Oxford Club Interview

Catch our CEO Jaime Raskulinecz in this Radio Interview with The Oxford Club’s Chief Income Strategist

Did you know that Next Generation Trust Services is a Pillar One Advisor for members of The Oxford Club? This international network, based in Baltimore, Maryland has more than 70,000 members worldwide; its mission is to grow and protect the wealth of its members by providing education and resources. One of those resources for investors who want to self-direct their retirement investments is Next Generation.

On April 27, The Oxford Club’s chief income strategist, Marc Lichtenfeld, interviewed our CEO, Jaime Raskulinecz for his Oxford Club radio show. Jaime explained how self-direction works, who these accounts are for (savvy investors who wish to have greater control over their retirement income) and how they differ from regular IRAs (the ability to include alternative assets in the plans). Those nontraditional investments include real estate and real estate-related assets, precious metals, unsecured loans and, for certain investors, private equity in startup companies. Jaime also noted that some of our clients have included Broadway shows and commodities within their self-directed retirement plan.

Jaime outlined some of the types of investors who come to Next Generation to open a new self-directed IRA: business owners or self-employed individuals with SEP IRAs, those with Solo Ks, and people who roll over funds from previous employer 401Ks. A recent trend she also noted is an increased interest in investing in private equity and early-stage companies. Click here to listen to Jaime’s interview.

Next Generation Trust Services is proud to share Pillar One Advisor status with leading investment and advisement firms (and companies in other industries such as travel and hospitality services). We invite our clients to check out the membership opportunities and benefits of this unique organization at https://oxfordclub.com.

Click here to learn more about self-directed IRAs.

Make Your Self-Directed Retirement Savings Greener

Spring is fast approaching and the grass will be greener soon. And, with self-directed investments, your retirement savings can be greener too.

Passionate About the Environment

If you are passionate about the environment, reducing your carbon footprint and active in your community, you don’t have to park your ethical consciousness when considering your retirement investing options. You can do well, while doing good.

For those with self-directed retirement plans who want to invest responsibly, the sky’s the limit. You can have it both ways—minimize your impact on the earth but maximize your return on your retirement investment with alternative assets in the green energy sector such as solar energy, biofuel, water power, wind energy and more. Here’s how:

• Invest in a private company that shares your passion. Consider investing in a commodity like a solar or tree farm.
• Include natural resources such as energy, oil and gas in your self-directed IRA—it’s something that people have been investing in for years and you can, too.
• Look at investing in energy-efficient housing or eco-friendly businesses.
• Consider investing in companies that make products that help save energy, protect our environment and ensure that we all have a healthier, greener planet.

Protect the environment, grow your self-directed retirement savings

Yes, minimize your impact on the environment but not at the cost of a comfortable retirement. With alternative investment options, financially savvy investors can diversify their self-directed retirement plan and experience tax-advantaged, long-term growth.

In fact, a self-directed IRA can be a great way to build retirement wealth more aggressively. This investment vehicle allows individuals to invest in what they are passionate about. They can follow their hearts (and minds) by investing in nontraditional assets (like all those in the green energy sector) that are not allowed within typical retirement plans.

At Next Generation, our professionals are available to answer questions about self-directed retirement plans and the types of nontraditional investments allowed in these plans. Our transaction specialists ensure you are investing within IRS guidelines. Since we do not give investment advice, we strongly recommend you consult your trusted financial advisors about your investments and any tax implications they have for your unique situation.

Do your part to combat global warming and pollution. Explore alternative investment opportunities that safeguard our ecosystem, while protecting your financial future.

Have a question now?

Download our white paper that has lots of helpful information; you can also contact Next Generation at (888) 857-8058 or Info@NextGenerationTrust.com, or read through our Starter Kits to open your self-directed retirement account.

Five Easy Tips for Self-Directed Beginners

So you’ve heard about self-directing your retirement account and really like the idea of this retirement savings strategy … but perhaps you don’t know where to start. If that’s the case, here are five things to keep in mind as you enter the world of self-directed retirement plans.

