All Forum Posts by: Brett Synicky

 Well done what a great investment!
When it comes to self directing the two most popular vehicles are self directed IRA and Solo 401K. for real estate it's helpful to use a checkbook IRA for efficiency and some liability protection with the LLC.
Learn more about checkbook IRA here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/2810/blog_posts/2...

If you’re self employed with no full time employees the solo 401K is in many ways the “Ultimate Retirement Plan”
Learn more about solo 401K here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/2810/21298-solo-4...

Be aware of prohibited transactions and disqualified parties. 

 Love it! The power of the Roth combined with alt assets like real estate is 2nd to none! 

Have you filed yet? Can’t you back some of that out? Check with CPA @Ashish Acharya or @Michael Plaks

@Terra Padgett

You actually don't need an LLC for either one. You can have a self directed IRA that requires you to go through the custodian for all transactions, custodian is on title FBO the IRA, and the custodian has to sign everything. This setup is not ideal for investing that can be transaction heavy, due to red tape, delays, and transaction fees or higher flat annual.

Enter the checkbook IRA, where usually a special purpose LLC is created that allows the IRA owner to bypass the custodian for all transactions and investments making it a much more efficient way to invest. A special purpose trust can also be used.

A Solo 401k does not require a custodian and since it's a trust the Solo 401k owner can be the trustee which gives them the same checkbook control that comes with the IRA LLC/Trust. An LLC can be created to hold the assets of the Solo 401k if there's a reason for it but it's not necessary.

@Brandon O.

Lots of people on this forum have used a checkbook IRA and/or Solo 401k for investing in non-wall street assets. There are lots of threads about this if you search. Learn more about both here:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/2810/blog_posts/2...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/2810/21298-solo-4...

What are you comfortable with? In other words, what type of investing do you have experience in? Real Estate buy and hold, Crypto, Private Lending, Industrial Syndication? I recommend you start with what you know, at least with the bulk of your IRA. Then use a small chunk as "learning money" so if you don't lose it all, it won't be detrimental. Either way, you're the fiduciary of your plan so it's important to make smart educated investments. Feel free to dm me if you want to have a further discussion.

There are no taxes on the sale of real estate in an IRA so there's no application for a 1031. You simply sell the real estate and do something else with the cash.

@Stacey Arbetter

The brokerage tasty trade has allowed IRA owned LLC's to open accounts.

Worst case just transfer some of the money from the checkbook IRA to a brokerage like Vanguard Fidelity and have two separate IRAs.

 As @Michael Plaks recommended there are lots of threads on BP discussing this. Depending on what your investing goals are you want to looking into self directed IRA vs. checkbook IRA or even better if you qualify Solo 401k. The pitfalls really revolve around prohibited transactions and disqualified parties. Stay arms length and nothing to worry about. 

There are a couple of types of SDIRAs. SDIRAs where you go through the custodian for all transactions and they're on title to all assets FBO your IRA. Depending on the fee schedule and activity this can cost significant transaction fees and always includes some red tape and extra processes to go through. If you're only doing a couple or so transactions per year probably ok.

On the other hand, you can have more control and eliminate the need to go through a custodian for investments by the use of checkbook IRA or Solo 401k. If you get a loan it must be non-recourse and will require about 30-50% down. See list of lenders here. If you have an IRA LLC the custodian is not involved in the IRA obtaining financing including a refi. You're the manager of the LLC of which the IRA is the only member so you control that.

Whether you have checkbook control or not, the rollover will go from custodian to custodian so you'll work with both to process the rollover. As the manager of the LLC, you can open a checking account where the funds rolled from your 401k. will land. The checking account can act as the home for the funds until you deploy the money into and investment, then all expenses and returns flow from and into that checking account that you control.

It may sound complicated but it's really not once it's all set up. Hope this helps.