Recently while performing my daily task of opening my Yahoo email account I read an Internet ad that stated:
Best IRA Account – Get Up To $600 When You Invest In A XYZ® IRA. Start Today.
My specialties are IRAs and the Individual 401(k) so I opened the email to discover this rather generic but routine Wall Street “One-Size-Fits-All” ad.
I wondered how such a claim; “Best IRA Account” could be made when there existed other IRA varieties available, all of which are superior, for example:
Self-Directed IRA Traditional or ROTH
Claim up to $26,000 per W2 Employee
- Billions of dollars in funding available
- Funds are available to U.S. Businesses NOW
- This is not a loan. These tax credits do not need to be repaid
Checkbook Control Self-Directed IRA Traditional or ROTH
And one of the best vehicles to come down the retirement pipeline in 30-years:
The Individual 401(k)
I am a strong proponent of “Freedom Of Speech” and that includes “Advertising” so this Wall Street advertisement by one of the major Brokerage Houses will likely continue to reel in clients who do not receive the whole story from their friendly Stock Broker, Mutual Fund Salesperson or Financial Planner about the variety of IRAs out there and available to every one of the 45,000,000 existing IRAs in America today where an estimated 95% are the “One-Size-Fits-All” Wall Street variety.
These 45,000,000 IRAs collectively represent more than $5 Trillion dollars (that’s Billion with a “T”) so the stakes are high and Wall Street has been enjoying an unprecedented monopoly for over three decades concomitant with lucrative “fees” that fill the coffers of Wall Street.
Here is a significant example of what Wall Street minions conveniently forget to tell you, a Wall Street IRA cannot buy real estate, domestic or foreign (Self-Directed IRAs can buy foreign real estate). In fact a Wall Street IRA cannot buy any non Wall Street product like Notes, Leases, Water Rights and more.
So the question you might ask is; “How is this the ‘Best IRA’?”
Admittedly even after receiving the whole story about IRAs and the Individual 401(k) a large share of the 45 million IRAs will stay put with the “One-Size-Fits-All” Wall Street IRA but at least all IRA Owners will have received the “Whole Story”.
