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- Phone : 312-795-0988
- URL :
- Global Rating
- Very Good
User Rating
- 0 No reviews yet!
The IRA Club was founded in 2006 and features droves of positive customer reviews. Find out more about why people love The IRA Club. The company offers little in the way in terms of going into details about investing options on the website and there’s no live customer support, but it still ranks near the top of our reviews for a reason.
Pros:
- Fantastic customer reviews
- Reasonable fees
- Long-standing reputation
Cons:
- Little explanation of options on website
- No live chat customer support
The IRA Club is a smaller IRA provider with an executive team of just three people and a total team of 11 people. It is definitely one of the smallest providers we’re reviewing here at Sophisticated Investor. Considering the size of the team and the fact that the brand isn’t the most well-known, The IRA Club offers a plethora of account types and investing options available for anybody looking for a self-directed retirement plan that looks into options beyond stocks, mutual funds or bonds.
Throughout the course of this review, we will go through all of these details. That includes answering the most frequently asked questions about The IRA Club, outlining the rules the organization follows, and the process they use to get clients closer to their retirement goals.
So without further ado, let’s dive deeper into what makes The IRA Club one of the more intriguing companies in the retirement planning sector today.
Table of Contents
The Founders and Management Team of The IRA Club IRA
Dennis Blitz, President, The IRA Club
Dennis Blitz, President, The IRA Club
The Founder of The IRA Club is Dennis Blitz. The IRA Club’s website makes light of the people that work there and talks about their hobbies and interests. There is very little in the way of mentioning their career resumes are their experience with investing. Blitz is the President and he jokes about accidentally buying a Rolls-Royce at an auction in his company profile.
On LinkedIn, we can see that Blitz attended The Wharton School of Business, which is one of the most well-respected programs in the world. He’s keenly aware of financial regulations, been running The IRA Club for 13 years and held leadership positions in other organizations before.
Ramez Fakhoury, Vice-President, The IRA Club
Ramez Fakhoury, Vice-President, The IRA Club
Ramez Fakhoury is the Vice President of the company. He’s a graduate of the University of Illinois and has been with the organization for just over three years.
Vanessa Nealy, Trust Officer, The IRA Club
Vanessa Nealy, Trust Officer, The IRA Club
Third in command is the trust officer Vanessa Nealy. She’s been with the company for more than seven years and worked as a loan officer before that.
Overall, the team seems to have a penchant for taking care of customers, regardless of whether or not the brand itself is well known. You’re about to see there are lots of options at The IRA Club in terms of account types and investing opportunities.
The IRA Club IRA and Investing Account Types
The IRA Club offers six different account types for IRA investing. We will break them down quickly right here.
Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs at The IRA Club
A Traditional IRA allows investors to benefit from tax deductions while they’re contributed to their plan. They get the opportunity to earn interest on their investments in a tax-sheltered environment before they withdraw, but then pay taxes after withdrawals based on whatever income bracket they happen to be in.
A Roth IRA doesn’t allow for income tax deductions while contributing, but also doesn’t cost investors income tax when they withdraw. This kind of account is more suitable for investors with a high net worth who want to avoid taxes during old age.
SEP IRAs at The IRA Club
A Simplified Employee Pension IRA allows employers to contribute and write off contributions and gives employees a tax deferred option for retirement. There’s no need to file tax forms for this kind of IRA. That’s another benefit.
A Simple IRA at The IRA Club
SIMPLE IRAs are for companies with 100 employees or less. It allows employees to match up to three percent of their employees’ contributions and ultimately helps employees retire sooner because of that matching capability.
The IRA Club IRA Investing Options
The IRA Club focuses on two specific ways of building value and growing wealth within an IRA account. One way is through real estate investing. The other way is to focus on lending. Let’s go through some of the options.
Real Estate Investing
The IRA Club offers several different kinds of real estate investing options including a straight up traditional real estate investment, house flipping opportunities, mobile home investing, agricultural land, undeveloped land investing and Airbnb investing.
Airbnb investing is the most exciting and intriguing type of investment. No other IRA provider actually promotes this opportunity, but investors should know that it is not legal to use a property within an IRA as a personal home. There are many stipulations to consider in order to keep things legal. Make sure you know the rules.
Lending-Style Investing
The IRA Club allows investors to put their money into various forms of debt products and capitalize off the interest charged to consumers. Types of lending opportunities available within an IRA account include investing in promissory notes, private lending deals, home rehabilitation loans, bridge loans, partnership investments and more.
Other Investments at The IRA Club
In addition to real estate and lending style investments, The IRA Club offers the opportunity to invest in wind turbines, life settlements, structured settlements and cell phone towers.
The IRA Club IRA Fees
The IRA Club’s fee schedule starts with a $195 annual fee. Let’s list some of the key fees from that schedule. NOTE: The IRA Club does not charge fees based on account value, but there are a few basic annual maintenance fees to consider along with the typical transaction fees more competitors charge.
General Investing Fees
The IRA Club charges a $135 annual fee for all general investing accounts. There is also a one-time account set up fee of $40 to get things started.
Real Estate Investing Fees
The fees here start at $195, but investors who want to buy real estate in an offshore country need to pay a $295 fee.
Lending and Loan Investing Fees
Annual fees for these kinds of accounts are $125 a year.
