SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PENSCO, a leading alternative asset custodian for self-directed IRA investors, announced today its new paperless deal funding technology – PENSCO Alt-Nav™. The first-of-its-kind technology has been designed to help retirement investors who would like to invest in non-traded alternative assets using their retirement accounts, as well as those trying to raise capital – including entrepreneurs, private fund managers or private businesses – who want to work with these individual investors. The proprietary technology is the latest innovation by PENSCO that streamlines and simplifies the deal-funding process, providing benefits to both capital raisers and IRA investors alike.
There is currently more than $7.3 trillion held in IRAs and of that, the self-directed IRA market is estimated to custody about $146 billion. Since 2013 the IRA category has grown by 12% while assets in self-directed IRAs have grown 21%1 as investors increasingly look to diversify their retirement portfolios away from traditional stocks and bonds.
“Self-directed IRA investors can invest in a wide range of non-traded alternative assets, from real estate and private equity, to commodities and equity crowdfunding, however the administrative process has been onerous given every unique investment requires different documentation,” said Kelly Rodriques, CEO, PENSCO. “Given this, we saw an opportunity to be the first custodian to offer a solution for entrepreneurs and retirement investors that makes it as straightforward to make investments with alternative assets in an IRA as it is to buy stocks or bonds with your IRA. This is a win for IRA investors as well as for investment sponsors.”
Whether it is a private fund manager or an entrepreneur who is looking to raise funds from IRA investors, or an investor who has already identified an opportunity and is ready to invest using their IRA funds, PENSCO Alt-Nav™ takes the previously complex and paper intensive process and has made it entirely web-based, simple and guided, including drag/drop features for uploading investment documents and e-signature capabilities.
While the first release of the technology primarily supports investments in private funds, LLCs, and LPs for individual investors, PENSCO is committed to further developing the technology to support equity crowdfunding sites, peer to peer lenders, real estate, notes and other non-exchange traded investments with another release very soon.
“Financial technologies are driving change in every corner of the investing world. You need look no further than the news coming out of Finovate this week to appreciate the breadth of offerings out there,” said Rodriques. “We are very proud to launch PENSCO Alt-Nav™ because it redefines the entire investment process and clears the way for IRA investors to diversify their portfolio with alternative assets without the existing paper intensive burden.”
How Does It Work?
- Individual investors with a private placement opportunity can go directly to pensco.com and follow a step-by-step guided process to open, fund and invest in the opportunity.
- Capital raisers who work with PENSCO will receive a unique link to a portal where they can drag and drop the documents required to get their investment reviewed by PENSCO. Investors in their offering will then use the Alt-Nav™ technology to open and fund their account and electronically complete an investment authorization pre-populated with all the capital raiser’s deal information, eliminating the need for the investor to provide repetitive information and avoid the complexity of obtaining investment documents. They will simply review and affirm to fund the deal.
Guided demonstrations that include PENSCO Alt-Nav™ are available upon request for members of the media. Please contact pensco@neibartgroup.com to schedule a demo.
About PENSCO
PENSCO Trust Company has been helping investors use their retirement account funds to invest in real estate, private equity and other non-exchange traded assets since 1989.
As the trusted custodian of over $10 billion in assets on behalf of more than 45,000 clients, PENSCO works with financial institutions, capital raisers and financial advisors, as well as self-directed investors who typically have a point of view about alternative investments based on their own knowledge or expertise and want to put their tax-advantaged retirement dollars to work in these opportunities.
To learn more visit www.pensco.com
PENSCO Trust Company performs the duties of an independent retirement custodian, and, as such, does not provide investment advice, sell investments or offer any tax or legal advice. PENSCO is not affiliated with any financial professional, investment, investment sponsor, or investment, tax or legal advisor; including any who are listed in The Marketplace. Clients or potential clients are advised to perform their own due diligence in choosing any investment opportunity as well as any professional to assist them with an investment opportunity. Alternative investments are not FDIC insured and are subject to risk, including loss of principal. The list of individuals in The Marketplace should not be considered a complete list of individuals/firms with whom you may work, and is being provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as an individual recommendation, and each individual is encouraged to perform their own due-diligence on any financial professional with whom they intend to work.
1 Investment Company Institute, December 2014 and US Government Accountability Office Study GAO-15-16, page 17 & 80
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