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- Phone : 1-800-425-0653
- URL :
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Advanta IRA offers checkbook control and the opportunity to invest in cryptocurrencies to go along with a robust education program and a staff that includes certified financial planners and legal experts. They have over $2.3 billion currently under management and support a wide variety of retirement accounts. Take a look at some of the pros and cons of choosing Advanta IRA.
Pros:
- Dedicated account manager for every customer
- Certified Financial Planners, lawyers, and experts on staff
- Great approach to client education with free weekly seminar and networking events
- Cryptocurrency investing available
Cons:
- No flat fee structure; sliding scale only
Eric M WohlwendAdvanta IRA is actually slightly different from other IRA providers. It actually includes a group of self-directed IRA administrators under one umbrella. They provide services to investors looking to plan out their retirement across America. These different entities stay separate but work and market themselves as one. The goal in doing this is to give investors superior customer support and give them access to lots of flexible investing options that will allow every client to succeed in planning their long-term financial future.
Like many other IRA providers, Advanta IRA submits all documentation to the IRS willingly and on behalf of its client base to ensure that both the company and the individuals using their investment products and services remain compliant. The aim of the game at Advanta IRA is to ensure that investors can focus on finding for themselves the best investments possible, nothing else.
In this review we’ll cover the pros and cons of using Advanta IRA over other IRA providers, like Charles Schwab, and discuss in detail more about the services and products Advanta IRA offers.
Table of Contents
The Advanta IRA Management Team
Jack Callahan, Founder, Advanta IRA
Jack Callahan, Founder, Advanta IRA
Jack Callahan is the founder of Advanta IRA. He founded the company in 2003. Callahan holds degrees and finance and graduated from law school at the University of Florida. He’s built Advanta IRA into a company that holds more than $1.3 billion in assets.
Callahan is supported by 22 other employees at Advanta IRA who specialize in servicing accounts, developing new business and running the company’s day-to-day operations. Overall the company appears to be growing quickly and consistently throughout its history.
Investments Allowed in an Advanta IRA
One of the biggest strengths of choosing to bring one’s IRA to Advanta IRA is the fact that the company offers a wide range of potential investments to choose from. Some IRA providers we review here will offer cryptocurrency, real estate and other types of private equity is investments, others won’t. Advanta IRA offers the following types of investment opportunities:
- Cryptocurrency
- Private Equity
- Real Estate
- Private mortgages and notes
- Foreign Currency
- Precious Metals
- Syndications
- Futures Contracts and more
Advanta IRA also offers its customer base all sorts of plans that can be self-directed. That includes Traditional, Roth, and SIMPLE IRAs. The company also manages health spending accounts, education savings accounts and 401(k) plans.
Fees and Commissions
Advanta IRA shines when it comes to fees and commissions. Investing with the company is definitely more affordable than most other IRA providers. They charge a simple account set up fee of $50 and an account termination fee of 0.005% of the account value should an investor choose to leave the company. That 0.005% fee only reaches a maximum fee of $250. Investors can’t be charged more than that. Fees that low are a pretty good deal for clients.
For accounts that require an annual fee, the cap at Advanta IRA is just $300 per year. That’s not bad if and investors looking to manage precious metals. Nearly all IRA providers allowing precious metals inside of IRA accounts have to cover expenses related to custodianship and providing bondable security for assets. That’s why these costs come into play, but again the $300 fee is more than reasonable as all competitors will charge the investor something and in many cases, much more than that $300.
With other self-directed IRA accounts, Advanta IRA only accrues fees related to covering the cost of record keeping and providing information to the IRS. Again, this is a simple matter of administrative cost and not something uncommon among IRA competitors. All fees are based on the cost of administering an account. There are no hidden charges or commissions at Advanta IRA.
See the table below for Advanta IRA’s full fee schedule:
| Account Value | Annual Asset Fee |
|---|---|
| $0-$14,999 | $195 |
| $15,000-$29,999 | $260 |
| $30,000-$44,999 | $325 |
| $45,000-$59,999 | $390 |
| $60,000-$89,999 | $450 |
| $90,000-$124,999 | $525 |
| $125,000-$249,999 | $650 |
| $250,000-$499,000 | $775 |
| $500,000-$749,999 | $1,500 |
| $750,000 and up | $1,850 |
IRA Rollover Rules
Rolling over a 401(k) to an IRA is typically done when the investment wants more control over their investing decisions or they want to avoid certain restrictions placed on their choices by the employer’s 401(k) plan. Sometimes, they may not have a choice. If they get a new job or get let go by an employer, it doesn’t make sense to stay put.
