IRA and 401(k) assets are required by law to be held by a licensed custodial firm.
The trustee or custodian must be a bank, a federally insured credit union, a savings and loan association, or an entity approved by the IRS to act as trustee or custodian.
Although you may be working through an administrator or IRA Facilitator to setup the solo 401(k) plan, you will still be using a custodian on the backend. Generally IRA Facilitators and administrators have relationships with a small number of large, respected custodian, but you are not required to work with that company necessarily.
Selecting A Self-Directed IRA Custodian
Investors should ensure that the custodial firm they choose is properly licensed, have a significant number of clients and assets under custody.
Choosing a self-directed IRA custodian is becoming harder as more and more companies are coming into the industry. While one custodial firm is unlikely to work best for everyone, there are some general things to look for when deciding which IRA custodian is going to be the best fit for you.
In order to become a custodian, a firm must meet extensive requirements set forth by the U.S. Government. To see the complete list of requirements, click here.
To make things easier for you, we have prepared an extensive list of solo 401(k) custodians that are properly licensed to act as a custodian for your solo 401(k).
Here is a list of self-directed IRA custodians, many of which also offer Solo 401(k) options.
All custodial firms are not created equal when it comes to timely processing of investment requests. When choosing your custodial firm, make sure you ask about turn around times on investment authorizations.