All Forum Posts by: George Blower

@Sean Harris

An alternative to taking a 401k distribution is taking a 401k loan.

If the 401k you are referring to is your current employer 401k, you may able to take a loan from the plan.

If a former employer 401k, you likely can't take a loan but may be able to rollover funds to a Solo 401k which does allow you take a 401k loan.

If you are self-employed with no full-time employees and have funds in a former employer plan and/or non-Roth IRA, you can set up a Solo 401k, rollover the funds and then take a 401k participant loan. You could then use those funds to purchase the mobile home park.

First, you must be eligible to set up a Solo 401k. In order to be eligible, you must be self-employed (e.g. providing goods and/or services through your personal effort), reporting self-employment activity on your taxes (e.g. Schedule C if you a sole proprietor) & you do not have any full-time w-2 employees (i.e. working 1000 hours or more per year) working for your self-employed business or otherwise.

The repayment terms are equal monthly/quarterly payments (as you prefer) of principal and interest (e.g. prime + 1%) spread over a 5 year term (or longer if you will use the loan to purchase your primary residence). There are no prepayment penalties and no restrictions on what you can do with the proceeds of the Solo 401k loan. This means that the typical Solo 401k real estate rules (i.e. purchasing property from an unrelated person, NOT living in the property, NOT working on the property, etc.) do not apply.

Here is more information regarding Solo 401k loans:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9552/65453-pay...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9552/64392-mul...

Ultimately it is up to you whether to take the 401k loan.  Of course, you will have to make loan payments regardless of the performance of your investment.

@Erik Carlson

@Charles Conroy

Regarding taking a 401k loan:

• You would have to confirm that your 401k plan allows for a 401k participant loan (and that you have not had an outstanding loan in the last 12 months).
• If yes, you can borrow up to 50% of the balance not to exceed $50,000.
• The repayment terms are equal monthly/quarterly payments (as you prefer) of principal and interest (e.g. prime + 1%) spread over a 5 year term (or longer if you will use the loan to purchase your primary residence). There are no prepayment penalties and no restrictions on what you can do with the proceeds of the 401k loan. Please note that you are obligated to pay back their 401k (regardless of the performance of your real estate investment).
• Per the loan offset rules that went into effect with the 2018 Tax and Job Act: if you leave your job and the loan is current at the time you leave your job but then the loan goes into default because you left your job, you will have until your tax return deadline (including any timely filed extension) to make the loan current by depositing the outstanding balance into an IRA (and thereby avoid the taxes and penalties that would otherwise apply).
• If you are self-employed with no full-time employees & you can rollover the funds, you could set up a Solo 401k, rollover the funds and take a 401k loan from the Solo 401k.

Thanks @Cooper Marcus

Of course, the threshold considerations are whether (i) you are eligible (i.e. self-employed with no full-time w-2 employees) and (ii) retirement funds in an account that you can rollover (i.e. former employer plan and/or non-Roth IRA that is invested in investments that can be liquidated an acceptable cost).

Assuming that you cross these threshold issues, here are some additional comments/considerations:

1. Confirm that the provider has a pristine reputation (e.g. Better Business Bureau reviews, etc.).

2. You may wish to confirm that the new 401k provider has experience with the particular investments in which you intend to invest your retirement funds as you very likely will have questions in terms of the mechanics (e.g. how do you invest in real estate, etc.).

3. You may wish to confirm that the new 401k provider will handle the ongoing compliance support such as any required 5500 filing (e.g. 5500-ez for a one-participant plan with assets in excess of $250,000), any required tax reporting (e.g. 1099-r in the event of a distribution or in-plan Roth conversion), mandatory plan updates and amendments, etc.

4. If you might take a 401k loan, you may wish to confirm that the new 401k provider will prepare the required 401k participant loan documents.

@Danielle Wolter

If you are self-employed with no full-time w-2 employees, you can set up a Solo 401k & rollover funds from a former employer plan and/or non-Roth IRA as a tax-free direct rollover and then invest in real estate.

