IRA Capital Raise Made Easy

The Equity Trust Difference for Financial Professionals

 

For over 20 years, Equity Trust has collaborated with private investment offerings and financial professionals to provide custody for their investors’ investment into alternative assets. We pride ourselves on understanding your needs, and providing excellent service to both the investment company and your investors.

As the directed custodian, we will never compete against your business. With over three billion dollars in assets under custody and the experience of servicing tens of thousands of investors nationwide, Equity Trust has the experience and expertise you and your investors deserve.

Capital

Since 2010, IRA account funds have doubled to more than ten trillion dollars, and there are over 32 trillion dollars in retirement funds.

 

Equity Trust understands your need to raise capital and is a strategic partner that makes the investment process easy for you and your clients.

 

Capital Raise Guide

 

Personalized Services

We offer a one-to-one dedicated client service representative for every investment manager and their clients. Your dedicated representative knows your investment management team, tailors their client service approach to suit you, and works with investors from start to finish to ensure continuity and efficiency in the investment process.

 

 

 

Cutting-Edge Technology

Our customized client portal makes doing business easy. Your investors have real-time access to their account balances, can purchase and sell assets, request distributions, and pay bills online at their convenience.

 

From the investment-management side, every investment manager has a Pro Portal, an online master account that aggregates referred client accounts, specific asset values, and real-time updates on your clients’ investment transactions. 

SET UP A NEW INVESTMENT FUND

Benefits of Using Equity Trust as Your Custodian & Investment Solution Partner

Customer Service

You and your clients work with our dedicated, specialized service team. We do not use a call center, so you speak directly to your contact or other knowledgeable members of their team. Your firm will be handled by staff that know you, your investment, and your clients.

Annual Deadline

We proactively request these values from you to update Equity Trust investor holdings. Clients are automatically notified of updates, which reflect directly in their client portal.

Consistent Process

We allocate any distributions with just one wire and instructions from you. Our process is transparent and we make sure you always know where your client(s) are in the funding process. Plus, you'll get the fastest processing time in the industry. Investments are processed one business day after receipt of retirement funds and completed investment paperwork.

OnePath Platform

For some investments, clients can apply using Equity OnePath. OnePath is the most powerful online investment tool in the industry. You send us your paperwork, then we set up your asset on our platform. Clients complete the application and investment packet at the same time. This simplifies the investment process for you and your clients.

Equity Trust Process & Timeline for Financial Professionals and Clients

There is no cost to the investment sponsor and financial professionals to use Equity Trust as the custodian. Set-up is done once for each fund and the IRA investor pays Equity Trust’s administrative fees.

 

THE PROCESS

STEP 1: ASSET REVIEW PROCESS

Identify an investment. Equity Trust reviews the asset before accepting custody to determine if we can meet the obligations and administrative responsibilities of the investment. We do not evaluate, perform due diligence, or do other assessments on the asset or sponsor. To get started, please have the Investment Sponsor or Fund Manager complete our Onboarding Form.

STEP 2: OPEN AND FUND THE EQUITY TRUST ACCOUNT

Open an Equity Trust account by completing our online application. Investors must provide pen-signed documents, driver's license copy, and account statement copy. Then, they fund the account via transfer, rollover, or contribution. They can do this by completing the appropriate form found here.

STEP 3: COMPLETE INVESTMENT PAPERWORK

A Subscription Agreement will be presented in a turn-key electronic package via Docusign with the purchase authorization form. Investors must review, then click to sign. Once Equity Trust receives a receipt of retirement funds and the investor approved subscription documents, the investor is placed into their fund.

THE TIMELINE

OPEN AN EQUITY TRUST ACCOUNT

Account setup can be done quickly online – 15 minutes.

FUND THE ACCOUNT

The transfer/rollover process typically takes about 2 weeks.

 

ASSET REVIEW PROCESS

This step typically takes 1-2 days once our Onboarding Form is completed and the necessary documents are received.

 

REVIEW & SIGN SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT

Investments can be executed next-day from receipt of executed investment docs & available cash (assuming 7 day right of rescission has paused).

 
SET UP A NEW INVESTMENT FUND

New Accounts

 

Action

Who Does It?

How Long Does It Take?

Send Investment Paperwork

Investment Firm

Minutes

Set up Investment on Platform

Equity Trust

One Day

Complete Account Application

Investor

One Day

Sign Application

Investor

One Day

Complete Transfer Application

Investor

 

Transfer Funds

Old Custodian / Equity Trust

Variable

Fund Investment

Equity Trust

24-48 Hours

 

Additional Funding

 

Action

Who Does It?

How Long Does It Take?

