IRA managers act more like intermediaries who work with a custodian to provide their services. They are the neutral party responsible for maintaining the account, managing paperwork and the corresponding presentation of accounts. Moving on to the hierarchy of the self-directed IRA industry, there are other professionals and marketers known in the industry as “promoters” and “facilitators”. They can hold securities, cash, investments, IRA Gold and silver, and other types of properties on behalf of investors' IRAs and manage many transactions. Like an administrator, a facilitator also acts as an intermediary between the owner of the IRA and the depositary.
If you plan to actively invest in stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds, a mutual fund may be a good option for the depositary of an IRA. The IRA depositary is responsible for buying and selling investments on behalf of the investor in an IRA and for ensuring that the IRA complies with IRS regulations. This is because self-managed IRAs have a larger and riskier asset portfolio than standard IRAs, increasing risks due to yield volatility and fraudulent schemes. These scammers claim to investigate and approve underlying investments, but as the SEC points out, IRA custodians don't assess the quality of investments in self-directed IRA.
However, regardless of the type of IRA you have, the IRS requires that you have a depositary to manage your IRA investments and provide custody services for your IRA assets. If you own gold or other precious metals, or physical assets within a self-directed IRA, there is likely to be a custodian who keeps the gold or other assets in a secure and secure facility somewhere, or at least has physical certificates. These people don't manage transactions or hold assets on their behalf, but they support the self-directed IRA process in other ways. For example, an attorney can help create entities within your self-directed IRA, such as C corporations and LLCs, that can help protect other IRA properties and assets against creditor claims.
An IRA depositary is the financial institution that manages your IRA funds and makes sure that your investments in an IRA are approved by the IRS. Others are financial advisors, IRAs, accountants and lawyers who also promote the self-directed IRA approach and help facilitate your self-directed IRA strategy. However, true custodians maintain and manage assets in IRA accounts, but they don't offer investment advice or recommend investments.
