Directing Your Own Investments With Mat Sorensen

While the number of people out there who have educated themselves about the concept of self-directed IRAs is growing, it’s clear that there are still many who, unfortunately, see their IRAs and 401(k)s take a beating in the stock market mutual funds because they choose not to self-direct. The fact is that nowadays, for most people, self-directed IRAs do happen to be the best fit, and they have to take advantage of that. Mat Sorensen is the CEO of Directed IRA and Directed Trust Company. Mat speaks to Kevin Shortle about how self-directed IRAs are, at the end of the day, endlessly more fruitful than choosing not to self-direct. If your goal is protecting your investments, don’t miss this engaging conversation between Mat and Kevin.

Listen to the podcast here

Directing Your Own Investments With Mat Sorensen

Thank you for reading the blog and especially sharing it with a friend. If you belong to a meetup group, real estate investment club, anything like that, I sure would appreciate you promoting the website out there for me. If you do enjoy this, please go ahead and hit the like on there, giving us a five-star rating. If you like this, believe it or not, that does help. I do appreciate that. I’ve got a guest for you and you’re going to enjoy this quite a bit before it gets to that. I’ve had some people asking me about what’s coming up next for the NoteWorthy Event. We do have plans for that. Expect an email to go out about that. Based upon the situation, it will be a virtual NoteWorthy conference and we’re going to put together some amazing presenters for you and everything else. Everybody will enjoy that. Expect to get some emails about that. I want to introduce you to someone who has written the book on self-directed IRAs and that is Mat Sorensen. He owns Directed IRA. Many of you also know Aaron Halderman. He is working over there with Mat at Directed IRA. I’ve got them both here with me. Aaron, how are you?  

Good, Kevin. Thanks for having us on. I appreciate it. Thanks for being consistent in getting these out and updating everybody. The NoteWorthy update is that we are going to do a virtual event. We’re finalizing the day in June. I believe we’re about 99% sure we’re going to move to December to do the National Convention live in Orlando, Florida pending things have cooled down and we’re back to doing live events.

I’ll get to finally drive to one of these events and drive home instead of flying across the country for a change. 

We’re excited about that. Those of you that came to the summit in February live, I announced my involvement at Directed IRA and Directed Trust Company. We are an actual trust company. Mat has been a featured keynote speaker for several years at the NoteWorthy conferences and Note Tools conferences that we’ve done. We’ve developed a friendship over the years. He had approached me that he was looking at cofounding a trusted company with Mark Kohler. We began the discussion about my involvement in this space and how I could help the company’s growth and be part of the executive team there. We’re able to finalize that and excited to be over there. I play a key role in new accounts and our strategic plans operations a little bit of everything and supporting the vision that Mark has for the growth of the company and delivering great customer service. I’m passionate about the space. That’s how I raised a bunch of money over the years, working with private investors to self-direct their retirement funds into notes, real estate and lending as well. I’m excited to be involved in that, the world of Mat and Mark and what they’ve built, the foundation they’ve established, and their expertise in the space. Thanks, Kevin, for supporting us and you are acknowledged in the space as well.

For those who are not familiar with Mat, and many of you reading, I would assume that you are because Mat has been at the forefront of the self-directed IRA industry for several years. His book is the standard for the industry, The Self-Directed IRA Handbook with over 20,000 copies sold. He is an attorney, well-established with the rules and regulations and everything, and let’s face it, he’s been published, referenced, cited by Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Forbes, Entrepreneur, you name it. He’s widely recognized as an expert in the IRA space. I don’t want anybody thinking that, “We’ve heard about self-directed IRAs already and we know all about it.” We’re going to take this a whole different direction too. I’m aware that a lot of my readers are a little educated on self-directed IRAs, but there are also a lot of things that you don’t know. Mat, if there is a better time to talk about this because most people, unfortunately, are in a situation where they have seen their IRAs and 401(k)s that they don’t self-direct, that have taken a beating in the stock market and mutual funds. It’s timely to have you on, Mat Sorensen, thank you for being here.  