Solo 401k vs. Self-directed IRA

A Solo 401k has several advantages as compared to a Self-Directed IRA including the following which specifically apply to your situation:

• Unlike a Self-directed IRA, you can have the account for the Solo 401k at a bank or brokerage that does not charge maintenance fees and where you will have checkbook control.
• Unlike a Self-directed IRA, if you use leverage (which must be non-recourse financing in either case) to acquire real estate with your Solo 401k the income will not be subject to Unrelated Debt Finance Income tax

General Considerations Re Investing Retirement Funds in Real Estate:

1. If you purchase via an IRA (as opposed to a 401k), you will need to open an IRA account at a specialty trust company which allows for investments in real estate. Unless you invest via an LLC owned by the IRA, you will not have checkbook control over the funds which means you need to run transactions (e.g. income, expenses, etc.) through the trust company who will need time to process the transactions and generally charge fees for each transaction. On the other hand, keep in mind that there are costs associated with maintaining an LLC (such as the $800 annual franchise tax in California).

2. If you are self-employed with no full-time employees, you can set up a Solo 401k through a 401k provider which allows for investing in real estate. In that case, you can simply have the account at a bank or brokerage where you will have direct checkbook control.

3. In either case, all of the income and expenses will need to flow in and out of the retirement account.

4. In either case and if you will you debt to acquire the real estate, it must be non-recourse financing. See more at the following link: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9552/70408-ira... If debt-financed real estate is acquired via an IRA, any income attributable to such investment will generally be subject to unrelated debt finance income tax.

5. In either case, you can't live on the property or otherwise use it for personal use.

6. In either case, you can't work on the property as it must be a passive investment (e.g. you must hire someone to fix the toilet and can't pay the expense with non-retirement funds).

7. In either case, you must purchase/sell real estate from/to an unrelated person and the real estate can't be titled in your name personally (e.g. in the case of the 401k, it would be titled in the name of the 401k and you would sign as trustee of the 401k).

8. In either case, you should verify that you are eligible to transfer the funds from your existing retirement account (e.g. if the funds are in your current employer 401k, you will likely not be able to transfer until you quit your job).

@Robert Gibson

Regarding taking a 401k loan:

• You would have to confirm that your 401k plan allows for a 401k participant loan (and that you have not had an outstanding loan in the last 12 months).
• If yes, you can borrow up to 50% of the balance not to exceed $50,000.
• The repayment terms are equal monthly/quarterly payments (as you prefer) of principal and interest (e.g. prime + 1%) spread over a 5 year term (or longer if you will use the loan to purchase your primary residence). There are no prepayment penalties and no restrictions on what you can do with the proceeds of the 401k loan. Please note that you are obligated to pay back their 401k (regardless of the performance of your real estate investment).
• Per the loan offset rules that went into effect with the 2018 Tax and Job Act: if you leave your job and the loan is current at the time you leave your job but then the loan goes into default because you left your job, you will have until your tax return deadline (including any timely filed extension) to make the loan current by depositing the outstanding balance into an IRA (and thereby avoid the taxes and penalties that would otherwise apply).
• If you are self-employed with no full-time employees & you can rollover the funds, you could set up a Solo 401k, rollover the funds and take a 401k loan from the Solo 401k.

@Chad Ackerman

If you are self-employed with no full-time employees and have funds in a former employer plan and/or non-Roth IRA, you can set up a Solo 401k, rollover the funds and then take a 401k participant loan. You could then use those funds in your business.

First, you must be eligible to set up a Solo 401k. In order to be eligible, you must be self-employed (e.g. providing goods and/or services through your personal effort), reporting self-employment activity on your taxes (e.g. Schedule C if you a sole proprietor) & you do not have any full-time w-2 employees (i.e. working 1000 hours or more per year) working for your self-employed business or otherwise.

The repayment terms are equal monthly/quarterly payments (as you prefer) of principal and interest (e.g. prime + 1%) spread over a 5 year term (or longer if you will use the loan to purchase your primary residence). There are no prepayment penalties and no restrictions on what you can do with the proceeds of the Solo 401k loan. This means that the typical Solo 401k real estate rules (i.e. purchasing property from an unrelated person, NOT living in the property, NOT working on the property, etc.) do not apply.

Here is more information regarding Solo 401k loans:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9552/65453-pay...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9552/64392-mul...

@Joe Palmer

I suggest that you interview a few providers and as you do so here are some issues to consider:

1. In order to have checkbook control (via an IRA LLC), the IRA account will need to be at a trust company that will allow the IRA to invest in an LLC (where you will be the manager and your IRA will be a member - an as manager you will have checkbook access to the LLC bank account). Therefore, you will want to confirm that the trust company allows for investing in an LLC and the associated fees and minimum balance that applies to the IRA account.

