Alto IRA is a company that offers non-traditional retirement investing options to accredited and non-accredited investors alike. Founded in 2015, this company has quickly become a well-known name among investors seeking to diversify their retirement portfolios. Of course, it’s not the only platform offering retirement investment alternatives (although it does have seniority over other well-known platforms such as M1). So, is Alto the best way to fund your retirement? Let’s find out in this Alto IRA review!
For the average investor, managed IRAs are a common choice. With this type of IRA, the broker handling the IRA doesn’t need the investor’s approval to make trades within their portfolio. Instead, they use their knowledge to make adjustments as necessary. While this type of arrangement can work great for many, it doesn’t offer any asset control for the individual. That’s where self-directed IRAs come in!
With a self-directed IRA, the investor has complete control over which assets are added to their IRA portfolio. These self-directed IRAs can be traditional, ROTH, SEP, or SIMPLE IRAs. With Alto IRA, investors can expand their portfolio beyond conventional investments like stock, branching out into real estate, cryptocurrency, and more.
Traditional assets are just that: traditional! Trading traditional assets will limit you to strictly stocks, bonds, and cash, whereas alternative investments offer a plethora of options. Real estate, cryptocurrency, and hedge funds are just a few common examples of alternative investments that you can make. The main appeal of traditional assets is liquidity. However, their performance can often leave a bit to be desired. While alternative assets generally offer reduced liquidity, their returns often greatly outperform more traditional investments.
The most important takeaway of this Alto IRA review? You can’t invest in traditional assets using Alto IRA! While other platforms—such as SoFi Roth IRA—allow traditional investments, Alto IRA eschews stocks, bonds, and ETFs in favor of purely alternative investments. However, you’ll gain access to a wide variety of investment opportunities while using Alto IRA, thanks to their numerous partnerships with other investment companies. Currently, the platform supports traditional, ROTH, and SEP individual retirement accounts.
Investing through Alto IRA allows you to enjoy tax-advantaged accounts, thereby maximizing your returns. It’s completely possible to invest with Alto IRA’s many partners directly, but you’ll be forfeiting any potential tax advantages you could have enjoyed by investing through the platform. While Alto IRA does offer these investment opportunities, it’s important to do your own research before investing with any of its partners.
Alto IRA offers a wide variety of alternative investment opportunities through their partnerships, including (but not limited to) farmland, real estate, angel investing, fine art, venture capital, private equity, startup, and private credit investments. You can search through all of their current investment opportunities by heading over to their “Investment Partners” page.
Thanks to its extremely affordable pricing, Alto IRA is accessible to nearly anyone! Membership fees vary, depending if you choose monthly ($10/month) or annual ($100/year) billing. Unlike some other custodians, Alto IRA doesn’t charge a monthly custody fee. However, there are a few fees that they do charge, including:
If you have limited funds available to invest, we would recommend saving a bit before investing. This will prevent you from accruing multiple unnecessary “Partner Investment Fees.”
If you’ve decided to opt for Alto CryptoIRA over Alto IRA, you will be charged a 1% fee on each trade (as opposed to a $10 “Partner Investment Fee”).
The minimum capital you’ll be required to invest is entirely dependent on the asset(s) you choose. Non-accredited investors will only have access to certain assets, whereas accredited investors can take advantage of all the available options. Here are a few current examples for you to consider:
We’ve gone over all the main pros and cons of this particular platform throughout this Alto IRA review. While Alto IRA may not be the first option for everyone, literally anyone can use it (whether they’re accredited or not!). This platform is ideal for those looking to diversify their retirement portfolio. Plus, the low minimum requirements make the platform extremely accessible.
We would recommend Alto IRA to nearly any investor, although it’s important to consider the drawbacks of an IRA before investing. IRAs generally offer tax benefits for the investor, but these benefits can quickly reduce due to the various fees you incur with early withdrawal. Despite this, we still think Alto IRA is worth investing in! Head over to their website to instantly diversify your retirement investments (or click here to start building your crypto portfolio!).
