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Text Box: the investment decisions, not the institution that sponsor the IRA. Even with the IRA owner “calling the shots” most institutions will limit the range of investment options (e.g. some institutions require no less than 50% down on any real estate purchases while others will require 30% +, and still others will allow no debt financing). An advantage of working with an established and reputable SDIRA institution is the experience and

Text Box: “The truth be told you can invest your IRA money in Just about anything you want to provided you can find a custodian willing to handle the asset and provided you can follow some fairly complex tax laws. “ says Market Watch's Robert Powell. Non-traditional investments for IRA s, like real estate, have often been met with skepticism by many financial planners, bankers, and most professional real estate brokers who are unaware of IRA investment guidelines. In the last few years that is beginning to change. Self-directed IRA (SDIRA) Institutions and Custodial Trust Companies are growing more popular. Portfolio Lenders are offering stronger loan packages for “non-recourse” notes necessary for the SDIRA custodial accounts. More importantly, individuals themselves are comparing the returns on real estate investments nationwide against our traditional financial market returns offered by typical retirement advisors. The increase of investor awareness is driving that change. As an example, the S&P 500 average yield in 1981 was 5.26%

Text Box: and the 5 year Treasury was at 11.45%. Both yields have declined steadily over the last 20 years. Compare the 2003 levels of 1.77% yield for the S&P 500, and 2.97% for the 5 year Treasury note. During the same period, real estate investors across the country have enjoyed average returns from 4 to 40+% per year. Additionally, there have been many investor disappointments in the ability of previously “secure” large fortune 500 companies ability to deliver the expected long term results—Enron, World Com to name just a couple of the extreme cases. The simple reality is the average person investing in today's financial market has to accumulate more savings to retire at their accustomed life style than ever before because of historically lower rates of return. It is, therefore, no great surprise that many investors are choosing to re-examine their portfolios and use a self-directed IRA (SDIRA) investment approach to diversify and grow their retirement wealth with real estate products. Are these self-directed IRAs right for you? “Self-directed” is simply a function, not a legal term. It means that the individual investor “directs”

Text Box: isn't heading into a tailspin. Once fuel prices are past their expected late-May peak, both consumers and businesses should breathe a sigh of relief and boost spending again. The economy has underlying strength. Corporate profits are growing at a healthy clip, if not as quickly as last year, and companies are encouraged that price hikes are sticking.

Text Box: If the volatility of the Stock Market is making you crazy, join the crowd. The economic report is solid and the experts all agree but that does not stop the craziness of the current financial market. Perhaps we have forgotten the old adage that “slow and steady wins the race”. When greed and risk abound as they do today we are in for this kind of erratic behavior for the duration. So we had better get used to it or diversify into real estate. Today's current economic report:

Text Box: GDP -A 3.1% pace of economic growth in the first quarter is a bit slower than expected but will look good compared with the current quarter's performance. We see gross domestic product (GDP) expanding by about 2.5% in the March-through-June period before the pace picks up a bit in the second half. Poor economic data for March, after relatively solid figures in January and February, set the stage for a weaker second quarter. However, the economy

“Getting Real (Estate) in your IRA” Non-traditional investments hold potential and pitfalls..	1
Economic Report—Financial market erratic, housing market still strong.	1