2. Confirm that the IRA LLC provider will prepare all of the documents needed to not only form the LLC (articles of organization, SS-4 to obtain an EIN) but also the documents needed by the trust company to process the investment of IRA funds in the LLC.

3. Confirm that the provider has experience with the particular investments in which you intend to invest your retirement funds as you very likely will have questions in terms of the mechanics (e.g. how do you invest in real estate, etc.).

4. Confirm that the provider has a pristine reputation (e.g. Better Business Bureau reviews, etc.).

5. In addition, if you are self-employed with no full-time employees you may wish to consider opening a Solo 401k instead of a self-directed IRA as it has several advantages over an IRA LLC such as much higher contribution limits, direct checkbook control (i.e. no need to have the account at a speciality trust company), ability to take a 401k loan, exclusion from unrelated debt finance income tax with respect to investment in real estate acquired with non-recourse financing, etc.

@Cass Lowrie

If you are self-employed with no full-time w-2 employees, you can set up a Solo 401k & rollover funds from a non-Roth IRA as a tax-free direct rollover and then invest in real estate.

Solo 401k vs. Self-directed IRA

A Solo 401k has several advantages as compared to a Self-Directed IRA including the following which specifically apply to your situation:

• Unlike a Self-directed IRA, you can have the account for the Solo 401k at a bank or brokerage that does not charge maintenance fees and where you will have checkbook control.
• Unlike a Self-directed IRA, if you use leverage (which must be non-recourse financing in either case) to acquire real estate with your Solo 401k the income will not be subject to Unrelated Debt Finance Income tax

General Considerations Re Investing Retirement Funds in Real Estate:

1. If you purchase via an IRA (as opposed to a 401k), you will need to open an IRA account at a specialty trust company which allows for investments in real estate. Unless you invest via an LLC owned by the IRA, you will not have checkbook control over the funds which means you need to run transactions (e.g. income, expenses, etc.) through the trust company who will need time to process the transactions and generally charge fees for each transaction. On the other hand, keep in mind that there are costs associated with maintaining an LLC (such as the $800 annual franchise tax in California).

2. If you are self-employed with no full-time employees, you can set up a Solo 401k through a 401k provider which allows for investing in real estate. In that case, you can simply have the account at a bank or brokerage where you will have direct checkbook control.

3. In either case, all of the income and expenses will need to flow in and out of the retirement account.

4. In either case and if you will you debt to acquire the real estate, it must be non-recourse financing. See more at the following link: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9552/70408-ira... If debt-financed real estate is acquired via an IRA, any income attributable to such investment will generally be subject to unrelated debt finance income tax.

5. In either case, you can't live on the property or otherwise use it for personal use.

6. In either case, you can't work on the property as it must be a passive investment (e.g. you must hire someone to fix the toilet and can't pay the expense with non-retirement funds).

7. In either case, you must purchase/sell real estate from/to an unrelated person and the real estate can't be titled in your name personally (e.g. in the case of the 401k, it would be titled in the name of the 401k and you would sign as trustee of the 401k).

8. In either case, you should verify that you are eligible to transfer the funds from your existing retirement account (e.g. if the funds are in your current employer 401k, you will likely not be able to transfer until you quit your job).

@Kumar Gaurav

1. First, I presume that (i) you are self-employed; and (ii) you do not have any full-time w-2 employees (i.e. working 1000 hours or more per year) working for your self-employed business or otherwise working for you. Given this understanding, you would be eligible to establish a self-directed Solo 401k which allows for investing in real estate.

2. If you are self-employed with no full-time employees, you can set up a Solo 401k through a 401k provider which allows for investing in real estate. In that case, you can simply have the account at a bank or brokerage where you will have direct checkbook control.

3. All of the income and expenses will need to flow in and out of the retirement account.

4. If you will you debt to acquire the real estate, it must be non-recourse financing. See more at the following link: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9552/70408-ira...

5. You can't live on the property or otherwise use it for personal use.

6. You can't work on the property as it must be a passive investment (e.g. you must hire someone to fix the toilet and can't pay the expense with non-retirement funds).

7. You must purchase/sell real estate from/to an unrelated person and the real estate can't be titled in your name personally (e.g. in the case of the 401k, it would be titled in the name of the 401k and you would sign as trustee of the 401k).

8. You should verify that you are eligible to transfer the funds from your existing retirement account (e.g. if the funds are in your current employer 401k, you will likely not be able to transfer until you quit your job).