Frequently Asked Questions

Self-directed IRAs offer the same tax advantages as conventional IRAs. The difference is self-directed IRAs let you invest in a variety of alternative assets historically off-limits for everyday investors—including art, crypto, farmland, startups, and real estate.

Opening an account with Alto is easy. You simply click Sign Up at the top of the page, select either an Alto IRA or CryptoIRA, complete the legally required Know Your Customer (KYC) process, and choose the type of IRA you want to invest with.

You can open a traditional, SEP, or Roth Alto IRA or CryptoIRA.

You can fund your account with cash contributions or via a rollover. Alto makes it easy to roll over funds from an IRA, 401(a), 401(k), 403(b), 457, or TSP account, and we don’t charge fees to transfer money into your account.

As long as you’re not 70-1/2 by the end of the year and you—or, if you file a joint return, your spouse—received taxable compensation during the year, you can set up a traditional IRA.

Yes! If you would like to set up two different types of IRA accounts with Alto (i.e., traditional and Roth), you will sign up for both accounts using different email addresses. Pro Tip: If opening an account using a Gmail address, you can add “+1” (or any numbers/letters following the “+”) to the end of your Gmail handle (for example: [email protected]). This will allow you to create multiple accounts using a single email address. We’re working on making it so all of your accounts can live under one email address, but we’re not quite finished with this feature yet.

No. Internal Revenue Code Section 4975 prohibits borrowing from your IRA.

There is no legal distinction between a conventional IRA and a self-directed IRA. While traditional, Roth, SEP, and other IRAs can all be “self-directed” (meaning you choose what to invest in), most brokerages and custodians don’t allow investments in alternative assets—assets not publicly traded and often illiquid. The Alto IRA gives you the control and flexibility to invest in assets you know and understand.

Save for certain exceptions, in order to reap the full tax advantages of an IRA, you have to wait until you’re 59-1/2 to take distributions (and in the case of a Roth IRA, have had your account for at least five years). For more details, visit IRS.gov.

Total annual contribution limits for individual retirement accounts are set by the IRS. For traditional and Roth self-directed IRAs, the 2022 tax year limit is $6,000 for individuals under 50 years of age, and $7,000 for those over 50 years of age. The IRS increased traditional and Roth contribution limits to $6,500 (and $7,500 for those 50 and older) for 2023. SEP IRA contribution limits are considerably higher but depend on several key factors. More information can be found on the IRS website here.

An RMD is the required amount that traditional IRA, and owners and qualified plan participants, must start distributing from their retirement accounts by April 1 following the year that they turn 73. RMD amounts must then be withdrawn every year after. Generally, RMDs apply only to traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs—not Roth IRAs. 

Your RMD is based on your age, your IRA’s previous year account balance, and a “life expectancy factor” that is provided by the IRS. The institution(s) where you hold your account(s) can calculate your RMD. Institutions cannot, however, see IRAs you may hold in other places, so ultimately, it is your responsibility to determine the total RMD for all of your accounts.

NOTE: If you turned 72 on or before December 31, 2022, you will be responsible for taking an RMD from your IRAs.

Alternatives are assets outside the traditional markets (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.). Alternative investments include shares of art, crypto, farmland, private equity, real estate, securitized collectibles, and venture capital, among others.

An IRA could be the best way to invest in alternative assets due to their potential for outsized returns.

No matter how much your investment grows, with an IRA, you’ll never pay taxes on gains. You may even be able to avoid taxes altogether. With traditional and SEP IRAs, contributions are tax-deductible and you pay no taxes until you take a distribution. With a Roth IRA, you pay no taxes at all. (Upon eligibility to take distributions.)

Not only that, an IRA gives you access to capital that is otherwise locked in other retirement accounts. This makes an IRA the perfect vehicle for investing in assets with longer time horizons.

Yes, there are restrictions, but not many. The Internal Revenue Code makes those distinctions. In general, as long as an investor doesn’t purchase life insurance, collectibles, coins, real estate that is designated for personal use, or engage in a prohibited transaction involving a disqualified person (your spouse, direct ancestors, and/or descendants), then an investment is possible.

This still leaves plenty of alternative investment choices. Alto has built tools into its platform to help you avoid prohibited investments, though it’s always wise to consult a tax professional before moving forward with an investment.

Part of the reason self-directed IRAs have remained relatively obscure until now is that they used to be quite complicated. Alto was created to take the hassle of burdensome paperwork out of the investment process, so everyone can invest in alternatives using their tax-advantaged IRA funds.

The documents that you need will vary depending upon the type of investment you’re making and the issuer who is setting up the offering. Alto will save you the work of acquiring all of the requisite documents, instead collecting them for you via the issuer, on the Alto dashboard.

Alto supports non-accredited investors as well as accredited investors. Anyone can create an Alto IRA account, though some offerings are open only to accredited investors. This determination is entirely up to the company or investment platform issuing the offering.

No. Alto is an administrator only and does not act as a financial advisor or provide any investment advice. Further, Alto is not a marketplace where investors sign up to buy shares of a startup they see.

No. IRS rules prohibit investing in any company that you or the following relatives own: Your beneficiaries, your spouse, your ascendants, your direct descendants, your direct descendants’ spouses and fiduciaries.

With a Starter Plan, you can invest with our wide variety of alternative investment partners. The Pro Plan allows you to invest with issuers you want to invite to the Alto platform, plus everything available in our Starter Plan too.