1 – Know and understand your target investment

As we often explain in our blog posts and on our website, self-directed retirement plans allow for a broad array of investment vehicles (both traditional and nontraditional). The nontraditional investments are the ones that usually get people interested in opening a self-directed IRA because of their diversity: real estate, commodities, precious metals, hedge funds, shares in entertainment entities and a whole lot more. Although no one can ever really foretell how a certain type of investment will go, it’s critical that anyone self-directing their retirement should already know and understand these alternative assets.

2 – Research your alternative asset

Self-directed investors are those who are comfortable making their own investment decisions. Part of that means making sure you thoroughly research the investment target asset you wish to include in your account, so that you are making that nontraditional investment with eyes wide open. Whether through lots of prior investing experience, through reading or webinars, or by consulting a trusted advisor, it is vital that you do your due diligence in advance.

3 – Find a third-party administrator you can build a long-term relationship with

Although you will be making all your own investment decisions, your self-directed retirement plan must be opened with and managed by a self-directed retirement plan administrator. The administrator handles all the transactions, holds the assets, and manages all the paperwork and mandatory IRS reporting. Be sure to find an administrator who you are comfortable with in terms of asking questions about self-direction, and who provides guidance and education about this retirement strategy.

4 – Open an account

Once you are ready to start, you simply open a new self-directed retirement account. This can be a self-directed Traditional or Roth IRA, SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA … even a self-directed HSA for medical expenses (or for other expenses during your retirement years) or a Coverdell education savings account. You can roll over funds from an existing retirement plan or open an account with “new” funds. For Next Generation clients, our Starter Kits provide account holders with all the information needed to get on the self-directed retirement road and our professional team is available to answer any questions.

5 – Send instructions to the administrator of your retirement plan

Now that you have opened your self-directed retirement account, it’s time to start including those investments. Remember, you make the investment decisions and you can invest in many alternative assets. You must send instructions about the target investment to the administrator, who will expedite the transaction and handle all related details. At Next Generation Trust Services, we provide all the forms you need to instruct us about your self-directed investments.

Here’s another tip: contact Next Generation Trust Services today to discuss your self-directed retirement account at (888) 857-8058 or Info@NextGenerationTrust.com.

Build Your Retirement Future Now

Americans are shouldering a greater share of responsibility for their retirement income security. One way that smart investors can do their part is by aiming to contribute 15 percent of their salary into a retirement plan—and the sooner, the better. This will enable investors to grow their savings even more through compounding.

For those workers whose employers offer employer-sponsored plans such as 401(k)s, the traditional three percent of their salary contribution that they have been allocating through an automatic enrollment feature is not enough.

That’s because life has changed as have employer-sponsored retirement benefits. Company pensions are becoming a thing of the past and employers are cutting health care plans for retirees. Therefore, this low percentage will not do even if the worker qualifies for a matching contribution from their employer.

And, for those self-employed workers with retirement savings options such as the Solo 401(k) — and the SEP IRA and SIMPLE IRA for entrepreneurs who may or may not have employees—three percent of salary contributions are not enough to build a healthy retirement nest egg.

Calculating your retirement wealth needs

The magic number of 15 percent is based on recent research that includes Wade D. Pfau, professor of retirement income at The American College. According to his Retirement Wealth Accumulation Index, a 35-year-old worker who plans to retire at 65 should contribute 15 percent of his/her salary to retirement savings.

Based on Pfau’s calculations, it’s not where a person ends (retires) but where he/she starts that counts. Investors who are 40 years away from retirement can contribute less—there’s that wonderful compounding effect—and those who are closer to retirement age need to save at a higher rate.

Yes, it’s hard to find the extra dollars to go from three to 15 percent—even with an employer match program. But investors need to use all the tools in the shed. Employees can get the most of their company’s retirement benefit plans by maxing out 401(k) or SIMPLE IRA contributions. They can use a combination of auto-enrollment and auto-escalation as well as contribution matches and profit-sharing programs.

