Self-directed IRA custodian Equity Trust Company announced the launch of Universal IRA, a plan that allows clients to invest in both traditional and alternative assets within a single IRA.
Equity Trust clients will be able to use a single login and platform to access stocks and bonds, as well as alternative investments including real estate, private equity and cryptocurrency. Universal IRA will eliminate the need for investors to manage multiple IRA accounts to achieve portfolio diversification.
According to Casey Roberts, chief business development officer with Equity Trust Company, the custodian serves investors who are primarily interested in alternative assets. In surveys, those clients have noted a gap in access to both traditional and alternative asset classes. In addition, company executives noticed that clients would routinely move assets away from Equity Trust to competing firms. Those factors gave rise to the introduction of Equity Trust Company Brokerage, which provides discount brokerage access, and to Universal IRA.
“You’ve got all the tax advantages of the IRA, combined with access to both alternative and traditional investing in a way that I don’t think others are able to do," said Roberts. "We really concentrated on removing friction within the process and affording clients access to not only public markets, but private markets."
Alternatives available within the Universal IRA will fall into three buckets, he said. Equity Trust allows clients to source or bring their own investments into the account, which typically involve real estate in the form of fix-or-flip projects or multifamily/commercial assets. The firm also has a digital assets platform where clients can buy, sell or hold 16 types of cryptocurrencies within an IRA. In addition, about a year ago, Equity Trust launched a tool called WealthBridge, which gives clients access to alternative investments ranging from private equity and private debt to real estate through a partnership with private markets investment platform YieldStreet.
A 2023 SDIRA Investor Survey report from Strata Trust Company, which included roughly 1,300 self-directed IRA investors, found that 24% of respondents expected that private equity would be their primary investment sector over the following 12 to 24 months. Another 14% pointed to real estate, and 5% identified private debt as their primary investment sectors for that time period. Only 4% indicated public investments would be their primary investment focus over the 12- to 24-month period.
"After 50 years of helping investors reach their retirement goals, we are excited to introduce the Universal IRA, an offering designed to meet the evolving needs of today's investors," said George Sullivan, CEO of Equity Trust, in a statement. "This revolutionary IRA combines the stability of traditional investments with the expansive possibilities of alternative assets, providing our clients with a powerful tool to build a more resilient and diversified retirement portfolio."
