Self-directed IRAs are not for the average retiree or the faint of heart. These specialized retirement accounts let investors do things they can't in an ordinary IRA, like invest directly in alternative assets, including cryptocurrencies, real estate, gold or a private business. A second property, which many retirees invest in for income, could be purchased as an IRA asset using a self-directed account.
Like ordinary IRAs, assets grow tax-free inside a self-directed account, giving a real estate investor, for example, a way to rent properties or buy and sell them using IRA savings while postponing the taxes on any income or capital gains.
