IRA Financial Group Review

As soon as they reach maturity, every American is advised by the IRS to save up for their later years. In fact, every individual is advised to open their own IRA (individual retirement account) to support themselves in their retirement years. 

The IRA Financial Group stands out as a prominent company offering expert guidance for rapidly expanding your IRA assets. Their approach involves diversifying your portfolio and shifting from traditional investments like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

But is the IRA Financial Group genuinely qualified to provide you with investment advice? Or could it be perceived as just another company with impressive claims but a track record of underdelivering? Investing your money in anything is a huge decision, so I thought I’d give you all the facts before you proceed. On that note, here’s what the IRA Financial Group offers its customers. 

IRA Financial Group: A Brief Overview

IRA Financial Group was founded by Adam Bergman, a former tax and ERISA lawyer who offered his services to some of the top firms in the world. Somewhere along the way his primary mission became to help retirement account holders take advantage of the financial freedom that comes with self-directed accounts. After officially beginning operations 13 years ago, the company has since thrived and is now headquartered in Miami, Florida. 

The company’s main objective is to provide counseling to retirees on how they can protect their assets by storing them in self directed IRAs and solo 401(k)s. Additionally, the company also employs state of the art banking technology to guide customers on how they can make intelligent investments and increase the funds in their self directed IRA, IRA, solo 401(k) or other retirement accounts. Currently, the company has advised more than 23,000 individuals on how to protect and grow their assets. 

As of today, their professionals have advised customers in investing more than $4.6 billion in alternative investments during their 13-year run as a company. According to the testimonials on their official website, the majority of their customers credit the transparency of their employees in financial dealings as the number one reason for the company’s continued reliability. 

In fact, considering my own vast experience working in the alternative investments industry, I’ve found various reasons why the company’s regarded so highly as financial advisors. I’ll be discussing each of these reasons in the rest of this article.

What Makes IRA Financial Group Standout?

My over two decades of experience and research into alternative investments has allowed me to come up with a few standout factors that I believe contribute to the reliability of the company. The list below covers all of them. 

Three Types of Self Directed IRAs

The company offers customers the chance to set up three different types of IRAs with them. All of these IRAs offer more allowance for alternative investments than a self directed IRA from a financial institution. That said, let’s take a closer look at each of them and their differences.

Self Directed Roth IRA

Quite similar to a traditional self directed IRA, the only difference you’ll find while setting up the account is how it takes in contributions made from after-tax dollars. These types of contributions ensure that you don’t get an immediate tax deduction. In addition, any withdrawals you make are tax-free in retirement, provided you meet some important requirements of the account. 

Speaking of requirements, self directed Roth IRAs also have income limits that decide how much you can contribute and withdraw from your account. These limits are modified and adjusted according to your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). Should your MAGI surpass the threshold, your contribution limits could potentially be decreased or even completely eliminated.

Self Directed IRA

Setting up a traditional self directed IRA doesn’t come with as many hassles and limitations. In fact, self directed IRAs created through the IRA Financial Group provide individuals more opportunities to invest in alternative investments. Apart from conventional investments in stocks, bonds and mutual funds, the company offers customers the chance to invest in:

• Real Estate: This investment offers customers a choice of recently built projects, land parcels and mobile homes.
• Precious Metals: Specifically, the company offers customers the chance to invest in relatively less volatile gold and silver coins in an attempt to diversify their portfolio.
• Cryptocurrency: One of the few financial investment companies to do so, IRA Financial Group offers you the chance to invest in cryptocurrencies long term (no trading). 

This type of self directed IRA will still require a custodian though and all investments will need the custodian’s permission. A huge benefit of setting up a self directed IRA with IRA Financial Group is that you don’t have to invest a minimum amount to get started. This can be extremely helpful as it allows you to get into key investment really early on. 

Self Directed IRA LLC

The primary difference between a traditional self directed IRA and a self directed IRA LLC is “checkbook control”. For this type of IRA, the company sets up a special purpose limited liability company (LLC) with you as the management. 

This type of LLC is owned by the IRA but managed by the IRA holder. Essentially ensuring that you have the freedom to choose your investments and that you can make investments quicker and with less fees. In a nut-shell, a self directed IRA LLC allows the account holder to do away with many of the delays and costs associated with using a full-service IRA custodian.

401(k)s

In case you’re a little late in saving up for your retirement fund, IRA Financial Group also offers you the chance to set up a solo 401(k) with them. In this arrangement, you can invest up to $60,000 in the account in one go which includes both your salary deferral contributions as well as your employer deferral contributions. Participants over the age of 50 can even contribute up to $73,500 to kickstart their retirement savings. 

The company also allows you to withdraw up to $50,000 for emergency costs without going through any custodian. More importantly, setting up a solo 401(k) is significantly less costly than setting up a self directed IRA LLC as it saves you from setting aside funds for the creation of an LLC in your name. 

