Guidant Financial Group Blog

Someone posted a very interesting comment to our Guidant in TheStreet.com posting. This reader noted that, while Entrust has more than 50,000 clients, they have rolled only $3 billion or so in assets. Guidant, on the other hand, has only 5,000 clients (if you can say “only”), but has rolled more than $1.1 billion in assets. This means that Guidant clients are rolling, on average, more than $200,000 into their self-directed IRA accounts – whereas Entrust clients are rolling around $60,000 on average.

The reasons behind this vast difference are simple: ease of investment and fewer fees. Guidant’s truly self-directed IRA LLC includes checkbook control. Why does this matter?

Let us tell you.

Checkbook control not only means that you will be able to write checks instantly from your self-directed IRA for any investment, but it means that there is no custodian involved in your day-to-day transactions. What this boils down to is lower fees.

Because a custodian is not involved in your daily investments, Guidant does not charge you transaction fees. Additionally, Guidant does not charge asset-based fees. We couldn’t care less how much money you roll to your self-directed IRA, as long as you believe that this is the best way for you to invest your retirement funds.

Now, if you had $200,000 in your IRA, would you want to put your money in an account that would charge you a percentage of your account value as a maintenance fee? Probably not.

Also, if you had $200,000 in your IRA, you would probably be more likely to explore multiple investment options. Would you want to put your money in an account where you would be charged for every transaction you make? Probably not.

When broken down, it’s pretty easy to see why people with larger accounts can recognize the benefits of working with a company like Guidant.

Guidant charges a flat, up-front fee for its services, which ends up costing less than the accumulated transactions and other fees active investors would pay over time to other providers. That being said, however, it doesn’t make sense for investors who are just getting started with an IRA or who are limiting their hands-on investments to only a few per year to choose Guidant’s one-time fee structure. Guidant will be the first to say that not every investor should have a Guidant self-directed IRA.

Not sure if a self-directed IRA LLC with checkbook control is right for you? Give us a call.