Auto-escalation programs can automatically increase contributions by one percent each year and make the process relatively painless. Making small changes can make Americans retirement-ready now. To prepare even more aggressively, many people are thinking about self-directing their retirement investments.

What other tools are available to build your retirement future?

Financially savvy investors can build their retirement savings by including alternative investments in a self-directed IRA (Traditional or Roth), a self-directed SIMPLE IRA (for employers and employees) or a self-directed SEP IRA for the self-employed. It’s a strategy that can build retirement wealth more aggressively by allowing individuals to invest in what they already know and understand.

Self-directed retirement plans can include nontraditional assets not allowed within typical retirement plans—such as real estate, mortgages and other loans, private hedge funds, precious metals, limited partnerships, commercial paper and notes and more.

At Next Generation Trust Services, our professionals can answer your questions about self-directed retirement plans or get you started on becoming more retirement-ready today, while our transaction specialists ensure you are investing within IRS guidelines. Since we do not give investment advice, we strongly recommend you consult your trusted financial advisors about your investments and any tax implications they have for your unique situation.

Have a question now? Contact Next Generation at (888) 857-8058 or Info@NextGenerationTrust.com, or read through our Starter Kits for more information about building a retirement future today, with a self-directed retirement plan.

Invest for the Long Term for Better Retirement Results

Starting Young

The younger investors are when they start saving for retirement, the more risk they can absorb in terms of their investments. After all, they have a longer period of time to make up any missteps or losses in retirement funds. However, investment author Marc Lichtenfeld has a different take on this. (His book about long-term investing is “Get Rich with Dividends: A Proven System for Earning Double-Digit Returns.”)

In a recent article written for the Oxford Club, Lichtenfeld—the organization’s chief income strategist—stated that it is also true that you can still build significant retirement wealth over the long term by being more conservative in your investments. Lichtenfeld agrees that investing in vehicles that yield higher returns, and doing so over the long term, will reap more retirement rewards but speculation and higher-risk investments are not for everyone. Therefore, showing the individual that he/she can still build up significant retirement savings by being a bit more conservative over time can help reluctant savers get started early.

The Conservative Approach

Here’s what Lichtenfeld says: “I don’t particularly recommend being conservative for decades, but for some people who are not comfortable with much risk, investing conservatively may make sense. And knowing that they can invest conservatively and still hit their goals may be just what it takes to get them to commit to investing for the long term.” He uses a 30-year investment horizon for his examples.

Lichtenfeld also points out that the conservative approach means careful planning around the investment time period as well as the rate of return on the investments. Depending on the individual’s savings goal, that long-range conservative investing could mean investing more per year or finding investments that earn more than the market average in order to reach that goal—while other investors who are taking more risk may spend fewer years reaching the same dollar figure.

Long-term Investing

The bottom line in Lichtenfeld’s argument is that long-term investing is key to building up your retirement savings. This gives individuals the opportunity to mix in some more speculative assets within their retirement plans if they are comfortable doing so. And of course, for those who have a self-directed retirement plan, they may include a range of alternative assets to build up their retirement nest egg.

Self-directed investors know and understand alternative assets that may provide potentially more lucrative returns than typical stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Opening a self-directed retirement plan early on in one’s working life, and contributing on a regular basis for many years, gives investors the time to reach their retirement goals. Of course, choosing investments that yield a healthy return is one important factor, but it’s the length of investing time that Lichtenfeld feels is crucial to developing a healthier retirement account.

For those who are comfortable making their own investment decisions, and wish to include nontraditional investments within their retirement plans, self-direction can be a powerful way to build that nest egg at any time. To get started, the professionals at Next Generation Trust Services can answer your questions and you can read about self-directed IRAs and other retirement plans in our white paper,

“Secrets about Self-Directed Retirement Plans Your Broker Doesn’t Want You to Know.”

Check it out or contact us at Info@NextGenerationTrust.com or (888) 857-8058.

