The winds of change are upon us; will you be self-directed or pushed by the wind?

As of this writing we now have president elect Obama a phenomenon for sure. Along with this new way of governing if it changes at all we need to determine for ourselves what this means to each of us as individuals and our families.

Prior to the financial meltdown McCain had momentum heading in his direction and once the bailout occurred it became a wall that was insurmountable. The political aspect of this is not nearly as important as the behavior of the American people during this time. We have or maybe we always have been a nation that is very dependent on the government telling us what to do and providing for us. For a nation that prides itself in its self in being self-directed, self-reliance and independent we have demonstrated that we have cultivated a psychological addiction to the government taking care of us. And in my opinion are willing to give up much to that end.

As a result, in the future there will only be a small amount of people that because they have kept to the philosophy of being self-directed will prosper while the majority of the people are awaiting the next big plan to be unfolded. Being self-directed means at least in my world that you know where you are going and have greater control over the environment around you. Those that did not have self-directed IRAs lost a major portion of their retirement those that were self-directed, invested in hard assets and purchased early enough in the investment cycle have generally lost very little. However, most self-directed IRA investors have continued to receive cash flow from their investments. Whereas, their counter parts reliant completely on the stock market have yet to open their statements worried that the news maybe worse than anticipated.

If you want to learn form this recent history and have greater control over your destiny then the following maybe useful information for you:

• Learn what you are truly paying for mutual fund investments

• Learn about non-traditional assets and how they might benefit you

• Learn how to measure risk vs. return

• Learn what a truly self-directed IRA is

• Make a decision and act. Over analysis will cause paralysis

Find a self-directed advisory group that is completely staffed those that have contracted attorneys and tax accountants lack stability. Find one that actually has a staff and not just a person who is clever enough to put together a package with a low price. Find one that can demonstrate commitment to the product and has an IRS interaction history. Don’t need them to learn at your expense.

Daniel Cordoba is a Certified Estate Advisor and Principal of Asset Exchange Group, LLC. Asset Exchange Strategies, LLC through its website http://www.MyRealEstateIRA.com helps investors gain greater control of their self-directed IRAs.

Useful Links: Self Directed Roth IRA, Real Estate Self Directed IRA