Entrust New Direction Blog

And in financial news from earlier this merry merry month of May, Fox news reported:

"A computerized selloff possibly caused by a simple typographical error triggered one of the most turbulent days in Wall Street history Thursday and sent the Dow Jones industrials to a loss of almost 1,000 points, nearly a tenth of their value, in less than half an hour. It was the biggest drop ever during a trading day."

The biggest drop ever thanks to one fat finger.

You may consider this old news (2 weeks ago is old news now), but the stock market is still where 98% of America's retirement dollars precariously reside, so until either the amount of cash or the amount of precariousness changes, this news won't get old.

Some dude fat-fingered my life savings away.

Let's backtrack for a moment. Fat-finger: When a typist mistakenly types a wrong or additional keystroke, thereby taking down the world's financial markets.

Okay, that last part was my own extrapolation. Anyone who works or plays on computers knows how easy fat-fingering is. Whether your fingers are, in reality, quite lithe, is irrelevant. The fact is, mistakes happen. Fat-fingering happens.

It happens so often, we have internet memes and cliches based on fat-fingering. Who hasn't typed teh when they meant to type the?

But when your retirement money is self-directed, YOU can catch the fat-fingering on a contract or other document. YOU decide whether to spend YOUR retirement money on whatever YOU choose in whatever amount YOU choose. YOU tell us if, when, and how you want to invest in your real estate IRA investment or your HSA gold investment or your whatever alternative investment. We do what YOU tell us. You are not dependent on a stranger a thousand miles away who doesn't care (or know) as much as you do. You only rely on YOURSELF.

Even though this specific day's disastrous plunge was supposedly not a fat finger, according to the SEC, this is a realistic, even likely possibility. People make mistakes, and in this era of huge numbers and speed-of-light transactions, wouldn't you rather make your own mistakes, with pen and paper? I know I would.

This most recent stock market plunge is yet another reason why I'm glad I have my retirement money in a real estate IRA investment and a gold investment. Find out how to move your retirement money to a self-directed retirement account and start making your own success (and your own mistakes). And please, if friends or family are still under the shadow of a potential fat-finger disaster, let them know they have another option.

Like most Americans, Juan did his best.  He worked 50 hours a week, took his kids fishing in the summer and sledding in the winter, occasionally fit in some golf games with his pals.  Every day, Juan tried to be the best dad, best husband, best friend he could be.  Juan also wanted to provide for himself and his family as well as possible, for now and the future.   So Juan contributed to his 401(k).  He figured as long as they matched 3%, he should figure a way to get that free retirement money, even if it meant a little less income right now.  

Then the stock market sunk and his 401(k) dropped 40%.

Then Juan was laid off.

Talk about a flying drop kick to the stomach. 

While surfing the web, ostensibly looking for a new job, Juan ran across a press release targeting the newly unemployed.   "What? I can invest the retirement money however I want?  No way!  I can't believe it!"  Since Juan was screaming in the empty basement, his wife ran downstairs to make sure the idleness of unemployment wasn't atrophying his brains.

When Juan explained about DIY retirement investing, and the discount, Juan's wife, Jenny immediately thought it was a scam.  "I don't think so.  Why haven't we ever heard about this?  The government is going to let regular people decide what to do with their retirement money?  There must be a catch." 

Still, Jenny had a small hope that this self-directed IRA investing was true, because she knew exactly where to invest some of the money - in her friend's new start-up kitchen gadget company.

Juan continued researching and discovered that there is an entire industry of self-directed IRA custodians and administrators, and one was located right in town!  Juan and Jenny happily transferred the funds from their 401(k) into a new self-directed Roth IRA.  Juan and Jenny took the buy direction letter home, and Jenny called her friend the kitchen gadget start-up company CEO.

Her friend the CEO was so excited, she knew Jenny loved the idea.  But then she  remembered the words of her start-up lawyer, "Accredited investors only." 

"Um, Jenny, are you an accredited investor" the CEO asked, knowing the answer.

Jenny's investment dream was smashed.

Jenny and Juan's IRA was not an accredited investor.

Juan and Jenny were able to find some other investments - they put some money in real estate, some in gold and some in CDs, but Jenny watched her friend's gadget company double, triple and quadruple in size.

Has this happened to you?  Maybe you know of a great investment opportunity but you don't have the requirements of an accredited investor.  Questions?  Watch this blog for more information on accreditation and discussions and what the little person can do.  

Kick photo courtesy of mighty mighty bigmac.

Bottles photo courtesy of shkumbin.