In the solo 401(k) plans offered by IRA Financial Group, individuals are allowed to make all kinds of alternative investments that come under the internal revenue code. However, individuals who want to set up a solo 401(k) must fulfill an eligibility criteria. That’s because the solo 401(k) is a retirement plan set up by the IRS for sole proprietors, consultants or for businesses that have no full-time employees. Keeping that in mind, the two eligibility requirements businesses must meet to set up a solo 401(k) are:

• The presence of self employment activity
• The absence of full time employees

IRA Rollovers

After registering on their app, IRA Financial Group streamlines the rollover of funds from your existing retirement account into the newly established IRA. In fact, their professionals are always on standby to assist you with your direct buy and rollover needs. 

In terms of rollovers from other retirement accounts, the company permits the following accounts:

• IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts)
• Roth IRA, provided the investor pays taxes on the converted funds.
• SEP as well as 401(k)s and 403(b)s.

Their customer service professionals aid you through the entire process step by step and even provide you with information on which investment accounts aren’t qualified for rollovers into your IRA.

The ROBS Option

One of the most unique investment solutions the IRA Financial Group offers is their Rollovers as Business Startups (ROBS) option. 

The ROBS Solution from IRA Financial Group first entails creating a corporation under any “XYZ” name. This corporation then becomes a business that you fully own. Subsequently, you can use the funds from your IRA or another retirement account to compensate the corporation before receiving payments personally. This approach streamlines the creation of tax-free dividends from these transactions.

Essentially, the ROBS solution allows you to invest in your own or someone else’s small business without incurring any penalties when you take out funds from your retirement accounts to use as a down payment on a company. 

Consultations and Client Education

Apart from my thorough research and understanding, the IRA Financial Group acts as a “fund administrator” for any IRAs you set up with them. This includes providing regular consultations and education material on any and all alternative investments their customers can make. 

Apart from that, the company is also holding strong in their mission to better educate their customers on the investment industry through the learn center on their website. 

This learning center offers a variety of valuable resources:

• You'll discover a link to the company’s YouTube channel, housing an extensive collection of well-organized videos. These videos provide crucial insights for novice investors, covering fundamental aspects of solo 401(k)s and IRAs. Additionally, you'll find talks by the founder on significant subjects such as prohibited transactions, investment account loans, and the launch of their new IRAfi crypto platform.
• You'll also find a link to the company’s financial blog, which is thoughtfully designed to enlighten customers about various essential topics within the investment industry.
• Furthermore, the learning center provides a link to the company’s podcast network, featuring a rich array of investment-related podcasts hosted by the company's founder, Adam Bergman.

After obtaining over two decades of experience in the alternative investments industry, I consider this specific to be the most important one the company offers. Simply because the education they offer is free and can lead to multiple generations becoming self-sufficient when it comes to understanding their investment opportunities.

How to Invest with IRA Financial Group?

The IRA Financial Group guides customers on how they can make investments with their custodian-controlled IRA. For this purpose, the company allows you to register with them through their app. 

After thoroughly exploring their registration process, here’s what I found about how you can invest with IRA Financial Group. 

Create an Account

The first step for all potential investors is to create an account on the IRA Financial app and select your plan type.

Transfer your Assets

Investors can use the direct contribution option or transfer/rollover their funds from an existing account.

Make Fresh Investments

Start investing in the IRS-approved alternative investment assets provided by IRA Financial. Start with reaching out to one of the customer service representatives to figure out which investment works best for you. Depending on the plan you’ve chosen, a number of consultations could be free for you. 

IRA Financial Group Fees

Another factor that’s made IRA Financial Group a reliable alternative investment partner is their incredibly transparent fee structure. 

That said, here’s the fee structure they’ve displayed on their website for all the different plans they offer to their customers. 

• Self Directed IRA (they do everything): $400 per year.
• Self Directed IRA LLC (you have complete control): $999 setup fee, $400 per year
• Solo 401(k) (for self-employed): $699 setup fee, $399 per year.
• IRAfi Crypto (crypto only): $100 per year.

IRA Financial Group Rating On Consumer Sites

Pros & Cons

The Verdict 

The IRA Financial Group has been in operation for 13 years now and during that time the company has accumulated a 23,000+ client base. That reliability coupled with the extraordinary variety of alternative investments they offer are enough to grab my seal of approval. 

That said, there have been some reviews from customers complaining about the slow process. Perhaps that should be something you look into before going into business with them. 

Regardless, I hope that this review was comprehensive enough to aid you in making a more informed investment decision that’s based on your requirement and needs. For additional alternatives, you can explore my article on the best precious metals companies.

Frequently Asked Questions