I wanted to take a moment to recognize the outstanding customer service at Specialized IRA. After a recent conversation with Alisha, I felt compelled to share this publicly. Nicole has been exceptional in managing my case transfer. My schedule isn't the easiest to work around, but she has remained consistently engaged and proactive. Every Wednesday, without fail, she calls with updates and keeps everything moving forward. What could have been an overwhelming process was made simple because she took the time to guide me through each step. She made something complex feel manageable. Camille and Nicole have also been incredible--always kind, friendly, and genuinely helpful. Every interaction feels warm, attentive, and professional. That level of consistency is rare. It's not easy to find truly great customer service today, but this team stands out. They are not only highly capable, but also genuinely pleasant to work with--and it shows in every interaction. Whoever is responsible for building and training this team deserves real recognition. This has been, without question, the best customer service experience I've had, and it makes a meaningful difference. read more

I've been working with Specialized Trust Company for the past five years. Their support team is excellent to work with. Most recently, I've been working directly one-on-one with Alisha. She has been helping me with several important issues. I've been very pleased with how thorough she is, with her answers to my questions, and how genuinely helpful, thoughtful, and kind she is. Also, her follow-up is second to none! Alisha sets the standard for 'Five Star Customer Service! A rare find these days! read more

I have worked with a number of client service specialists at STC over the past few years and found each person to be considerate, professional and quite helpful. To this point, Alisha, has been consistently outstanding in this role representing STC. She is always pleasant, knowledgeable, and personable. She responds to me as though she knows me personally and seems quite pleased to hear from me. I am left with the feeling that she recognizes me or has a sense of familiarity among the many, many names she interacts with on a daily basis. It is quite impressive really. I am happy to offer this feedback and give a shout out to Alisha. Thanks for great service. read more

STC has been a fantastic experience so far. Easy onboarding and the help desk is top shelf. Coming from another custodian this has been a breathe of fresh air. STC is here to help and make the process seamless. read more

Amber and Alisha are great! They've helped me navigate all the confusing processes involved with investing using my retirement account. If they don't know the answer to something, they're very quick to reach to the necessary team and get back to me ASAP. I so appreciate all the help they've given me. read more

STC is always polite and professional everytime I've spoken with them. I do struggle at times with all the intricacies of investing, retirement accounts. Each and every time I speak with them or email them they are always prompt and polite. It hasn't gone unnoticed over the years and I am truly grateful for STC and their team. Kudos to you all! read more

I am so grateful I chose STC, because there is a massive level of training and strategy provided as a Platinum member, and the Platinum program covers many basic expenses of actively utilizing your account. At first it felt a little "too quick" - I paid a large first year fee, and suddenly I was "out" this money. But quickly the team ropes you in to all the many training modules, live and recorded, that you can participate in multiple time. The idea is create a PROGRAM for your retirement funds, with goals, that you are handling yourself, but also steering via a Master Plan and "Compass." You absolutely get to work one-on-one with their "concierge" staff who help you create your vision, where you are, where you need to be, what is the shortfall, and how will you get there. No - they do NOT recommend investments, but they help guide you to figuring out what asset type might work, where to find those investments, how to do some of the due diligence (at least at the basic level - what should one consider), and how to move forward. There is SO much excellent information in the monthly calls with the Founder, on topics such as the different types of accounts and their specific benefits, how to utilize the tax-benefitted system the government has set up for us, strategies such as conversion to a ROTH, or SOLO-K, HSA, etc. I very much enjoy these calls because participants can interact via comments which the leader of the call (the Co-Founder/CEO) reads and responds to as he covers his presentation. So you always feel engaged and responded to, plus any subsequent questions you can easily get answered by speaking to the Help Desk or the concierge staff (or even the Founder/CEO, who does allow you to schedule a discussion). The STC Help Desk are WONDERFUL. They are so helpful, friendly, efficient and diligent. They are always trying to improve and the CEO wants to know what can be done better, easier for the client, and importantly, what topics we wish to learn about. It is a very complex subject, and self-study is critical, but you can get a lot of help from their concierge if you're Platinum, and you can work directly with the CEO/co-founder in a specific program (which yes, has a fee - but it's like direct mentorship/coaching - it's an OPTION, not a requirement). Overall, the % cost of funds under management is quite inexpensive, and doesn't change as my accounts grow. I have the Family Plan, so all of my immediate family's accounts are bundled and under the single annual fee. For me, it is very economical. When I first joined, I thought the initial fee seemed very high, but I also knew that the education I would receive would be quite valuable. I now realize had I not joined STC and not paid that large first year fee, I would not have diligently gone through through their coaching and training and started really investing and seeing income. I needed that push, I have more than made up for the cost over the 1.5 yrs I'm part of STC. I think that folks who have been disappointed either misunderstood how STC's services work and that they have to take charge themselves and really think things through, or didn't read the fine print on how the accounts work. Yes, I think one upgrade could be to annually give a head's up that the maintenance fee is due, and ask how the member would like to pay it (cc, or account balance, and if account balance, from which account). If you catch it in advance, they WILL help you to make the payment however you want, including a combination of accounts or accounts/cc. I think customer service is a goal. Yes, it's not always perfect on notification of when a Platinum monthly call is. But the calls are great and the Mastermind they set up for members to present case studies (e.g. your own investment scenario or issues) to the group and get feedback from the other member-participants is great. You also get a lot of good ideas and the chance to bounce ideas off of other members, who you can connect with. When I felt a little "rushed" into something, I always look back and realize it was for my own good - it was the push I needed to do something new and a bit scary. I definitely feel though that STC actually has my best interests at heart, wants to provide great, personalized service (actually cares about the individuals and makes connections to us!), and provides a worthwhile service at a good price if you delve in and take advantage of everything offered. I would like to see the portal site set up, though, with access to all the recorded courses and calls in a "library", so that we can easily access them on our own. This was discussed earlier this year or late last year as a goal for this year. It would be really helpful to us as clients. read more

