What's a good resource for Self Directed IRA?

[Fay Chen]

My parents are getting ready to retire in less than 5 years. Dad is going to a lot of retirement seminars but most of them are after his 401K & pension money. Mom is an investor in heart, so she's been eager to get into real estate. I told them about self-directed or even a checkbook IRA, but I'm disappointed that there are very little out there on this topic. Even after years of going to different "free" retirement workshops, my parents have never heard of it.

Do you guys know a good website that can give them an unbiased summary of self-directed IRA? Is there a podcast, webinar or workshop?

Several BP guests mentioned it in the podcasts, but I wish there could be an episode on how ppl plan for retirement using real estate (the transition to more passive investment, notes, self-directed IRA, syndications...) Ya know, when you go from @Brandon Turnerundefined to Donald Trump :p

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

@Fay Chen There are many topics on BP about self directed IRA and Solo 401k. I would suggest doing some quick search for any specific questions you may have or post your questions here.

I think you already know the general concept of self directed IRA and Checkbook IRA. Some plans are advertised as self directed, but you still need to direct the custodians to make investments. A Checkbook IRA, on the other hands, invests in an LLC which is managed by the plan owner. You, as the plan owner, can write checks to fund investments. For real estate investing, that can be an essential advantage, so you don't have to go through a custodian every time you need to fix something at your property.

With the Solo 401k plan, if your parents want to invest in notes, or other real estate assets, you will also need to look for the self directed option. With this, you can skip setting up an LLC, plus the annual contribution limit is much higher.

Of course, it also comes with its own set of rules and regulations. Like Justin Windham said, you need to look into prohibited transactions, and learn what you can and cannot do when investing with a self directed plan.