Diversify, reduce taxes & increase retirement security
Checkbook control retirement plans are the investment solution that entrepreneurs love and investors trust.
Checkbook IRAs, Checkbook Solo 401(k)s, Checkbook Defined Benefit Plans, & Checkbook Life Insurance: Self Directed Retirement Plans That Put YOU In Control
Real Estate • Cryptocurrency • Private Lending • Hard Money Lending • Tax Liens & Tax Deeds • Mortgage Notes • Trust Deeds • Merchant Cash Advance • Litigation Finance • Pre-Settlement Funding • Precious Metals & Coins • Gold • Silver • Crowdfunding • Private Equity • Livestock • Timberland • Cannabis • Life Settlements
Ideal for anybody that has earned income or accumulated retirement funds in other accounts
- Simple & Cost-effective
- Broad Eligibility
- Alternative Investments
- Rollovers & Transfers
- Traditional & Roth IRAs
- SEP IRAs & SIMPLE IRAs
- Tax Deductions & Deferrals
- Roth IRA Tax-free Growth
- Estate Planning
- Asset Protection
Ideal for those with any form of self-employment income that don't have full-time employees
- Simple & Cost-effective
- High Tax Deductions
- Salary Deferrals
- Profit Sharing
- Roth Subaccount
- Loan Feature
- Pre-Tax Life Insurance
- No Real Estate UDFI
- Rollovers & Transfers
- Alternative Investments
- Asset Protection
Ideal for those looking to make the highest tax-deductible contributions to a retirement plan
- Highest Tax-Deductions
- Alternative Investments
- Loan Feature
- Combinable with a 401(k)
- Rapidly Accumulate Funds
- No Real Estate UDFI
- Pre-tax Life Insurance
- Flexible Plan Designs
- Asset Protection
Ideal for those that want tax-free growth beyond the limits of IRAs & Qualified Plans
- Unlimited Contributions
- Alternative Investments
- Tax-Free Loans
- Tax-Free Internal Growth
- Rapidly Accumulate Funds
- No Prohibited Transactions
- Complete Liquididty
- Death Benefit
- Asset Protection
STRUCTURED TO GIVE YOU CONTROL, SECURITY & FLEXIBILITY
We craft retirement plans that enhance your current and future finances,
while giving you complete control over investment selection.
We work together with you and your advisors
As financial professionals, we understand the factors that guide your finances and retirement plans. We love collaborating. Get Started
Maximize investment performance
Generate outsized returns by allocating all or part of your portfolio to investments that you control and understand best. Get Started
Consolidate retirement accounts
For ease of administration roll all your retirement funds into your checkbook retirement account. Get Started
Legal and compliant
Checkbook retirement accounts are legal retirement plan structures and are based on the tax code and case law. Get Started
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What are Checkbook-Control Retirement Accounts?
Checkbook-control retirement accounts enable you to directly control your retirement funds using a bank checking account. This access to your investable assets provides liquidity and enables you to pursue a variety of investment strategies – that are unavailable in a traditional account – on a tax favored basis. Learn more about self-directed retirement accounts.
Why haven’t I heard about checkbook retirement plans before? Why hasn’t my CPA or financial planner recommended checkbook retirement plans?
While there are a variety of contributing factors, the root cause lies in the fact that retirement plans have been administered by large broker-dealers whose revenues are derived from stocks, bonds, and other exchange traded securities. Therefore, those firms, and hence all their registered representatives, have reason to restrict participants in their plans to investments that are profitable for them and easily administered by them. Learn more about retirement plan rules.
What are some examples of investments and asset classes that are available to checkbook retirement accounts?
Examples of permissible investments are real estate, tax liens, private lending, merchant cash advance, asset-based loans, private equity, consumer lending, and litigation finance. Examples of prohibited assets are collectibles, which includes art, rugs, antiques, metals, gems, stamps, most coins, and alcoholic beverages. Learn more about alternative investments.
What are prohibited transactions and how do those impact checkbook retirement accounts? What are some examples of prohibited transactions?
While the tax code allows retirement accounts to invest in nearly all asset classes, it does prohibit certain transactions. Broadly speaking, the prohibited transaction rules prevent individuals from deriving benefit from their retirement funds prior to distribution. Disqualified persons and entities include the plan owner, members of the plan owners family (spouse, ancestors, lineal descendants and their spouses), any person providing services to the plan, any entity in which the plan owner owns (either directly or indirectly) 50% or more, and any officer, director, 10% or more shareholder, or highly compensated employee of the 50% or more owned entity described above. Learn more about prohibited transactions.
What is UBIT? What are UBTI and UDFI?
Unrelated business income tax (“UBIT”) is an income tax levied on tax-exempt entities that engage in an active business that is not related to the entities tax exempt purpose. Unrelated business taxable income (“UBTI”) is income that is subject to UBIT. Unrelated debt-financed income (“UDFI”) is a form of UBTI that is the result of a tax exempt entity using borrowed funds to finance an investment. Retirement plans, as tax exempt entities, are subject to UBIT. An important distinction between IRAs and Qualified Plans (401k plans and Defined Benefit Plans), is that Qualified Plans do not have UDFI when investing in leveraged real-estate transactions. Learn more about UBIT, UBTI, and UDFI.