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Updated over 4 years ago on . Most recent reply
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Self Directed 401k... which financial institutions?
I’m trying to get my self directed 401k set up so I can borrow money without penalty to buy real estate. I’m having trouble finding a financial institution that will set one up. At the lager institutions like Schwabb and Fidelity most of their staff had never heard of it and don’t offer it. Any ideas? Does anyone have an
SD40k? Thanks
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@Jacqueline Gardiner Thanks for the positive feedback
Here are the general considerations regarding 401k loans.
401k Participant Loans
- If your 401k plan allows for 401k participant loans, the maximum loan amount is equal to 50% of the balance up to $50k. The repayment terms for a 401k participant loan are equal monthly/quarterly payments of principal and interest (typically prime plus 1%) over a 5 year term (longer if used to acquire your principal residence).
- Please note that if you take a full $50,000 and then pay back the loan, you can't take another $50,000 until 12 months after the first loan was fully paid back.
- Per the loan offset rules that went into effect with the 2018 Tax and Job Act: if you leave your job and the loan is current at the time you leave your job but then the loan goes into default because you left your job, you will have until your tax return deadline (including any timely filed extension) to make the loan current by depositing the outstanding balance into an IRA (and thereby avoid the taxes and penalties that would otherwise apply).
Please keep in mind the multiple loan rules:
Under those rules, the sum of the balances of a participant's outstanding 401k loans under a single 401k plan (using the highest outstanding balance of each loan over the last 12 months) can't exceed 50% or $50,000 whichever is less. Thus, if you took a $50,000 loan and paid it back within 6 months, you would need to wait another 6 months before you could take another $50,000 loan.