Thank you so much, Kevin. It’s good to be on with Aaron too. He’s been a big addition to our company and I’m grateful for all the work that he does with us. It’s a weird time. I’ve been doing a lot of media stuff and writing and read the Senate bill. It also is a time for opportunity. My clients and Aaron run into him too. Our customers here at Directed IRA, the ones that have the large accounts, you’d think they’d be the most annoyed. They’re excited. They have the most to lose. They’re the ones that look at this as like, “This is an opportunity.” I see it. We’ve seen clients already starting to get in on stuff, already finding little opportunities where the money is needed. There was at one point $30 trillion in retirement accounts made with the stock market revalue and it’s at $24 trillion. That’s where all the money is. The smart people are realizing, they don’t freak out. This is an opportunity. Find opportunities. It’s going to come back but reposition yourself. Find the opportunity to come out stronger.

If we went back historically, even the downturn from the 2008 crash, look how much money was made after that. I’m in full agreement with you. It’s going to rebound, but it is time to be smart. It’s time to educate yourself and it’s time to set up your accounts properly to take advantage as the opportunities arise. 

People are selling paper that their IRA owned because they know they can get a better deal. Click To Tweet

Even Aaron and I were talking about this of people selling their notes. People are selling paper that their IRA owned. They want to cash back up because they know they can get a better deal. There are a lot of people out there looking for that note that you were holding that you loved, but you’re like, “If I can sell it and cash out, get it to that person, I know I can get a better deal and I know my money is more valuable or there’s another opportunity.” We see that shift happens a little bit, which is cool. It’s scary when you’re at the bottom of this, but those that are smart, this is when you make money.

The thought process of larger account holders and such. Everybody, you should know this already with self-directed IRA companies. They’re not in the business of an investment advisor. I’m not asking you for that. I’m asking you for your opinion and thought process. Are they looking at real estate as the opportunities, the market? Are they looking at diversifying alternative investments as they call them? What’s the thought process? 

I’ll give you two specific examples. One of them, a business owner, self-directed investor guy does a lot of private money lending. A friend of his owns a strip club. That’s a gentleman’s club and whatever you want to call it. That business has been shut down. That business owner still got fixed costs. The client’s IRA is loaning that company money and this is a legit company that’s licensed and all that. They’re going to loan that company money, good rates that also have an option to convert to equity if they want it to. That’s one example. Another example is a fix and flip type of person, a small home builder. That is getting into a cash crunch. Closings aren’t happening as fast as they thought. Another client is going in and finding out. Watching a lot of the transactions going through and sometimes I get the backstory on them, sometimes we don’t, but those are two real estate ones that are common.

I have some closings getting held up, some people backing out, which means sellers are holding properties you’ve been fixing and flipping. That means you’re holding a little longer. You might be in a penalty situation on your hard money. It sets opportunities for new hard money to come in on new notes or the business owner. It’s a true example, but there are a lot of businesses that have had to shut down. It might need some temporary financing and a lot of those government reliefs that are going to come, if people are going to get some of these government loans that are coming down the pipeline and in the senate builders’ loans that can be forgiven and grants, you’re not getting that money. You need this bridge financing. Another opportunity to come in and provide the bridge financing for maybe their government loan to come through. Who knows how long the government loans are going to take for small business.

The conclusion is the smart money is not in panic mode here. The smart money is looking for where the opportunities are. I know you have a podcast as well. Is that the thing that you talk about on your podcast? Is it centered on some of that?

My partner Mark and I did a webinar with Entrepreneur Magazine. We contribute there and then we did a second version of that for our podcast audience and stuff. Refresh Your Wealth is our podcast where we can dive into those topics and then we’re going to do another one. Hopefully, the House passes the Senate bill and then we’re going to go through all the stuff that’s in there because there’s so much. As an investor, a lot of your readers are business owners too. We’re investors, business owners and I’m the same thing. There’s a lot of relief and stuff in there to know about but from a self-directed IRA standpoint, there are a lot of opportunities because you’re the fast money. Even if you don’t have a self-directed IRA, your money is in eTrade and you’ve got hammered and maybe you don’t want to wait it out in the stock market or you want to get a piece out to self-direct. It’s where the opportunity is. People need money. If you have faith in whom you’re borrowing to or investing in, because we see people taking equity stakes in companies too in small businesses. It’s not loaning the money. Reposition yourself.