Tired of Traditional Investments? Try Something New to Build Up Your Self-Directed IRA this Year

Unusual investments for self-directed plans

Individuals who want to control their retirement investments through self-direction can include many alternative assets in their retirement plans. Among the more popular of these nontraditional investments are real estate, commodities, precious metals and private placements. But the list of allowed investments is long, varied and may be as unique as the account holders.

For investors who are tired of the same old stocks, bonds and mutual funds, a self-directed IRA can be great way to refresh a retirement portfolio. Some of the more unusual alternative investments that can be included in a self-directed IRA are:

• Bitcoin – The cryptocurrency has yet to grab the imagination of the general public but it is accepted as a payment method by retailers, hotels and others around the world.
• Race cars – Do you love the Indy 500 or the Grand Prix? Are you a NASCAR fan? Why not invest in what you love by including shares of a race car in your self-directed retirement account?
• Race horses – A Thoroughbred race horse is a thing of beauty and a winner’s purse can be quite lucrative. Whether you like the flats or harness racing, a self-directed IRA may include shares in a race horse or racing stable.
• Hogs –According to Bloomberg Markets magazine, lean hogs (the main source of US pork) were the winning investment last year in agricultural commodities. Hogs gained 56.3% in one year, 11.5% annualized over three years.
• Soybean meal – If livestock’s not your thing but you like investing in commodities, check out this ground flour, which had a one-year return of 18.5%, and it outperformed cattle, rice, and lumber.
• Alternative/green energy – Think solar, wind or water to power your self-directed retirement savings.
• Equipment leasing – Your self-directed retirement plan becomes the lessor, in effect.

The list goes on with a few exceptions—most notable are collectibles (such as stamps, coins, artwork, antiques and fine wines), which are prohibited from self-directed retirement plans.

As with all self-directed investments, it is up to the account holder to do all the necessary research about the target asset. The investor works out all the details and the account administrator handles all the transaction process, manages all the paperwork and takes care of all mandatory reporting. At Next Generation Trust Services, we go a few steps further by offering guidance and education to clients about self-direction (we do not, however, give investment advice nor do we endorse any types of investments).

If you are already investing in alternative assets, know and understand them, and want to build a more diverse retirement portfolio, contact our knowledgeable professionals at (888) 857-8058 or Info@NextGenerationTrust.com for a free consultation about self-direction as a retirement strategy; or refresh your investments by opening a new account today!

Click here to learn more about self-directed IRAs.

Love Your Work Lifestyle? Make Sure You Show Your Retirement Plan Some Love as Well.

Americans are taking the term “work/life balance” to heart and turning it on its head by freelancing or becoming their own boss. According to a new, landmark survey conducted by the independent research firm Edelman Berland and commissioned by Freelancers Union and Elance-oDesk, more than 53 million Americans (or 34 percent of the workforce) are doing freelance work.

This flexible work lifestyle has many tangible benefits such as: more control over where you work, when you work and the type of work that you do. However, being part of a contingent workforce means that the responsibility of building retirement savings is a contingency plan for which everyone needs to plan and take on a very active role.

Whether you are starting out in your career, self-employed or doing freelance work to bridge yourself to retirement, here are some solid ways to plan for your retirement.

• For freelancers and the self-employed: A SEP IRA or Simplified Employee Pension plan is perfect. A SEP plan provides employers with a simplified method to make contributions toward their employees’ retirement and, if self-employed, their own retirement. Contributions are made directly to an Individual Retirement Account or Annuity (IRA) set up for each employee (a SEP-IRA).
• For the self-employed or business owner: A SIMPLE IRA plan or Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees allows employees and employers to contribute to traditional IRAs set up for employees. It is ideally suited as a start-up retirement savings plan for small employers not currently sponsoring a retirement plan.

Building retirement savings needs to be part of any work/life balance plan; no matter how flexible life is now, the future is unknown.

