Posted by Kent TN on September 29, 2004 at 07:30:46:
It doesn’t look like the pros are going to respond, so I’ll share my experience with Equity Trust Co. I have had 2 IRA’s with them for about a 2 years. I have been very satisfied with them. Their fees are reasonable for the amount of record keeping they have to do. They are very helpful on the phone and I can get through to them easily. It’s a job in itself to keep your money working inside the IRA. If your money just sits in there, you should just leave it in a mutual fund. By the way, they give you that option now. Make sure you have done a few deals outside the IRA before you attempt to do one inside. I am currently trying to get my IRA’s converted to ROTH’s. It’s going to be close. Let me say one more thing. Folks, if you have an IRA with a small amount of money and you qualify to convert to a ROTH, do it now! These funds get taxed one time and never again! Hope this helps and inspires people to take advantage of this oportunity.
Entrust or Equity Trust? Which one is better? - Posted by Eli Call
Posted by Eli Call on September 27, 2004 at 19:19:46:
I am opening a self directed IRA this week and I was just wondering which company everyone prefers, problems that you have had with each company and/or praise you could give to either company.
Thanks in advance and for those of you who havent a clue what a What a self Directed Roth Ira is go to:
It is a way to protect that hard earned money from the tax man. GO to the websites and then take the advise that the pros are about to write about which company is better to work with.
I have my self directed IRA with Equity Trust. They acquired the Commerce Bank of Washington’s custodial business back at the start of 2004 and it was kind of a shotgun wedding between my IRA and Equity Trust because of that. They have more different forms and different telephone numbers than you can ‘shake a stick at’ but I have more or less gotten used to that. What I have not gotten used to is their sometimes sloppy bookkeeping. One time I looked on their web site at my account and I had something like $40k too much in my cash account. Then I asked them about it and they just flipped it off saying “that web site does not always show the right cash amount” or something like that. If you go with Equity Trust, be prepared to watch your account closely to straighten out their constant mistakes. If I was at the point of looking closely at a new custodian, I would look very closely at all the nickel and dime fees (on top of the larger annual fees). They add up. From what I could tell, there is a HUGE variation in the fees charged by the different custodians. I did not think Equity Trust’s fees were unreasonable when I glanced at some competitors a month or so ago. But I have 15 or so mortgages in my IRA and it would be a pain to move them so I was just doing a quick lookover. COMPARE THE FEES CAREFULLY. If Equity Trust’s are ok then I do not have a problem recommending them. But as I said, watch the bookkeeping and be prepared to straighten things out constantly.