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September IRA Insights: Are You in the Driver's Seat?

By: Lisa Moren Bromma

Remember the days not so long ago when financial professionals would give an estimate of 70-80% as the number you would need in pre-retirement dollars to retire with the same lifestyle you have today?  Well, no longer. A recent survey by Hewitt Associates projects workers will need 126% of their final pay in retirement. Inflation is putting future retirees in a bind. What can you do about this? 

Invest in assets you feel are valuable to your financial future. I recently attended a workshop where investors were buying oil and gas leases. They felt with the oil shortage, they could not go wrong. Others are buying gold as their emergency fund and others still were buying solar energy and green investments. They all had one thing in common. They were investing in these assets directly with their self-directed IRA. I am not one to suggest what anyone should invest in. You should invest in what you think you know best, what you feel is the future and what you believe in. I believe this is different for all of us based on our own individual goals.

Think about the answers to these questions to help you develop your financial plan.
1. How many years do you have until you retire?
2. Will you be able to afford to retire in the first place? 
3. What investments make sense for you based on your financial situation today?

Many people depend on their CPA or Financial Planner to assist them with these questions. The financial community provides a very important role and a good advisor is an asset.  However, I believe no one will take as good of care my money as I can. What about you? What do you believe? I am not a financial planner or a CPA. I am an investor who believes a portion of your IRA or 401 (k) should be invested in assets you have a choice in, not in investments that someone else recommends.

Time after time, I hear horror stories of people who have lost their pensions, savings and more in the market because they never understood the market in the first place.

Perhaps now is the time for you to get into the drivers seat, to have some accountability and control to what you invest in. After all, it's your financial future, why not take action? A self-directed IRA into today's world makes sense. With a nationwide local presence, The Entrust Group, the leaders in administration for self-directed retirement plans, has offices that understand your local marketplace. Since Entrust makes no investment decisions, those decisions are up to you; they are an independent party acting on your behalf. 

Here is my perspective: Diversify your IRA today and take financial control of your future, or you will not be able to attain the goals you set for yourself years ago. Ever hear the saying, "The only thing you can count on is death and taxes?" Now more than ever, I encourage you to take control of the last tax enhancement we still have available to us. With the state of the economy, you cannot afford not to!

Lisa Moren Bromma has been a real estate investor since 1978, a note investor since 1998 and has worked with some of the top private mortgage institutional buyers. She is a Consultant for The Entrust Group, the nation's largest network of self-directed IRA administrators, and the author of Real Estate Investing for the Utterly Confused, and Wise Women Invest in Real Estate.