Stunned and Amazed!!!

As I venture into developing this blog, I realize I should start with a brief background of myself.   My name is Paul Smudski.  I have been a Real Estate Investor in earnest for about five years now.   Before that, I spent almost 20 years investing in Stocks, Bonds, and Mutual Funds as a hobby.   In 2005, I left my 9 to 5 IT job to pursue Real Estate Investing as a full time endeavor.  

But where did I get this passion for IRAs?  Well, it was bubbling under the surface for many years while I was involved with Stocks and Stock options.   Did you know that in most cases, people are prevented by their brokerages from investing in stock options in their IRAs because they are speculative?  However, I discovered Selling Covered Calls or Selling Cash Covered Puts were cash flow strategies, not speculative strategies, and thus were permitted in the IRA.   That’s when I first started learning more about IRAs. 

In 1998, we converted our Traditional IRAs to the new Roth IRAs — the best thing to happen to IRAs in 25 years, by the way!  And we rode the tech wave to some pretty decent profits over the next couple of years. 

The tech bubble burst in 2001 and 2002, and our involvement with stocks faded.   In 2002, I became enamored with the Real Estate Market and all the creative investing that can be done.   And I started learning everything I could about Real Estate. 

In the summer of 2003, I was at a four-day Real Estate Investment Seminar/Sell-A-Thon, when I stumbled across one of the vendors.  Equity Trust Company was there to talk about their Self-Directed IRA services, but I was wondering “Why?”  In all my 18 years of investing, mostly in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, I had never had any notion presented to me, nor had I ever had any reason to believe that you could do anything else with an IRA.  So, why was this IRA company at a Real Estate meeting? 

What I found out shocked and amazed me!  I was dumbfounded that my financial planner had never told me about any of this in the nine years she was helping me manage my portfolio. It eventually became apparent she was just trying to protect her turf.  She couldn’t make any money off the new knowledge I had.   I guess I don’t blame her.  I probably would have protected my turf, too, if I were her!

But here it is in a nutshell.  Truly Self-Directed IRAs exist where you can invest in virtually anything you can imagine.  You want to own a 104-unit apartment building in your IRA?  Go for it.  You want to operate a business from your IRA?  No problem.  You want to partner up with 100 other investors to purchase a strip mall?  Be my guest. 

It’s all possible in your IRA.  All that and then some. 

THAT’S when I started getting really passionate about IRAs!  The wealth building possibilities multiplied exponentially when those doors opened up!  I thought, if you could take all the creative Real Estate strategies I was learning about, making $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 or more on each deal, and do that all in a TAX-FREE vehicle, you’d be on your way to building a retirement income most people only dream about! 

And the strategies keep coming. 

Now, I will be devoting my time on this blog covering many of the ins and outs of IRAs.  Many of the technical details you need to know in order to invest properly using a Self Directed IRA.  And many of the creative strategies I and others have developed, especially in Real Estate, to increase wealth for not only yourself, but for your family and their families for generations to come. 

In a later post, I will explain what the “IRA Concierge” is all about.  For now, suffice it to say that if you have any questions at all about IRAs, I will be happy to address them.  

Thank you for joining me on this journey.  May it be a profitable journey for all involved!