Why should you have a self-directed IRA? And why is choosing a self-directed IRA custodian so important?

There's a number of reasons. It all comes down to one thing though, and can be summarized as follows: A self-directed IRA allows an individual to save for his or her retirement in an extremely tax advantaged way. The tax benefits offered to IRA investments by the government cannot be underestimated.

Retirement is becoming more and more problematical. A recent study by the Social Security Administration found that by 2014 Social Security will begin to run a negative cash flow and by 2040 will be unable to pay full retirement benefits.

That's scary for anyone thinking of retiring, even shortly, and for anyone thinking of retiring in, say, 30 years, that's really scary. Now of course if you earn a million or 2 a year you can just save up for your retirement, if not you need a self- directed IRA and you need to make some good decisions when choosing your self-directed IRA custodian.

Why not just save up for your retirement? Why use an IRA at all? Because the government is worried about it's future retirement benefit liabilities, and so is trying to encourage people to provide for their own retirement rather that rely on the taxpayer.

And they encourage you to provide for your retirement by offering huge tax advantages to anyone investing through an IRA. No need to itemize the tax benefits of using an IRA, that's for another article. Enough to say that it's WELL worth your while to invest for your retirement through an IRA, and that a self-directed IRA, (or what is also called a self managed IRA) is by far the best way to do it.

What is an IRA custodian? The custodian of your IRA is like the bank. It holds and administers the funds held, and invested by the IRA. Problem is, traditionally these custodians limit the range of investments that you can invest in, usually to their own, or related products. And they make sure that this is where your money is invested. Custodians are usually organizations like banks, or brokerages.

And so most people earn a basic 7% or 8% on their retirement funds, and although there are great tax advantages, you won't retire all that comfortable on 7% or 8%.

You need to invest your own funds in a range of investment assets. The most crucial one is real estate, and most self-directed IRA custodians allow you to invest your funds in real estate.

Because of course real estate is about the safest way to invest long term and to do so using borrowings. Even today.

Real estate, it is estimated, has produced about 80% of the wealth that we collectively hold today.

If you own a traditional IRA it is highly unlikely that you can invest it in real estate. If you do hold one, to allow you to invest in real estate you need to institute a rollover to a self-directed IRA custodian who will allow you to invest in real estate, or anything else you choose to invest your retirement funds in.

That's the basics. A traditional IRA custodian probably won't allow you to invest your funds yourself, into investments like solid long term real estate. A self-directed IRA custodian will, or should.

When you're your custodian you must investigate the nature of the investments that you should be allowed to make. Most self-directed IRA custodians allow a wide range.

And why would you choose to invest for retirement funds in real estate? Isn't the real estate market a little down at the moment? Or a lot down?

Yes it is, partly. However there are always great real estate investments available, even in hard times. Especially in hard times. One in particular is a wonderful no money down turnkey real estate investment perfect for self managed IRAs.

But first you need to choose a custodian that will allow you to invest, your way.