“The first month I saw the payments going into my NuView account I knew I had made the right decision. Several borrowers paid off the loans ahead of time. I just needed to see the money coming in to believe it.”
Our featured client of the month, Jim, had been investing in the 401K his company provided for him in the telecom sector since the early 90s. According to Jim, “The return wasn’t great but the employer matching was enticing.”
In 2013, he left the corporate world to go full-time into real estate and had a small amount of funds he wanted to rollover into something but was not sure of the best option. When his accountant suggested a self-directed IRA with NuView he was intrigued with the idea. Jim had never heard of a self-directed retirement account before then and took some time to research and consider this is an option. Jim’s accountant had several clients that were also clients of NuView Trust and she highly recommended NuView as the best self-directed IRA custodian to work with. In early 2014, Jim finally pulled the trigger and opened up an account with NuView Trust rolling his funds over to reap the benefits of self-direction.
Jim started off lending interest-only loans with secured assets (real estate) in which the buyer would need to put down at least 60% and he would loan up to 40%. These were all on 5-year notes with interest just north of 10%. He quickly realized that self-directing was more powerful than his previous retirement plan. “The first month I saw the payments going into my NuView account I knew I had made the right decision. Several borrowers paid off the loans ahead of time. I just needed to see the money coming in to believe it.”
Within the first three months of funding his NuView account, he had given out several loans and purchased a rental property. Private lending was new to him but he synced up with a hard money lender who did all the leg work and brought him qualified buyers. “The purchase of real estate was easy to me as I was already familiar with investing in real estate but the learning curve was just in knowing what was allowed or not allowed with a self-directed IRA.”
Jim says he loves investing in real estate. “It is something I can see and something I can control. I can acquire a property, renovate and rent it. I grow my retirement by collecting rental income and then eventually by selling the property for a higher amount than when I purchased it. I also enjoy helping the tenants have a safe home for their families and this gives me a sense of pride. Another one of my successful deals was when I bought a mobile home for about 68K, rented it for about 3 years, and the sold it for $117K. While collecting rent on it for most of those three years. I did several capital improvements on the property and ended up selling it to the tenant”
What is your favorite aspect of self-directing your retirement account?
The fact that I have the freedom to choose how to invest my retirement and the fact that I have been growing my retirement more in a self-directed account than I did in mutual funds.
Do you have any tips for fellow self-directors?
Start investing right away and do not wait too long! Plan your investment strategy according to your strengths and not just to what somebody recommends. I picked real estate because I’m comfortable in real estate but if you’re more comfortable in another field then you should investigate how to invest in that field. Also, it is important to understand the IRS rules regarding prohibited transactions or disallowed individuals on transactions.
What has been your favorite part about working with NuView?
I always have a very fast response rate to my questions. I have easy access to the portal for me to track my transaction or see how my account is doing.
Thank you Jim for sharing your investment successes and helping others to understand ways in which one can maximize their retirement funds through self-direction!
