Investing from an IRA

[Daniel Fenn]

What firms are out there that allow you to invest in real estate from a self directed IRA?

I have an existing Scottrade traditional IRA into which I had rolled over my 401(K) from previous employers for consolidation.

Once I find a financial company that allows investing in real estate, should I specify that the new account should be a Roth IRA or is there a choice? I've been told that its better to convert a bit at a time to avoid tax consequences based on the income bracket.

Thank you.

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

Originally posted by @Daniel Fenn:

Once I find a financial company that allows investing in real estate, should I specify that the new account should be a Roth IRA or is there a choice? I've been told that its better to convert a bit at a time to avoid tax consequences based on the income bracket.

Daniel, you can not transfer Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. You have to convert your Traditional IRA into Roth before the transfer or setup Traditional SD IRA, transfer the funds and then convert into Roth. If you are planning on doing this in stages it will be somewhat inconvenient and costly because you'll have to maintain two self-directed IRAs: Traditional and a Roth. And if you buy assets with your Traditional SD IRA you would have to re-title the conversion portion each time you do the conversion. Be sure to discuss your strategy with experienced professional to cover all your basis beforehand.