Complete Transfer Application

Investor

 

Transfer Funds

Old Custodian / Equity Trust

Variable

Fund Investment

Equity Trust

24-48 Hours

Types of Portable Accounts

In general, defined contribution plans are portable. Defined benefit plans (pension plans) and flexible spending accounts are not portable. Many employers won’t allow an account to rollover if the employee is still employed by the plan sponsor. There are exceptions, so it is best to ask the plan sponsor.

Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
If a client has an established IRA, it can transfer to Equity Trust. An Equity Trust account can then fund alternative investments.

401(k) and 403(b)
401(k) plans are also known as an Individual 401(k) or Solo 401(k). These retirement plans provide the same profit-sharing advantages as a typical 401(k) with less complexity and lower costs.

403(b) plans are like 401(k)s. Public schools and certain types of non-profit organizations (501(c)(3)s) offer these plans.

Both of these plans can rollover into an Equity Trust account. Often, that depends on whether the account owner is still employed by the plan sponsor. The account owner should check with the employer about rollovers if still employed by the plan provider.

Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE)
SIMPLE plans allow contributions from the employer and the employee. These plans can rollover, except for Roth IRAs. However, if it is within the first two years of the owner’s first participation, money can only transfer to another SIMPLE IRA. After the 2-year period, they can transfer to other types of non-Roth IRAs.

Simplified Employee Pension (SEP)
A SEP is similar to a Traditional IRA in that a rollover from trustee to trustee can happen at any time.

Health Savings Account (HSA)
HSAs allow for contributions from the employer and employee. These contributions can transfer or rollover into another like account.

IRA Capital Raise Need-to-Knows for Financial Professionals

  1. Most often, the held asset is titled in the name of the account owner. However, it should be titled “Midland Trust Company As Custodian FBO John Smith IRA #123456.”

  2. Income, dividends, distributions, and payoffs should be sent to the client’s IRA at Equity Trust. These funds should not be sent to the account owner. All income and expenses for an investment held in an IRA must go back to the IRA.

  3. Equity Trust is the custodian and administrator of the IRA. Equity Trust cannot review, promote, distribute, or endorse any investment.

  4. Capital calls cannot be mandatory for IRAs. The IRA holder can elect to participate, though.

  5. Equity Trust should be copied on all correspondence for capital calls.

  6. The investment sponsor must inform Equity Trust if a prohibited transaction occurs. Prohibited transactions include IRA transactions with prohibited persons. Prohibited transactions also include those that benefit the IRA holder.

  7. The investment sponsor must notify Equity Trust of any changes in contacts or company status with the investment.

  8. Equity Trust does not provide investment, legal, or tax advice to IRA holders, investment sponsors, or providers.

  9. Funding is frequently held up when signatures are missing on documents from the investor or investment sponsor.

  10. No more than 25% of the total capital raised may be from ERISA-regulated accounts. IRAs are considered benefit-plan money, but are not covered under ERISA as long as there are no other ERISA funds in the investment pool. Once other ERISA funds are accepted, the IRA funds count towards the 25% limit. If you intend to accept any ERISA funds in your capital raise, consult with legal counsel on limitations and ERISA rules.

  11. IRA investments may generate UBIT or UDFI, which affects the investor. Both UBIT and UDFI require filing form 990-T with the IRS. Equity Trust handles tax payments with the IRS as the custodian for the IRA. All taxes owed must be paid by the IRA, not the individual taxpayer. Funds must be available if UBIT or UDFI are expected.

  12. The investor needs accreditation to invest but is unsure of their status. An investor is considered accredited if their net worth exceeds $1 million individually or jointly with a spouse. Accredited investors also include those with an annual income exceeding $200,000 individually or $300,000 jointly for the last two years with the expectation of earning the same in the current year. If investors are required to be accredited, an investor’s IRA has the same investor accreditation as they would personally. Learn about the SEC’s new changes to accredited investor status here.

Items That Can Slow the Investment Process for Financial Professionals

  1. The account where the client is transferring funds from is not liquid.
  2. The plan the client chooses to use for the investment is not portable to another custodian. Have the client confirm that a rollover of the account is possible.

 

Additional Account Offerings for Financial Professionals and Their Clients

- Private Fund Custody

Equity Trust is a qualified custodian that provides service to private funds and organizations by adding transparency and separation of fund assets. Equity Trust offers two levels of custody services:

Full Custody: Equity Trust will take custody of assets and cash, process all new purchases/liquidations, monitor all incoming and outgoing payments, and provide fund-level statements to all investors of the Fund.

Document Custody: Equity Trust will take physical custody of original documents.

- Custodial Accounts

Investment accounts for taxable money. Taxable money includes personal savings, corporate savings, or trust funds. These account types allow investors to buy and sell alternative investments. Types of custodial accounts offered at Equity Trust include:

      • Individual
      • Trust
      • Joint
        • Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship (JTWROS)
        • Tenants in Common (TIC)
        • Tenants by Entirety (TBE)