All Other Fees
The IRA Club charges a range of admin fees for services and actual buy and sell transactions. The most expensive fee is the buy and sell fee for domestic real estate investments. That’s $75. All of the other fees are as low as $15 for buy and sell transactions and as low as $5 for withdrawing from an account.
| One-Time Startup Fee | $40 |
|---|---|
| Annual Account Fee | $135 |
| Annual fee: Private lending, promissory notes, private placements, trading accounts, oil & gas, tax liens, precious metals | $125 |
| Annual Fee: Domestic Real Estate | $165 |
Customer Support at The IRA Club
The IRA Club is located in downtown Chicago. Clients who are local can walk in and talk to specialists and of course talk to them over the phone. The phone number is 312-795-0988. The email address is info@ira.org. These options make customer support at The IRA Club reasonably easy to access.
That said, The IRA Club only lists two client care specialists and one manager on its corporate page. That likely means they deal with a relatively small client base. That can be a good thing if you’re looking for a service that can give you one on one attention. That said, during peak times like investment season in February, it might be a little bit tougher for investors to get the attention they need.
Overall though, the customer reviews prove that The IRA Club is in very good standing in the eyes of the public.
The IRA Club Customer Reviews
Anybody looking for feedback on the merits of the IRA Club and see that the company is faring quite well in the eyes of the consumer. The best sign of this is that the company has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. What’s more impressive is that The IRA Club’s profile doesn’t have any negative customer feedback on it at all! That’s rare!
The company’s Google My Business profile echoes The IRA Club’s positive reputation among clients. A total of 66 customer reviews gives the organization a 4.9 rating out of five stars. Customers state prompt service, fair pricing, easy-to-understand paperwork and processes, and an overall positive result in their investment portfolios as reasons to choose The IRA Club over other providers like Accuplan. Those are certainly glowing endorsements.
The only unfortunate part of these reviews is that the company isn’t featured on TrustLink.com or the Business Consumer Alliance. Still, that doesn’t mean the company
Frequently Asked Questions about the IRA Club IRA
Some of the most commonly asked questions people ask about the IRA Club are below. Take a look to learn more about what the IRA Club is all about.
Are there any investments not allowed in an IRA Club account?
The IRA Club prides itself on offering investors as many choices as they can for alternative investments. That said, the company doesn’t promote using LLCs for IRA investing. Many other competitors do, Still, The IRA Club has interesting alternatives that keep investors coming in. The opportunity to invest in an Airbnb in particular is just one unique option other providers don’t offer.
Can I invest in real estate through a limited partnership or limited liability corporation (LLC)?
As noted, many other IRA providers promote the fact that you can indeed use an LLC to invest in your IRA. The IRA Club doesn’t actually promote that. They are in a small category of IRA providers that simply won’t do that for investors, but the good news is if you don’t want to work with The IRA Club on that, there are several other options that we’ve reviewed when it comes to IRAs structured inside of LLCs.
Can I convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA?
Investors can convert a Traditional IRA into a Roth IRA within 60 days before they have to pay income tax on their move, so the key is to be sure that you want to make
Investors can convert their IRA using a rollover, which means they have 60 days to make a transfer without being charged income tax. They can also use a same-trustee transfer. The financial institution holding the account will provide instructions on how to make the transfer. This is simpler if you’re transferring within the same financial institution. You can of course also convert your assets into cash, but that means paying income tax.
Are there any investments not allowed in an IRA Club account?
The IRA Club prides itself on offering investors as many choices as they can for alternative investments. That said, the company doesn’t promote using LLCs for IRA investing. Many other competitors do, Still, The IRA Club has interesting alternatives that keep investors coming in. The opportunity to invest in an Airbnb in particular is just one unique option other providers don’t offer.
Can I invest in real estate through a limited partnership or limited liability corporation (LLC)?
As noted, many other IRA providers promote the fact that you can indeed use an LLC to invest in your IRA. The IRA Club doesn’t actually promote that. They are in a small category of IRA providers that simply won’t do that for investors, but the good news is if you don’t want to work with The IRA Club on that, there are several other options that we’ve reviewed when it comes to IRAs structured inside of LLCs.
Can I convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA?
Investors can convert a Traditional IRA into a Roth IRA within 60 days before they have to pay income tax on their move, so the key is to be sure that you want to make
Investors can convert their IRA using a rollover, which means they have 60 days to make a transfer without being charged income tax. They can also use a same-trustee transfer. The financial institution holding the account will provide instructions on how to make the transfer. This is simpler if you’re transferring within the same financial institution. You can of course also convert your assets into cash, but that means paying income tax.
Should You Choose The IRA Club IRA for your Self-Directed IRA?
The IRA Club has great customer reviews. They’re some of the best in the industry in comparison to every other IRA provider we’ve reviewed. What’s impressive about that is that The IRA Club is able to provide an incredible level of customer support with only a small staff.
Of course when it comes to the account types and investing options, The IRA Club pretty well offers it all. They offer the account types that people are used to, and the company prides itself on keeping things legally friendly with the IRS. The account setup process is also easy and most of it can be done online.
But the best part of The IRA Club overall is the fact that they split up most of their investing options into two basic categories, real estate and investing. The fact they offer other kinds of private investing opportunities including the unique opportunity to invest in Airbnb’s within an IRA also makes the organization an attractive provider.
Overall, The IRA Club is a great option for IRA providers looking for a down-to-earth feel within a corporate culture in addition to a slew of investing options that rival any other provider. It’s certainly a great choice in comparison to the other companies we have reviewed here at Sophisticated Investor. However, to a make a truly informed decision, don’t forget to check out our exclusive comparison table of the Best IRA Providers.
- Phone : 312-795-0988
- URL :
- Global Rating
- Very Good
User Rating
- 0 No reviews yet!
The IRA Club was founded in 2006 and features droves of positive customer reviews. Find out more about why people love The IRA Club. The company offers little in the way in terms of going into details about investing options on the website and there’s no live customer support, but it still ranks near the top of our reviews for a reason.
