Copyright 2006 Damon Clifford

Ah, remember the good old days? You would get up, go to work for 30 years, and then retire. The company funded your pension and you had enough in savings to cover you for the rest of your life. That was fine, because you would typically die 5 or 7 years after retirement. But that isn’t the case any more. Many people are living 20 or 30 years after their retirement, companies are no longer offering pensions, and many people are spending more money than they make.

Because of this, it is up to you to take control of your retirement and IRA funds.

The stock market has historically gone up. But when it’s going down, or even sideways are you expected just to “take it”? Many would have you believe that yes; you just have to “go with the flow”. Or they will tell you that it’s the “entire” market, everyone is getting hammered. Just stick with it and everything will be fine (have they already forgotten what happened in 2000?).

Brokers will tell you that your mutual fund is safe or secure because it’s spread across many different companies and many different industries. With all things relative, it is true that it is "diverse". So why does the market value go down in your mutual fund or perform lower than the market itself? They will tell you that the fund is diverse, but guess what...it’s only one asset, stocks!

It's not okay to just accept it, you do have a choice.

Did you know that you can invest your IRA funds in other assets beside stocks, bonds, and mutual funds?

Investing in alternative assets can be a very beneficial strategy to compliment your retirement portfolio. Alternative assets include anything from real estate, oil and gas, tax liens, private notes, trust deeds, and many more. I’m not saying to sell all your stocks and mutual funds. Those are required as well to have a diverse portfolio and there are many good brokers and mutual funds out there. Some of them are truly worth their weight in gold and I would recommend them to my friends and family.

However, I talk to people everyday that are just fed up with the stock market and their broker. Just like anyone else, they hate losing money. I reassure them that the market has historically gone up, and it will

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