IRA Financial Group Review

IRA Financial Group is a self-directed IRA company that focuses on helping the average person take control of their retirement funds. The company helps people to put together the exact portfolio they want, even giving you checkbook control over your purchases.

The company tends to have positive customer reviews online. But what exactly do they do? How do they compare to the competition, and should you invest with them? Here's what you should know.

About IRA Financial Group

IRA Financial Group was originally founded by a man named Adam Bergman, who has extensive experience working as a tax attorney. He envisioned a company that would allow people to create self-directed IRAs that they could manage with complete freedom and flexibility.

The company has pioneered the IRA Financial app, which allows customers to create different accounts based on their needs. You get dedicated ongoing support from the team, and some of the accounts include checkbook control options.

Company Support

The company has worked with thousands of clients throughout the US. With a self-directed IRA, you are able to invest in items that can't be held in a normal IRA. These include assets like precious metals, cryptocurrency, and real estate.

Those aren't the only investments available through IRA Financial Group. They also help people diversify their portfolios with things like tax liens, new businesses, and peer to peer lending.

In addition to being founded by a tax attorney, the company is staffed by a group of tax professionals. You have consistent access to legal experts who can make sure that your account is totally IRS compliant, no matter how flexible and complex it is. The company guarantees that your account will stand up to an IRS audit.

Company Mission

The ultimate goal of the company is to be the best option for people who want to create a self-directed IRA. They use mobile apps and other technology to make it easy to invest in your retirement.

The company also says that they aim to create high quality and value for their customers, as well as a strong level of efficiency.

The company has been working with clients for over a decade. They manage more than $4.5 billion in assets, and they have over sixteen thousand customers. You can securely create your account using the mobile app.

Pricing and Fees

Different account structures have different pricing. You want the one that will let you invest in the assets you're most interested in -- without breaking the bank.

Because the company helps you to set up flexible IRAs with customized investments, the fees tend to be higher than if you were setting up a basic precious metals IRA. By using these services, you are given the freedom to maintain your own account and choose whatever investment platforms you want.

Checkbook Control

The Checkbook Control IRA can be purchased for a one-time fee of $999, and then it is maintained for $300 per year. With this type of IRA, the company creates an LLC inside your retirement account. You can use the checkbook for the LLC to purchase alternative assets directly from different vendors.

As long as you have a credit card on file, there is no minimum balance to sign up. The first year comes with a free annual compliance review. If you want to continue having this review in the following years, it's $200 per year.

Self-Directed IRA

The self-directed IRA plan costs $300 per year. While this plan doesn't have checkbook control, it does allow the company to take care of the entire setup and maintenance. You also get access to the Gemini platform.

Like the previous plan, there aren't any minimum balances or asset fees. The company will handle all of your tax reporting and ongoing account administration.

Solo 401(k)

The solo 401(k) option is available for self-employed individuals. You will pay a flat fee of $999 and then pay $199 annually for maintenance starting in the second year.

This is another account that comes with Checkbook Control. It has the same benefits as the Checkbook Control IRA, including a lack of minimum balances and asset fees. You get the company's compliance service for free during the first year.

With this type of account, you can save a maximum of $64,500 in your retirement administration. It's also possible to borrow a maximum of $50,000 without incurring tax penalties.

ROBS Solution

The ROBS Solution plan costs $2,500 to set up and then $100 monthly for maintenance. That means a total of $1,200 per year to maintain.

This might seem like a huge amount, but it's because this type of account allows you to create a tax-free business. You can also grow an existing business without incurring tax penalties.

During the process, you can benefit from aspects of Trump's tax plan and retain your most employees. The representatives at the company will help you structure your plan so that you incur as few fees as possible when using your retirement funds.

Investment Options

Since self-directed IRAs are so flexible, your investment options are basically limitless. You will need to comply with IRS regulations, but you can invest in both traditional and alternative assets. If you get one of the Checkbook Control plans, you can use your checkbook to purchase assets from any vendor.

Once you open your account, you can get started with investing right away. Some of the options include:

The company has also partnered with the Capital One financial institution. This allows them to administer accounts without having a minimum balance requirement or fees for wire transfers. You don't even need to sign any paperwork for the process.

The company works with investment brokers who carry a variety of alternative assets. When you access the app, you can begin browsing investments and making purchases immediately. The flat fee structure means that you don't have to worry about hidden costs down the road.

Is IRA Financial Group a Scam?

IRA Financial Group is not a scam. They are a legitimate business with largely good reviews online. The Better Business Bureau gives them an A+ and has accredited them. In the past three years, there were three complaints, two of which were filed within the previous twelve months.

The positive reviews say that the company has excellent customer service throughout the entire investment process. They mention that it's easy to take distributions from the account when the time comes to retire. People praise the company's organization and say that they're happy to have checkbook control for their IRA.

Setting up a self-directed IRA with an LLC does give you unprecedented control over the assets in your account. You can purchase from any vendor you want, rather than being locked into a single investment company.

However, they might not be the best precious metals investment company to work with. There are other groups that may have better customer service and available products to choose from.

Let's take a look at what the BBB complaints had to say.

Complaints with the BBB

There are ten reviews on the BBB website, most of which are positive. Other customer feedback across different third party sites tends to be positive. This indicates that people tend to have good experiences with the company overall.

The first complaint is from a customer who said they were being charged $200 for a service they hadn't asked for. Despite requesting that the company cease, they were still being billed and called by representatives. They were sent threatening emails that said the IRS might be notified of non-payment.

The customer named the company representatives who were calling them in the complaint, and they say that they believe what's happening is a shakedown. Their desired outcome was that the business would stop contacting them.

The company responded to say that they had reached out to the customer regarding the complaint. Since the customer did not want to be contacted further, that was what they'd do.

However, the customer said that they didn't accept this response. Apparently the business did cease to contact them, but the representative they spoke to also asked them to remove their BBB complaint. The customer found this suspicious, as it seemed to indicate that the company would continue the misleading practice.

The company has not responded to these allegations.

There was another complaint made about the exact same service in 2019. This customer said that they had created their company account twelve years ago, but had never started to be billed like this until that year. They requested that the company would stop sending them bills.

The company responded to say that internal review was being done to make sure that the issue didn't happen again. They apologized profusely and said that they were in the wrong, as the customer had not requested that they receive the Transaction Review service.

That internal review doesn't seem to have solved the problem, considering the follow-up complaint. And that does make it slightly suspicious that the company tried to get the next complainant to remove their grievance from the BBB website.

Pros & Cons of IRA Financial Group

Final Thoughts

IRA Financial Group is a company that offers self-directed IRAs to their consumers. They help people set up these accounts, explain the different options for alternative asset investment, and help them connect to a registered custodian.

This does seem to be a good company to work with if you want a very flexible self-directed IRA. They have investment opportunities not just for precious metals, but also for assets like real estate and cryptocurrency. You have the chance to create a truly diversified investment portfolio.

However, there are some concerns to be aware of. The biggest concern is that there have been a few complaints filed about the same thing. The company seems to have used aggressive and misleading sales tactics to try to intimidate customers into purchasing their Transaction Review service.

When the first complaint about this was filed, the company took full responsibility and said it was conducting an internal review to keep the issue from happening again. But then another customer complained about the same thing several months later. The company asked them to take down their BBB complaint, which might indicate that they wanted to cover up the mishap.

There are other self-directed IRA companies that offer many of the same services as IRA Financial Group. Several of these have even more positive customer feedback, and they also don't have concerning patterns of complaints. Ultimately, we'd recommend that you work with one of these above working with IRA Financial Group, even though most consumers seem to have a good experience with them.