You can get money and we can get an account set up in a day and get a transfer within a week. You can be lending it out or investing it in a deal. That’s paying attention. The best way to find deals is to pay attention to it. Be in conversations. Let people in your network. I don’t care if it’s a social media or Facebook post or whatever, you’re a private money lender or you invest in small business. Let people know you have some compassion about it. The people are going on, “What’s going on out there?” It’s an opportunity for you to make money. They need resources to money and let’s on-tap all that money in retirement accounts to help each other get through this and get good returns in our retirement accounts.

That’s a strong message and something on there I believe in the real estate note side, which I specialize in. I’ve been talking a lot on my coaching calls and everything else also that there are going to be people, number one that needs money, that own notes, that are going to want to sell notes. Let’s reach out to those folks and provide that solution. There are also going to be people who have lost their job that is going to be unable to make payments and let’s be proactive on that and see if we can get ahead of that curve and work with people. I said, “There’s going to be this fourth wave of inventory. It’s inevitable in the note business that we’re going to have default rates go up.” It’s going to happen. We’re going to see this fourth wave of inventory and we don’t go into that of going, “Good news for us.” The thing is if I go back and look at the crash in the note business, the government proved to themselves they couldn’t solve the whole problem at all. Banks couldn’t do it. Wall Street firms couldn’t do it.

It came down to small business entrepreneurs like you and me and my readers that came in and provided the solution. Is there a profit incentive? Absolutely, but the fact of the matter is we are the solution to the problems and what I believe are the coming problems down the road. Let me switch gears a little bit here on that same vein. You said something about new legislation and stuff. I know that you’re in tune with this, and being an attorney, I can probably read a lot of this stuff better than the average person like myself. Is there anything that you see or anything that’s going to be changing along the lines of legislation dealing with self-directed accounts or retirement accounts? 

There are a lot of provisions on retirement accounts in general with natural effects, self-directed accounts too. For example, distributions. There are up to $100,000 distributions that you can take out penalty-free without a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you’re not 59.5. You have to say you’ve got financial hardship from the pandemic. There are loans. Those of you that have 401(k)s or Solo(k)s, you used to be able to do a $50,000 loan to yourself. If you needed money to bridge your personal properties or personal finances or personal business, whatever it may be, you could loan yourself half a balance your 401(k) not to exceed $50,000. That rule has changed to $100,000. You go up to $100,000. Some RMD things are being waved and I’ve been taking RMDs. People that are in their 70s and start taking RMD, they’re letting you leave the money in there because they know the market is slow, they want to force you to take it out. When this affects self-directed clients like it does any other retirement account holder, but you’ve got a self-directed IRA or a Solo(k) any of those account types. These are going to be some bit of flexibility you’re going to get that can help people on there to have their situations and their finances, or are business owners or investors that are getting a little bit of a crunch themselves.

I know the bill, I don’t even know if they’ve passed it. It has to go in front of the House. We don’t know any provisions that might affect this here but I would think if anything, the needle is going to point to have some leniency for this. People are going to be in a tough position whether they’re a business owner or whether they’re an employee or an independent contractor on that. To clarify something there and I want to make sure my readers understand that, with the 401(k) you can borrow money from it for personal use, you have to pay it back but you’re paying back your account. They’re increasing that or it’s already increased to $100,000.  

That’s in the Senate bill, unanimously passed. The House says they’re going to pass it. It’s got to be unanimous. The House passed the Senate bill and Trump signed it, you’ll know. That’s what’s in there. That’s in the language. It’s an upper down thing. This is passing it all or it’s not passing it all. They’re not going to amend it or anything. Some stuff has happened that we know. The IRS has moved the tax return deadline until July 15th, which is nice. That’s to pay and to file also that means the IRA contribution deadlines have been moved. You have up until July 15th to contribute to your IRAs. That’s Roth or traditional and HSAs. We have lots of clients that self-direct HSA accounts, Coverdell accounts. It’s not just IRAs and Solo(k)s. I was talking to a client that loans money out on his kid’s Coverdell college account. It’s been successful doing private money lending out of college savings account. I started it when it was small and balances built it up.

