Who’s Unhappy with Their 401-k?

[Danny Randazzo]

What have you done to make the most of your retirement accounts (401k, IRA, 403B, ESA, etc.)?

I recently converted an old 401k that wasn’t doing much for me into a self direct individual retirement account (commonly referred to as a SDIRA). I was unhappy with the 401k because I had limited ability to invest in anything other than mutual funds and then the market just goes up and down and sometimes there is nothing to show for it from a return perspective. I liquidated the 401k and transferred the entire balance to a sdira managed by a custodian to ensure I stay compliant with IRS rules. Personally I use equity trust company but there are many companies out there. Using the sdira I’ve been able to passively invest in multi family syndication deals and get the great benefits of real estate like cash flow and value add appreciation. I can’t invest in deals that I’m personally a GP of so it’s a way to diversify. Overall, I’m happy with the setup and performance of my sdira since I have complete control of what to invest in.

[David Barnett]

@Jamie Burns I'm probably going to get vilified in this thread for this.  Why not just stack cash outside of the 401k and use that to invest in real estate?  You mentioned that you already reduced your contributions to be exactly the employer match.  Therefore, I'm assuming there's a spread between your previous percentage contributed to today's contribution percentage.  I think it's a good idea to have both real estate and 401k assets to be diversified.  I personally would never self direct to invest in real estate directly.  I keep the 401k and real estate separate.