth

Suggested reading: World Wealth Report

This annual report examines the behavior of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) – those with over $1 million in investable assets. I believe this report is skewed a bit because it is based on survey data of Merrill Lynch clients around the world. Even so, it offers interesting information.

Among the most substantial findings is that business ownership is estimated to be the leading source of wealth among HNWIs globally. This is contained in the 2006 WWR.

Click here to view WWR archives.

Solo 401k provides checkbook control without a custodian or LLC

With tens of thousands of self directed IRA investors utilizing LLC structures to enjoy “checkbook control” authority of their self directed IRA investments, this post may serve as great news for those who aim to follow suit.

Solo 401(k) retirement plans can grant direct checkbook control without the use of an LLC or custodian.

The concept of custodian comes from Internal Revenue Code Section 408(a)(2) and is defined in Section 408(n). This entire IRC section 408 is devoted to Individual Retirement Accounts, or IRAs. The code basically explains that an IRA is normally a trust, and the trustee must be a bank. It then defines bank as a bank, trust company, or any company specifically approved by the IRS. This capacity of trustee to an IRA is known as “custodian”. This trustee role is simply that of investing the plan as directed by the accountholder.

A Solo 401(k) plan is a type of 401(k) that is designed for self employed individuals whose businesses have no full time employees. All 401(k) plans are qualified plans, and qualified plans do not have any special restrictions on who can serve as trustee.

Custodian and trustee

So the significant difference is that with a Solo 401(k), the participant can actually be the trustee and handle [Read more...]

What does the Health Care Bill have to do with 401k Accounts?

…a lot really.

Some might say the health care bill is a distraction from what’s next. Peeling back the layers of the politicians’ never-ending string of nationalizations reveals that they may just be ramping up.

Believe it or not, the self-trustee Solo 401k may hold the key to empowering freedom-loving Americans to finally defeat government takeover of private industries.

Enjoy the video, as it contains a valuable game plan.

Watch the Video Now