You are talking to a lot of entrepreneurs and small business people. One thing that’s always bothered me in a way about the IRA industry is the fact that everybody tends to end a sentence of self-directed with IRA all the time and there are many other things. I’ve always been under the belief and understanding that 401(k)s can do much more for people and there’s not enough focus on those 401(k)s versus IRAs. Can you give us a little comparison on those and your thoughts on those?  

I love a Solo(k) in particular. I myself self-direct my Roth IRA and I self-direct my 401(k) in the law firm. It’s not a Solo(k) because we got a lot of employees, but it’s a 401(k) self-direct my account out of it like a Solo(k), which you can do too. If you’re a business owner, you’ve got employees, there’s a way to do it. It isn’t easy. The Solo(k) is easy comparatively. There are lots of varieties of it. It’s not self-directed IRA, it’s the big one. It’s the easy one and it’s the right fit for most people. For most people, a self-directed IRA is the fittest. They roll over money from their existing account. They need an IRA. They’re going to do maybe some private money lending, buy a rental property, invest in a private company, buy some precious metals. Self-directed IRAs are the easiest and the cheapest.

For most people, a self-directed IRA is the best fit. Click To Tweet

If you’re self-employed and you don’t have any employees in your business besides yourself, your family or your partners, Solo(k) is a way better deal. We’ve been setting those up for years. I don’t want to say we pioneered it, but we were early on the Solo(k)s and I’ve set up thousands of them for clients. The Solo(k) takes a little bit of work. It’s not hard but you’ve got to get your documents done. If you get over $250,000 balance, you’ve got to file a tax return. The Solo(k) is cool because you can throw over $50,000 a year into it and new contributions. If you’re making money in your business, you want to throw more away.

You don’t need a custodian for a Solo(k). You’ll be able to get a bank account with the Solo(k) that you can write checks out of right in the Solo(k). In an IRA you can do that but you need an LLC. It’s an extra fee and step. The 401(k) is cool and I love the Solo(k). We like to get clients that are self-employed yet got to be self-employed to pull it off because a 401(k) is an employer-based plan. Aaron Halderman cannot have a Solo(k). Aaron Halderman, Inc. that employs Aaron Halderman can have a Solo(k). That’s a little distinction. People will say, “I want a Solo(k).” I’m like, “What’s your company? You don’t get a Solo(k). You have to have a business.”

That can be a corporation. You said Inc., but it can also be an LLC, a sole proprietorship as well. A lot of people get involved in the note business in the real estate business. The bulk of my readers, it’s them, it’s their spouse. That is the business and that sets up perfectly for this 401(k). The other thing that I get is I have a 401(k) at my regular job. Can I also create another 401(k) for my own company?  

We do that all the time. A lot of our clients have the day job and then they’ve got the side hustle business too. We’ve set up lots of those. The one thing you’ve got to know on that one though is you can’t max out both. You can put in $56,000 a year into a Solo(k), but if you’re dropping $20,000 in at your company 401(k) because you get a big match, then that leaves maybe $36,000 left, let’s say in your Solo(k) you could do. You can be doing both.

That’s a lot because a lot of people also that read, they’re higher income and you look at that IRA contribution, the more money you make, the less that you can put in there. Any changes on that, by the way? 

