How to invest in alternative assets with Carry Self-Directed IRAs

Carry Self-Directed IRAs are the easiest way to invest in alternative assets through tax-advantaged retirement plans.

You can invest in anything from crypto, private companies, real estate, and even shares of a sports team.

Crypto investments are natively built into the platform, and you can buy and sell your favorite crypto directly from within the Carry app (Learn more).

For other investments, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Open your Carry Self-Directed IRAs

Carry’s Self-Directed IRAs are available in the Carry Pro Plan. If you don’t have a Carry account yet, the first step is to create one here. If you’re a Carry Basic Plan user, you can upgrade your plan at any time by going to Settings > Billing > and clicking on the Update Plan button.

On the Pro Plan, Carry gives you both a traditional self-directed IRA and a Roth self-directed IRA. A traditional IRA is funded with pre-tax income, but withdrawals in retirement are taxed as ordinary income. A Roth IRA is funded with after-tax income, but withdrawals in retirement are tax-free.

A Roth IRA can typically give you bigger tax savings, especially for more volatile alternative assets with the potential for outsized returns, but you can choose to make alternative investments from either account.

Step 2: Fund your Self-Directed IRAs

You can fund your self-directed IRAs by either making a new contribution or transferring in funds from other retirement accounts, like other IRAs you own.

The IRA contribution limit for 2024 is $7,000 if you’re under 50 years of age, and $8,000 if you’ll be at least 50 years of age by December 31, 2024. There are no limits on transfers and rollovers from other retirement accounts.

Step 3: Select the Carry Self-Directed IRA you want to invest from

Once your accounts are opened and funded, select the account that you want to invest from: Traditional or Roth. In this example, we’ll choose the Carry Self-Directed Traditional IRA.

Step 4: From the Overview screen, select the Investments tab.

Step 5: From the Investments Tab, click the Invest button

Step 6: Choose Invest in Alternative Assets

Step 7: Enter in the details of your investment

In this example, we’ll be investing $50,000 in the Los Angeles Lakers.

Step 8: Upload your supporting documents

Step 9: Submit your investment

Once you submit your investment, you’ll be able to see the new investment in the Investments tab of your self-directed IRA.

What happens next?

Because alternative investments are complex procedures, this investment flow is more of an intake form for us to get details about your investment.

Once we receive your investment information, our team will then reach out to you with more details about the process, as well as get a better understanding of what you’re trying to purchase.

When we have everything we need, we’ll send the investment for approval through our IRA custodian. Once approved, we’ll be able to move your money to fund your investment.