So, I hear of this new concept called the "self directed IRA LLC". It's great, I have a few buddies of mine that have been using it for years. Basically, these companies have created a structure called an IRA LLC where the LLCs that they formed are designed to be owned by IRA accounts, thus ending in having checkbook control over your IRA. It has been around for well over a decade, it just isn't something exactly "mainstream" yet.
Anyway, I Googled the concept, and found "Broad Financial".
Now, I am not someone who believes everything someone tells me right off the bat, I dig deep in and ask lots of questions before I request information.
So, one of the questions I asked this company when one of the employees answered was "How long have you all been setting up IRA LLCs?", they told me 2004.
Then I was asking about the IRA LLC program, and the man I was talking to was literally thinking of any way he could to talk me into buying their "Solo 401 (k)". Basically this has a lot of the same interests that an IRA LLC has, only you borrow against it, and run a business with it.
This guy was asking me all sorts of things about me and my wife - "Have you guys ever thought of running a business, have any ideas for one?", "Do you buy and sell things on craigslist ever, do you buy things on Ebay, have you ever thought of doing that?", "does your wife do any cooking for neighbors, anything?". After I said NO about a million times, this guy finally fell back and said we can talk about the IRA LLC now.
After I got off the strange phone call, I did some research of my own, and talked about the hassle with one of my buddies who happens to be an attorney who knows all about these things. He informed me that with the "Solo 401 (K)", it is basically a cookie cutter if you will. You buy a document for it that costs about $500, and then you can sell it hundreds, thousands of times without paying a cent on it. So, no wonder they were pushing it on me, because with the IRA LLC, they are built from scratch, you have to pay attorneys to do them, they take a lot more time etc.
I also later found out that Broad Financial has NOT been setting up IRA LLCs since but rather 2010. They have been in business since 2004 doing real estate, but had nothing to do with the IRA LLC. I called back, and asked "How long have you people been setting up the IRA LLC?", the man told me "We have been doing that since 2004". I said again, "Have you been in business since or setting up the IRA LLC since 2004?". He stuttered, and said, "Well we didn't start the IRA LLC since 2010 but we have been in business since 2004".
So there you have it, another company giving false advertising and lying about how long they have been doing something, and running a shady business trying to sell me a solo 401 (k) off of an Ebay business!
I also found out things about how the solo 401 (k) rules change just about every month, and how there is much more room for scrutiny that can get you in trouble if you don't hire someone to watch out for it, which in the end costs way more than the IRA LLC custodian. I just hate that, how companies put people at risk just to get paid a few hundred more dollars. Broad Financial is a shady company, that gives shaky advise, they lie about who they are, and mislead you to make an extra buck.
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