No changes to that. This is what all of our high-income people do, a backdoor Roth IRA. We do that. I’ve been doing that for years. You can’t make a Roth IRA contribution or if you have a 401(k) at work and you’re high-income, you phase out for traditional contributions. High-income people a lot of times can’t do a Roth IRA or a traditional IRA out of the gate. What you can do is a backdoor Roth where you make a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution and you convert it to Roth because there was no income limit on conversions. We got to go around the back door and convert. You’ve got a Roth IRA and you threw $6,000 and if you’re over 50, you can throw $7,000. Some people might be like, “I can only throw $6,000 in.” Do you know how many clients I have, the $500,000, $1 million-plus that started with backdoor Roth IRA contributions? All of the Roth IRA accounts that we have. I have 10 million-plus clients with $100 million-plus Roth IRAs. It’s insane. We have some big clients that are attracted to us and the service professionals and we have. Everybody starts at zero. Don’t get discouraged by the small contribution amounts. If you whack away at it, make some good investments over time that builds up.

Getting started is the main thing. The accounts are easy to set up. It doesn’t take all that much. With 401(k), you guys handle the paperwork and they have to open an account.

 

We have banks that know what the heck a Solo(k) is and what a bank account looks like. If you walk into your regular bank, you’re like, “I got a Solo(k), I need a bank account.” You’re going to be at the retirement department in the bank for half a day. Maybe a night’s stay, bring your sleeping bag. We’ve got it down. We also do a binder and those that know my book, my Self-Directed IRA Handbook, it’s comprehensive. I have 100 citations and I took years to write it. I didn’t crack out a crappy book. I took a lot of time in it because I wanted to give out what I thought people needed. In our Solo(k), we have a binder that’s the same thing that’s like, “Here’s how you run your Solo(k).” Once you get a Solo(k), you’re the trustee of it. That’s the one thing on a Solo(k). An IRA, we hold your hand a little bit because I can’t do anything wrong on it. I got to make sure it’s done right and my team knows that. On a Solo(k) you’re the trustee on it. You screw it up, it’s you. You’ve got to get a little educated on it. It’s not hard. Our IRA accounts, it’s DocuSign app online. Our Solo(k) accounts, it’s a questionnaire and it’s an Adobe Sign document. It’s eSign stuff. It’s straight forward.

You hire your kids in the business and they earn income and they can start to do all the same thing. Where can we find the book? I’m sure it’s still on Amazon.

It’s on Amazon. It was Amazon’s bestseller when it came out, number one in Retirement Plan Category in 2013 for about two months. It’s on Amazon for most people. You can get it on my website, SDIRAHandbook.com.

There is a lot of confusion also for people to have these accounts about checkbook control and there’s risk involved with that. More risk with IRAs, less with 401(k). It causes a bit of confusion. Can you clarify that topic for us?  

I have a whole chapter in my book on some people call it a checkbook control IRA. We call it an IRA LLC because that’s what it is. The checkbook IRA is two things. I have my self-directed IRA, a custodian, and I have an LLC that the IRA owns 100%. What I’ve done is rather than the IRA by the note or the real estate, I have the IRA by 100% of the LLC. Put its cash in the LLC. The LLC is going to have a bank account and you’re the manager of the LLC. You don’t own the LLC, your IRA does, but you’re the manager of the LLC. As manager of the LLC, I can have ABC Investments LLC or whatever I called it, go out and buy the real estate, make the investment on the note and I’m signing everything. I’m signing the checks, so to speak, for the checkbook control. I’m signing the contract, I’m cutting the deals. I’ve analyzed all the cases. They’re in the chapter of my book. The IRS has some pronouncements on it. There are some revenue rulings related to it as well. It’s something you can do. Some custodians don’t allow it in the self-directed space, but you can do it. The LLC is one that we’ve done for years. Another variety of this we’ve seen people do is they’ve tried to use business trusts instead of an LLC, particularly our California clients because LLCs in California are paying an $800 fee every year.

