Bruce Bishop of Secured Assets Funding, a real estate investment company, is one of Entrust’s early account holders. But that’s not the only reason Bruce is important to us. Sure, we’re proud that he has trusted us as his self-directed IRA administrator for 25 years. But just as important, Bruce is a great example of how investors can take control of their retirement savings through self-direction.
As Bruce tells it, “in the early ‘80s the country was full of savings and loans and the real estate markets were going crazy. Risky lending was commonplace, and when the market collapsed it took down the S&L industry. Suddenly, major banks did not want to touch any property sale under a couple million dollars. This left a huge gap in funding. If you had an office building you wanted to refinance or borrow a few hundred thousand, you had no place to do that.”
That’s when Bruce met Hugh Bromma, who had just founded The Entrust Group, an IRA administrator that allowed investors to self-direct the assets they hold in their retirement accounts—a new concept at the time. Bruce’s first real estate investment in his self-directed IRA succeeded and soon, his wife opened her own Entrust Real Estate IRA, and Bruce started recommending Entrust and self-direction to his clients.
“My clients were able to, in effect, create a small private mortgage market. Their combined investments in the low millions in Northern California, which grew into $100 million in real estate secured notes with an overall default rate of just 2 out of 500.
“The availability of fractional notes meant my clients had more investment options. They could combine funds to invest only in the properties they wanted and felt would be most profitable,” Bruce continued. “Earnings from Real Estate IRAs with The Entrust Group have surpassed comparable earnings on the interest rates offered by traditional financial institutions.”
“The best thing about the staff at Entrust is that they are all extremely competent. They know what they are talking about. They understand IRS regulations inside out, which brings great peace of mind, and they have a genuine interest in helping you achieve your goals. Over a number of years I have recommended The Entrust Group to at least 60 people, many of whom are family and close friends.” Bruce concludes.
If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of opening a self-directed IRA with Entrust, you can now take advantage of our Learning Center for additional information about using a self-directed IRA.