FAQ Category: Self-Directed Investments

Investments made from accounts with us must be titled:

DIGITAL TRUST FBO YOUR NAME & ACCOUNT TYPE

Example:  Digital Trust FBO John Smith Roth IRA

Your IRA account is buying the property and not you as an individual. Therefore, it must be titled as follows: “Digital Trust FBO: Account holder name and Account Type”. All documents related to the purchase of the property such as the contract/purchase agreement, title commitment/insurance, liability insurance, etc. must be titled accordingly.

No. If you should need tax or legal advice regarding your investment, you may engage a specialized tax law firm to provide the needed advice.

If your IRA or Qualified Retirement Plan loans funds to certain family members, such as lineal descendants and spouses of lineal descendants, or an entity that you or certain family members own or control, whether controlled individually or as an officer of a corporate general partner, managing member, etc., the transaction could possibly be a prohibited transaction under the Internal Revenue Code Section 4975. Our policy on this issue is that if you or another disqualified person is an officer or director of an entity, or an officer of a corporate general partner, managing member, etc., and you will collectively own less than 50% of the entity, then you will need to obtain a legal opinion from an ERISA or tax attorney addressed to you in which the transaction is discussed in detail prior to us processing your investment instructions. If you, any family member, or disqualified persons collectively will own 50% or more of the entity, we will not process the investment even if you are able to obtain a legal opinion.

IRS regulations prohibit IRA investments in life insurance and collectibles such as artwork, rugs, antiques, metals (there are exceptions for certain kinds of bullion), gems, stamps, coins (there are exceptions to certain coins minted by the U.S. Treasury), alcoholic beverages, certain other tangible personal property, and S-Corporations.

Alternative assets can be held in a variety of qualified accounts including Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, SEP IRAs, HSAs, ESAs, and 401(k)s including Solo 401(k)s.

There are several types of investments that we will process. They include but are not limited to: Deeds of Trust/Mortgages, Real Estate, Partnerships, Limited Partnerships (LP), Limited Liability Company (LLC), Joint Ventures (JV), Checkbook, LLC, Private Placements and certain Precious Metals.