@Mark Ryan PetersonIf you are self-employed and have no full time employees, then taking advantage of a Solo 401(k) or SEP IRA would give you the ability to make significant contributions and reduce your taxes.If you are employed by someone else, or have employees, then your options would be limited in terms of making new contributions.Best to discuss with your CPA.Assuming you can sock away a good amount into a retirement plan, and/or have some previous 401(k)/IRA savings to start with, investing that tax-sheltered money into real estate or related such as mortgage notes could be a good option for diversification of the plan. 

Just to be clear, the $200,000+ is tied up in 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, etc. 

@Kira DAnnunzio do you think you can make this tonight?

You should have at least 2 1031 QIs  self-directed 401(k)/IRA custodians, mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, RE attorneys, RE CPAs, hard money lenders, etc so your clients don’t have to spend as much time vetting their network.

My wife has changed employers and must make a decision on what to do with her 401k within the next 30 days. We are interested in exploring options for using the money to lend to me towards the purchase of a commercia...

@Neil Whitney,Yes - lots of folks do it successfully everyday.Remember - you are INVESTING your 401(k) / IRA in a RE deal.

Can we use money from 401(k)/IRA's in this project?

Kira,As Patricia mentioned, be sure to let the agent know the requirements (A rated). 

Hey Kira - Here's my go to list for anyone, and I'm sure some of these have been repeated before.

I began my real estate journey two years ago when - as a Finance and Accounting student - I realized that real estate holds more economic opportunity than any investment vehicle I was being taught in school - namely stocks, ETFs, commodities, mutual funds, bonds, currencies, 401(k), IRAs, etc.