Many people don’t realize they can direct and control where to invest their retirement money. Self-directed IRAs give you the ability to diversify your portfolio and pursue higher returns by allowing you to invest in private companies. This week’s article does an excellent job of explaining this investment vehicle.

Source: Magnify Money | Repost Patroit Moble 9/11/2019

A self-directed IRA is an account that allows you to make investments in non-traditional assets. Standard IRAs — traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs — allow you to purchase common investments such as stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit (CDs), mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But a self-directed IRA allows you to invest in numerous other assets — private businesses, real estate, mortgages and even limited partnerships. It provides nearly limitless flexibility to invest.

The beauty of this is that it can hold many kinds of assets, including the following:

Rental properties and real estate
Private companies
Private mortgages
Stock in private companies
Some precious metals
Horses
Intellectual property

For those investors looking to invest in nearly anything and still get a tax break, the self-directed IRA can be a great vehicle. But it does have numerous downsides, especially in the risks presented by the kinds of investments that can be owned in the IRA. While it does present a lot of flexibility, most investors would be best served by sticking with standard IRAs and the range of time-tested investment options they offer.

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