Leveraging Retirement Assets to Create Liquidity Today

[Robert Caverly]

I work for a Hard Money Lender, and had a client ask once how he might be able to leverage an SDIRA to create more liquidity. He was using the funds to invest in real estate, but wanted a way to keep at least a portion of his profits, rather than being required to return all profits back to the account until retirement. My solution was to lend against a new investment property that he would like to acquire, and the SDIRA as additional collateral. I figure we can lend against 60% of the account value, after accounting for fees and penalties that would be incurred if a withdrawal were necessary. I believe if the deal is structured this way, the borrower would not be required to reinvest profits back into the SDIRA. I'm curious what everyone's thoughts are on this, and if there is any demand for this sort of structure if we were an option? 

Thanks in advance!

[Brian Eastman]

@Robert Caverly

There is no mechanism to achieve the stated goal.

Your proposed solution would result in a prohibited transaction, as the IRA may not be used to guarantee personal debt.

What @Greg Dickerson posted is just flat-out incorrect. A checkbook IRA LLC does not give the account holder the ability to charge a management fee. That would be a prohibited transaction as well.

A self-directed IRA is purely a means to diversify tax-sheltered money into investment choices beyond the stock market. When your IRA invests in mutual funds, you don't touch the funds personally until age 59 1/2. Same exact rules apply when the IRA invests in notes, properties, etc.