Who would have thought that Vodka could pay for your retirement? An idea like this should be left to people with money to lose, as well as people with investing knowledge to ensure the investment is legit; however, it definitely got me thinking about different types of alternative investments.
Apparently, Don Poffenroth got tired of only earning 3 to 5 percent on his 401k and decided to take a risk in an investment that had not really been thought about by very many people. He invested in a vodka distillery. Don took all of his $300,000 in his 401k and put it into a self-directed IRA in which he chose to invest in the distillery. Three years later, his 60% share of the distillery is worth about $1.2 million. Now that is a risky investment that paid off but aren’t there less risky alternative investments for the real estate savvy that is also tired of earning pennies in the stock market?
The self-directed IRA works like any other IRA except you get to decide where the money is invested. You have to be careful though, some investments are not legit and some are not approved by the IRS. That is why it is important to make sure you know what you are doing or you could lose a lot of money to penalty fees, fraud or just a dumb investment.
If you are interested be sure to take you time and check out the investment carefully. Pay special attention to who is making you the offer. Pine Financial Group, Inc specializes in alternative investments secured by real property. We are happy to discuss how this works as well as some of the pitfalls to watch out for. If real estate is not for you maybe you can find yourself happily retired by investing in Vodka.