The one thing we don’t do business trust or recommend them, I could’ve set up 10,000 of them and we could have had a lot of revenue, but I don’t think they’re a viable structure like an LLC. It’s a different animal. We’re not a fan of the business trust or the trust that your IRA owns. I know some do, but in this checkbook world, there’s a little variety on it. What we’ve done as lawyers is looked at it from a legal standpoint and said, “What are we going to put an opinion letter behind?” Our malpractice behind and that’s IRA LLC’s. There are a lot of cases, it’s in the whole chapter in my book. When someone sets up an IRA LLC with this, they get our memo and comfort letter on it. A business trust though, and I know this has gotten common particularly in California, it doesn’t work with an IRA. The problem is an IRA is a trust itself. Under the IRA law, it says, “The trustee of your IRA,” which is a trust, “must be a custodian,” which is a bank credit union or trust company. When I go and set up a business trust, I have an IRA. That’s a trust that goes and owns another trust. I don’t list the custodians as the trustee. I put myself as a trustee or someone else. Was that someone else custodian under the law? Are they a bank creating a trust coming? There’s a little snag on it that’s different than LLCs. I want to point that one out. We get a lot of comments and questions on that.

Are there other types of trusts that are okay that are utilized? 

You can do deeds of trust and stuff when you’re lending, but in terms of something where you’re going to get control of the IRA, you want the checkbook control. We don’t think there’s a viable trust structure.

Despite how common it is in California, a business trust doesn't work with an IRA. Click To Tweet

I want to point out the different types of trusts and he’s talking specifically about a business trust that’s on the IRA side. Checkbook control on the 401(k) side?  

The 401(k) is a trust too, but under the 401(k) rules that say the business owner can be the trustee. I’m going to be the trustee. You’re permitted. Under the 401(k) rules, you don’t have to have a custodian as trustee, you can be the trustee, and you qualify. That’s why it’s not an issue with that. You’ll have a bank account to set up under the 401(k)’s name, which is a trust. A lot of banks will set up as a trust bank account where you’re signer as trustee. You don’t have the issue there. That’s a perk of the Solo(k) is that you get checked with control right out of the 401(k) itself. Some self-custodians make you put your Solo(k) with them where they hold your money. We don’t do that like Pensco and some of those other larger custodians. If you do a Solo(k) with them, they treat it like an IRA and your money is still parked there. If you’re doing a Solo(k), I probably won’t go to those providers. I like the control. I can tell you why they want your money. Pensco wants your money or even these custodians that don’t let you do an LLC, they want your cash in their bank accounts because they make interest on it. They don’t want it in a Wells Fargo LLC bank account or a Chase Solo(k) bank account. They didn’t make anything on that. They make it so you can’t do it. It’s not as much a legal decision on the LLC that I’ve seen in the industry. It’s more of, “We don’t want you to hold your cash in a bank account we don’t get control.”

Having control, especially in the note business, sometimes these note transactions close within a week. You’ve got to be ready. Having that checkbook versus getting on the phone, having them transfer funds and it can make it much more cumbersome than it needs to be if you’ve got the checkbook right there. Some of these things muddy the water a little bit. Joint ventures are fairly common in our business as well as where people take IRAs. You have an IRA. I have an IRA, we go on to something together. It’s okay to do, but what are some of the downfalls on that?

Joint ventures can work. We see sometimes the documents are not sufficient for a retirement account to own. I’m a real estate investor myself and I’ve been advising those clients since 2004 when I became a lawyer. The thing with joint venture is I need to know what the joint venture is of. Do you own part of an LLC? You might have a joint venture agreement, you’re getting a stake in LLC. Do you own part of a property? Do you own part of a note? I want that document. I don’t want the joint venture agreement. I do want the joint venture agreement, but I want to see the deed that you have one-third, ten in common interests. I want to see the note, the assignment of the note that says you’ve got part of this note from the person who owned it. A lot of people skip that. They’re a little fast and loose with their documents. We can do a joint venture. I need the underlying asset documents. That’s the issue of joint ventures. For notes, in particular, give me the assignment, give me the contract. Don’t give me a joint venture that says, “I’m going to give you $10,000 from my IRA and you’re going to give me half the profits on X.” I need the documents on X.

Joint ventures in the note business, when you start to involve IRAs, I advise people there are many things that can go wrong. The contracts are loosely written and that’s an important part of some of those things. There some things going on in the note business around joint ventures that some of you reading probably know what I’m referring to and it’s not good. It’s allowable, but you always have to think in terms of self-directed IRA companies like yourself. They are not investment advisors for you. You still need outside legal counsel to review the relationship you have with other investors through a joint venture and such. Your self-directed IRA 401(k) company is simply saying, “Is this allowable or not?” Please, make sure everybody that you have that understanding.