So what are the upsides and downsides of rolling over an IRA? The upside is that a self-directed IRA comes with many more investing options. Your employer likely isn’t going to help you buy into real estate or capitalize off of providing money for a mortgage or loan. With an IRA, investing in those kinds of vehicles is much easier.
The main downside to leaving behind a 401(k) is that the investor is no longer getting matching contributions from the employer. They’re officially flying solo as soon as they leave. They also can’t take out a loan or other credit facility against an IRA, the way they can with a 401(k). The latter difference may not be a big deal to most investors, but getting access to credit isn’t always easy, and losing a safety net to gain independence in investing choices is a consideration that shouldn’t be overlooked.
IRA Transfer Rules
The IRS oversees IRA Rollover and Transfer rules. Just like any other IRA provider, Advanta IRA does allow transfers. The difference between a transfer and a rollover is that a rollover is handled purely by administrators while a transfer allows the investor to take out assets from one provider, convert them to cash or another desirable asset like gold and decide whether or not to deposit the same amount of desired assets with the new provider or not. In short, a transfer allows for reallocation where a transfer does not.
The Pros of Choosing Advanta IRA for Your IRA
As mentioned at the very beginning of this review, Advanta IRA is a company that brings together a network of administrators working together under one umbrella. This means that a matter what the investor needs as far as the products and services they demand access to, they have it. Advanta IRA is really good at streamlining their processes and making everything easier.
This also means that Advanta IRA can offer excellent customer service options to clients. Every offering they have has a product expert to go with it, because all of the service providers working together under the Advanta IRA umbrella still registers separate business licenses and operate as independent entities. By the very nature of the way Advanta IRA’s business processes are structured, there surely must be an investing experts that can cover every aspect of a client’s questions. They offer everyone access to account managers that are dedicated to their accounts.
Investing Variety
As mentioned previously, Advanta IRA offers many different types of IRA accounts and their one of the few self-directed IRA providers that allow clients to capitalize off of loans and borrowing and private equity deals. That’s not something investors can find anywhere they look. It’s a specialized service. Although those kinds of investments are not for everybody, it’s always nice to have more options. Giving clients options is one of the areas in which Advanta IRA really excels.
Positive Customer Reviews
Take a look at any customer review website related to self-directed IRAs. It’ll be very difficult to find one that offers any negative reviews on Advanta IRA. These days most IRA providers know that their clients are going to take their own retirement planning very seriously. Especially those who want everything to be self-directed. By its very nature, opening a self-directed IRA means the investor is likely an active participant in their investing strategy.
Advanta IRA currently has over 50 customer reviews on Google that have over 4.5 stars.
Education Oriented
One important thing to consider when on boarding as an investor with a self-directed IRA provider is that having access to proper education materials can help prepare investors for their journey. Advanta IRA does this really well. Their website offers access to many different kinds of material including videos and documentation. They regularly host free seminars that other companies typically charge for.
Advanta IRA will let you know how to invest in your self-directed IRA while staying compliant of IRS regulations. For example, there are strict contribution limits that must be respected by all IRA owners. In 2024, retirement savers can contribute up to $7,000 per annum into their Roth or Traditional IRA, up from $6,500 in the year prior.
The Cons of Choosing Advanta IRA for a Self-Directed IRA
One thing against Advanta IRA’s that as much as most if not all of the customer reviews related to the provider, the company actually has very few of them. Advanta IRA has been around for 20 years. That’s long enough to develop an extensive track record.
That said, the company is a smaller provider with $2.3 billion in assets under management. That may sound like a lot, but other competitors and discount brokerages like Charles Schwab for instance manage multiple trillions of dollars’ worth of customer funds, much more than Advanta IRA.
Either way consider Advanta IRA a reliable self-directed IRA provided and still has a little bit of room for improvement and growth.
Should Investors Open an Advanta IRA?
Although Advanta IRA doesn’t have very many customer reviews, what it does have is a lot of good ones. The organization makes investing in real estate very easy and their checkbook IRA allows investors to be compliant with the IRS while empowering their IRA accounts with the abilities of a checkbook and the protections that a Limited Liability Corporation offers.
Still not sold on Advanta IRA? For another look at the best options on the market for a self-directed IRA, check out our list of the Top IRA Providers.
- Phone : 1-800-425-0653
- URL :
- Global Rating
User Rating
- 1 Reviews
Advanta IRA offers checkbook control and the opportunity to invest in cryptocurrencies to go along with a robust education program and a staff that includes certified financial planners and legal experts. They have over $2.3 billion currently under management and support a wide variety of retirement accounts. Take a look at some of the pros and cons of choosing Advanta IRA.
Eric M Wohlwend
