Guidant Financial Group Blog

As reported in our September 13 blog, our CEO David Nilssen was quoted in Market Watch regarding the buying of foreclosed homes with IRA funds. Thanks to the housing crisis, foreclosed homes are available at really good prices for people with self-directed IRAs to scoop up – along with numerous other investment opportunities that appear during economic downturns.

Two days after our blog, the market crashed with a huge, sickening thud (see Bloomberg). Granted, this means that now there are even more foreclosed homes to buy at even better prices. But getting a great deal on a foreclosure while realizing it represents a family’s misfortune is – if you have a soul at all – seriously heartbreaking. Our accounts may be growing, but we just don’t feel like breaking into song about it.

In all honesty, we desperately want to return to a time when we can celebrate our good fortune without feeling, well, guilty about it.

So what do we do? Here at Guidant we are certainly continuing to work hard at helping you secure a sound financial future, even if that means buying foreclosures, making personal loans, offering lease/options and other money-making transactions that take advantage of today’s recession. But we are also stepping up our efforts to preach the gospel of conservative investment practices, the need for due diligence, and the “not-putting-all-your-eggs-in-one-basket” safety net of broad diversification.

This is the ideal time for Guidant and others with self-directed vehicles to educate everyone we know about the advantages of taking personal, hands-on control of one’s IRA, 401(k), and other retirement funds. After all, unless you have gambling in your blood, then you (and not a broker or financial institution) are certainly more inclined to tread carefully when making the decisions about how and where your funds are being invested. And with a keen eye on the markets – and a checkbook tied to your IRA in your hand – you can jump quickly and cautiously from shaky investments into those that are more secure.

These times are frightening for all of us. But if history is any indicator, then even if the market begins to rally (as it did today), it won’t be the last time our economy takes a nasty hit. Could it be that we have the opportunity now to change the marketplace as we know it? If we can help people learn from their mistakes and present a potentially more secure route to financial solvency, then maybe the next hit won’t be quite so hard, and we can at least feel a little less guilty about standing firm while the world around us is shaking.