We need the documents. I need to know what the asset is. That’s the issue on the joint ventures. A lot of times it’s like, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. What is the asset that you own?” Frankly, sometimes I tell that to customers and they’re like, “I don’t know either.” That’s a problem. You want me to send a $100,000 from your IRA on this thing and you don’t even understand what it is. Let’s look in a little more and get some more documents because I want the records on our file to be clear on what you own.

What final advice would you say to somebody facing where we are? We’re a couple of weeks into this whole virus situation. Give us a wrap-up of your advice, looking from the outside in and with the insight that you have from working with investors.  

 

Look for opportunities. For many people that are working for an employer that’s shut down or you own your business. Some people have time on their hands. My other message is to get educated. If you don’t know much about the self-directed space, this is the time to learn. There’s my book, there are lots of podcasts. If you’re new to the note space, educate. If there’s a new niche coming out in your field, learn that. I’m doing a little bit of that even though we’re busy. I had my virtual summit for the self-directed IRA. I do a self-directed IRA Summit every year. That’s April 17th and 18th, the virtual. We stream up from my partner Mark Kohler’s studio. It’s a state-of-the-art studio. He’s on national TV. He was on KTLA. He’s on NBC Phoenix. He’s streaming out of there live simulcasts on TV. It’s top-of-the-line stuff. We’ll be doing that on April 17th and 18th. We’ve got our summit in September, the live one. Hopefully, we’re better by then. Education is the key. Also, when you’re looking for opportunities, it lets people know what your interest is. If nobody knows you’re a private money lender, you’re not going to be finding deals. Let people know that, “I’m looking to make some investments. I’m looking to loan or invest in companies that might need some help.”

You do have educational videos and such on your main website which is DirectedIRA.com. Also, the summit, April 17th and 18th, virtual. It’s great for everybody to tune in for that. You can learn more about that at SDIRASummit.com. I’ve got a promo code for you, by the way, if you go there and you enter promo code kevinshortle, you’ll get a 10% discount for attending that informative summit that you’re going to have. You’re going to have guest speakers and all topics that are covered on that.

My partner Mark speaks heavily at that. If any of you have seen Mark Kohler speak, you know how amazing he is.

I could go even longer on this. I love it. We’ll save it for another time. I appreciate your time, Mat. Thank you for being on. Aaron, thank you for setting this up for everybody and I do appreciate that. Thanks. 

Thanks, Kevin.

Thank you for reading. Thanks for sharing with a friend and if you are looking to get more education on the note business, please go to my website, KevinShortle.com and check that out. If you have already paid for a lot of education and you’re looking for consulting, please give me an email at Kevin@KevinShortle.com and I’ve got a special consulting program. You’re not going to find it on my website. You’re only going to find it if you email me. You’ll love it because you get one-on-one time with me as well as email support. Thanks for reading. I look forward to putting together another good quality blog for you. 

Important Links:

• Directed IRA
• Aaron Halderman – LinkedIn
• The Self-Directed IRA Handbook
• Refresh Your Wealth
• Amazon – The Self-Directed IRA Handbook
• SDIRAHandbook.com
• SDIRASummit.com
• Kevin@KevinShortle.com

About Aaron Halderman

Mat Sorensen, Esq.
Founder and CEO of Directed IRA & Directed Trust Company, is an attorney, best-selling author, and a national speaker and expert on self-directed retirement accounts.

Mat has been at the forefront of the self-directed IRA industry for over 12 years. He wrote The Self-Directed IRA Handbook, which is the most widely used book in the self-directed IRA industry that has sold over 20,000 copies. Mat is a partner at KKOS Lawyers and has advised thousands of SDIRA clients as well as financial institutions on SDIRA rules since 2006.

Mat received a B.S. in Economics from the University of Utah in 2001 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 2004.

He has been published, referenced, cited, or quoted by The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Yahoo Finance on self-directed IRA topics.

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