Qualified Retirement Plan

[Eric B.]

Now that I am preparing to "turn up" the metaphor "heat" on my new real estate investing career, I have heard a little of this and  little of that about qualified retirement plans (QRPs). Could anyone give me advice on getting this started? My 401k plan has over $10k within, but I still work for the employer that holds it. Could I invest in real estate with a QRP? Should I set it up myself or have a professional do it? If the latter, then what professional? Accountant? Lawyer? Should I do it via Equity Trust? Any and all advice and guidance will be appreciated!

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

@Eric B.

your can setup a QRP only if you own your own business or are self-employed. If your only source of income is wages from your job or rental income from your investment properties - you are not eligible for one (although you can always setup self-directed IRA).

I will have to disagree with Scott's comment above about not investing in real estate with QRP (btw, real estate doesn't have to be real property, you can invest in trust deeds secured by RE, tax liens, syndication, be a private lender, etc). Many of my clients do that and the rules are pretty much straight forward. The cost of maintaining one can get high if you are using custodial account since you are being charged for every transaction/investment that you make with your plan, however, if you use truly self-directed Solo 401k plan you are paying only nominal fee, have checkbook control and can invest into virtually anything that is legal.