Alternative investment options—
A Valentine for self-directed retirement plans

For financially savvy investors who understand alternative investment options, a self-directed IRA can be a good way to build retirement wealth more aggressively. A self-directed retirement plan allows individuals to invest in nontraditional assets not allowed within typical retirement plans; these alternative assets include real estate, mortgages, unsecured loans, private hedge funds, precious metals, limited partnerships, commercial paper and notes and more to bolster their retirement efforts. Individuals who already know and understand these types of investment vehicles, and who want to make their own investment decisions, find a lot to love about self-direction.

At Next Generation, our professionals are available to answer questions about self-directed retirement plans and our transaction specialists ensure you are investing within IRS guidelines. Since we do not give investment advice, we strongly recommend you consult your trusted financial advisors about your investments and any tax implications they have for your unique situation.

For more information about self-directed SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs or other types of self-directed retirement plans, contact Next Generation at (888) 857-8058 or Info@NextGenerationTrust.com, or click here to read through our Starter Kits.

Show Your Retirement Plan a Little Love

What’s love got to do with it?

This classic Tina Turner song is a reminder to all investors that investment portfolios need a little love and nurturing.
Investors shouldn’t wait for the market to spike up or bear down to review their investment holdings. Retirement portfolios should be reviewed periodically to ensure that monies invested are garnering maximum results.

Here are some hot spots to keep in mind:

• Diversify investments to help manage risk
• Consider what role alternative assets play
• Rebalance investments to maintain portfolio performance
• Ensure that the portfolio investment mix is aligned to an appropriate investment time frame and your financial needs as well as risk and return potential.

This Valentine’s Day, treat yourself right. Be good to your future and yourself and contact Next Generation to discuss how self-directed investments can sweeten your retirement portfolio. Our professionals are available to answer questions about the alternative assets that can be included in a self-directed retirement plan and how they can help you build your retirement savings. If you are already investing in nontraditional assets outside of your existing IRA, and are comfortable making your own investment decisions, self-direction can be a great way to develop diverse holdings, with the same tax advantages of regular retirement plans.

Since we do not give investment advice, we strongly recommend you consult your trusted financial advisors about your target investments and any tax implications they have for your unique situation.

Contact us at (888) 857-8058 or Info@NextGenerationTrust.com, or read through our Starter Kits for more information.

We’d love to talk to you!

IRA worth millions a tax problem?

Jaime Raskulinecz, CEO and founder of Next Generation Trust Services was featured in the following article by Sheyna Steiner on BankRate.com

If you put $5,500 in an IRA every year beginning this year and earn 6 percent returns on average, it would take roughly 42 years for your account to grow to $1 million.

Yet, a very small percentage of the population has the opportunity to grow their IRAs to gargantuan proportions. Startup founders, for instance, may get the chance to put nonpublicly traded shares of their burgeoning business into a retirement account before the company goes public. If the company takes off, the price of the shares could balloon from fractions of a penny to millions of dollars.

If that IRA account happens to be a Roth IRA, it’s like winning the tax-free lottery since only contributions to a Roth, not earnings, are subject to tax. If it’s a traditional IRA, Uncle Sam will get his due, eventually.

That may be cold comfort for the taxman. In November, the Government Accountability Office released a report suggesting steps Congress can take to close up the loophole, but not everyone thinks it needs to be fixed.

“There are going to be cases that are extreme, but it’s an honest system and encourages saving and personal responsibly. I don’t think that is something they would want to tamper with,” says E. Brian Finkelstein, a partner at Broad Financial, a provider of self-directed IRAs and solo 401(k)s.
GAO and the giant IRA

The GAO’s report broke down the landscape of IRA ownership and told how a few people came by their vast IRA fortunes.

A handful of people have amassed more money than would be possible from prudent savings and wise investing. Instead, startup founders and private equity executives were able to build their balances by putting nonpublicly traded securities with very low valuations into their retirement accounts.

“The investments are priced low because they are illiquid and there is no guarantee that they will have any value in the future. However, one would not go through all this trouble (of opening a self-directed IRA) if they did not anticipate rapid growth,” says Stuart Caplan, director of portfolio management at Apex Financial Advisors in Yardley, Pennsylvania.