Got a client looking to park alternative assets in a retirement account to take advantage of the Mitt Romney effect? Crowd wisdom is loud and clear.
We’ve just updated our Best IRA Custodians directory for 2017-18. (Free download HERE.)
Building a successful retirement for your best clients starts by choosing the best location to support the account and let even exotic assets grow as fast as they can. Most “vanilla” custodians just aren’t up to the job.
But even when you break the industry down into niches, a lot of self-directed IRA specialists are still interchangeable to the point where it’s a challenge to sort through all the options, much less find the best match for your clients. It’s almost like they go out of their way to show the world the most generic facade they can.
That’s why I’m always impressed to see a custodian defy the pack proposition and aggressively differentiate itself for quality, expertise and even innovation. And once again, Provident Trust Group is the first name on the list for most professional wealth managers, with strong brand identity among 68% of the Wealth Advisor readers we surveyed back in June.
It was a close race this year, but Las Vegas-based Provident took the prize for refusing to settle for a “me too” commodity solution. According to our readers who are overwhelmingly familiar with the firm, Provident has built a culture of continual improvement that keeps expectations high and climbing.
Our readers say Provident takes the industry standard — seamless service, an open asset platform, non-invasive cooperation with independent-minded investors and their advisors — as a base for ongoing excellence, not a goal in itself. That’s a big deal in an industry that’s so reluctant to rock the institutional boat that it’s practically invisible 99% of the time.
Provident is happy to be as invisible as you and your clients want them to be, but they know when and how to suggest a smoother solution if they see an administrative pain point ahead.
With so many administrative pain points circling the retirement market like vultures, it’s good to have an extra set of eyes on the horizon. As the rules shift, they’ll let you know.
Provident led the way opening up support for a lot many of the “alternative” asset classes that have now become standard features of the self-directed universe. The platform has attracted more than $4 billion spread across 30,000 accounts, so we’re well beyond niche status here.
Real estate, physical gold and silver bullion, even the private equity shares that swelled Mitt Romney’s IRA into a $100 million nest egg on a contribution cap of no more than $30,000 a year — they’ll take it with a smile.
Compare that to the generic custodians that drag their feet when they'll work with anything beyond vanilla stocks and bonds at all, and you've got the secret in a nutshell. You can't excel if you never aim higher than the mainstream.
Your clients demand excellence. So do you.
Full rankings and analysis, along with advisor-centered guidance on the custodian choice process, can be found in the Wealth Advisor's latest America's Best IRA Custodians directory. Click HERE to review the report.
