Who is the Custodian?

For our IRA customers, we work with two custodians.

What does a custodian do if I purchase an IRA?

Our custodian partner creates your IRA structure.

For our Direct Custody IRA, the custodian approves all investments. This is a deal review to check for IRA-prohibited transaction rules, not a Fiduciary advisory review. If a custodian accepts an asset, they agree to custody the asset on their platform. That is never a guarantee or protection from prohibited transactions or investment loss. For certain investments, you could have to sign a hold harmless form that shows that you understand the risk of what you are investing in and you do not hold the custodian liable.

For the IRA LLC, the custodian holds your LLC and all investments owned by the LLC. This empowers you to hold custody of your own self-directed assets in the name of your IRA LLC. Our partner bank helps you custody of the remaining cash assets. This differs from a standard custodial IRA, where a financial broker-dealer and custodian would directly own and hold an asset FBO (for benefit of) a customer.

What about custody with the Self-Directed Solo 401(k)?

Rocket Dollar sells you a plan document that is pre-approved by the IRS, which allows you to self-custody assets in the name of the retirement trust. There is technically no traditional "custodian" held in a retirement trust that is tied to your business or sole proprietorship. The retirement plan, not you or your business, is owning the assets. Our partner bank then helps you custody all cash in an FDIC insured account. 

Is your bank partner FDIC insured?

Yes. You can read more here. 

Who are the custodian partners Rocket Dollar works with?

Rocket Dollar has a working relationship with Solera National Bank of Denver, Colorado and IRAR Trust (IRA Resources INC) of La Jolla, California, Goldstar Trust of Amarillo Texas, and American Estate & Trust of Las Vegas Nevada are our custodian partners.

Which custodian will I get?

That depends on what product you purchase. For example, direct custody customers can expect to have American Estate Trust as their custodian, whereas those with the LLC model can expect to have Solera National bank as their custodian. You can contact info@rocketdollar.com or our sales line at 855-762-5383 for further questions.

What about the IRS list of Approved Non-Bank Custodians?

When it comes to custody, if you have a Trust Charter, you can custody assets. Rocket Dollar does not have a Trust Charter but works with our custodian partners and their trust charter/custody capabilities.

If other custodians are providing custody to my actual asset, what does Rocket Dollar do?

Rocket Dollar providers onboarding, technology, and service to open and maintain your IRA. With our IRA LLC product, Rocket Dollar is also going out and creating the IRA in the state of Colorado. We work with our custody partners to do FMV, or fair market value reporting, which is essential IRS reporting needed for every IRA. Our support team assists you with rollovers, contributions, and general mechanics of how to use the account. For direct custody, our team assists our customers in preparing for deal reviews.

Finally, Rocket Dollar negotiates fees on behalf of all its clients with our custody partners. Rocket Dollar believes that the Self-Directed retirement industry should provide fair and clear fee arrangements. While being a Rocket Dollar customer, you enjoy the same negotiated rates that we have agreed to for all our other customers with our partners. 

For the IRA LLC, where a custodial IRA, LLC, and bank account are needed, Rocket Dollar directly helps you with all three pieces to the puzzle. Often, a provider might help with only one or two parts. Without the full picture of service, customers can often run into issues with a weak link in the IRA, making it a difficult experience when you hit a roadblock or two service providers are not in sync. 

Is Rocket Dollar a Broker or a Fiduciary, or a CPA?

No. Rocket Dollar is not a broker, as we do not sell or recommend specific investments. We feature partners who can accept retirement funds on our partner's page but we do not vet or recommend specific deals on their platforms.

We are also not a fiduciary, which would take a level monthly, quarterly, or yearly fee to recommend investments based on your personal situation. Content on our knowledge base is education, and is not  Your $15 monthly fee helps maintain compliance in your account and servicing your IRA. 

If you feel visiting a fiduciary advisor would assist you in selecting your investments, Rocket Dollar encourages you to do so. 

If the partner is the custodian, what does Rocket Dollar do? Why am I paying $15 a month?

In different parts of finance, account providers help run vital support functions and streamline processes so you don't have to do them all yourself. 

With a self-directed retirement account, to get checkbook control IRA setup...

You need an IRA structure compliant with the IRS rules, an LLC or trust, then a bank account. Rocket Dollar combines 3 steps that have unfortunately been quite separate, time-consuming, and manual to open and maintain a checkbook control account.

You also have access to our support team to manage rollovers, transfers, account compliance upkeep, and make sure connections to investments and your bank account are running smoothly. Whenever possible, Rocket Dollar wants to help you keep one point of contact to manage your account. You shouldn't have to consult IRS legal documents, a lawyer, and teach a bank just to execute a simple self-directed investment!

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