I started working with Specialized Trust Company years ago, and since then I have referred acountless number of friends, family & Business associates to this firm. Not only are they easy to work with, but anytime I have had a question they have always had or helped me get the answer. Because my company and I are continually growing I like going to them to get more education every so often as well. I highly recommend this Self-Directed Custodian. In my opinion they are the best in the self-directed game read more

Specialized Trust Company - Two men are standing close together indoors, smiling at the camera. The man on the left is wearing a light-colored shirt with a dark tie and has short, light-colored hair. He is giving a thumbs-up with his right hand. The man on the right is dressed in a dark suit with a pink and white striped tie and has short, dark hair. The background features warm lighting and a wooden wall or paneling. - Investing Near Me - Albuquerque, New Mexico

Everyone has been very helpful so far and usually will go out of their way to help. I have learned quite a bit about the accounts they manage and they seem legit. I think my biggest complaint is that there is a lot of information and it's hard to digest sometimes. I wish they would be a little more specific with one account and focus on one. Then, later on we can talk about another. I just get a bit frustrated and overwhelmed by the amount of information. read more

I'm a real estate fund manager and this is the most horrible experience my investors and myself have experienced. They are quick to get your money into their system but the transparency and the communication of this group is total garbage. They took funds out of my account to pay for the yearly fees instead of charging my card so I can pay it as a business expense. They also have a mastermind I paid for and their CEO is inconsistent with facilitating the mastermind and their is no prior notification of the meeting until a day or two before. The mastermind was $3k but isn't worth much because of the inconsistency. Now that I'm rolling my funds out of this company into another one they are telling me it's taking 4-6 weeks to process even when there is only cash balances with no investments made. I never write bad reviews but this company deserves it. read more

I have been with Specialized Trust Company for over 5 years. I have been very happy with there service and there products. I recommend them to anyone interested in starting a SDira. read more

The Specialized Trust Company Team is committed to excellence. I recommend them to my clients and anyone needing to open a self-directed retirement account. read more

Am very pleased on multiple levels with working with Specialized Trust: 1. They came recommended by many different people I work within the investment industry. 2. I have a personal representative that works directly with me, both managing as well as consulting me on strategies on how to best maximize my retirement account. 3. Everything, including cost, is upfront and understandable. 4. As a client, I am able to attend private classes with their CEO on the best strategies to maximize my money. Most IRA holding companies, just take your money and walk away. Most negative reviews on here seem to be from people who didn't know about expenses. ST will send you an application and it is spelled out! Read the documents. These folks have to pay the bills and thus have to charge for their services. I worked with an AWFUL Trust Management company and these guys are so much better and professional! read more

I wish I had checked reviews for this company before they were recommended to be by the company I made my investment with (won't mention their name other than I've told them to stop recommending this company and why). As everyone else has said before me, their fees are outlandish and exorbitant for a small investor ($100-$200K). $15 for an annual statement you don't even request, $15 to get a check mailed if you want to withdraw earnings or $55 to have it ACH'd! Do the math. $975 annual account fee on a $100K investment = 10% in fees. But oh it's another $650 or $700 if I want to move the investment on top of the annual fee. Biggest stupid mistake I ever made and I generally am much more thorough and smart in my financial decisions but this one really irks me and continues to do so every time I see a new fee. Please do your homework before setting up a self directed IRA with this company. It is just not worth it. read more

Specialized Trust Company was recommended to me by a friend. Like others, I wish I'd checked the reviews first too. I put my beneficiary IRA money with them. I ended up taking a distribution through a real estate transaction that would remove all of the money in 2020. I didn't report it the way I should, so in early 2021 when I did, it was too late to record the transaction for the year 2020. This meant I would have to wait to do my taxes for the transaction and get it off my plate until 2021 tax season. So, I was very clear in multiple emails with one of their representatives that I wanted to get the transaction recorded and close my account effective 2021 so I could be done with them and the real estate deal. That was May-June of last year. I thought I'd sent in all of the documentation that was asked of me at that time. Turns out I hadn't. So when I went to my account to look for the 1099 in January of this year, it was nowhere to be found. Over the past few weeks I've been working with another of their representatives to get all of the documentation they need. Today I learned that because they didn't record the transaction until 2022, I won't receive a 1099 until 2023. I'll get to wait another year to settle this and pay the taxes on the investment. I have paid thousands of dollars to STC. (Their fees went up last year). I thought it was so that they could help me manage this investment. It would have been nice last Spring for the rep I was talking to to have told me that I was lacking one document that would have made the transaction I thought both of us were working on final. No apology. No acknowledgement that she knew I was trying to get this done. Just a "it was recorded in 2022 so the 1099 will be generated in 2023." For the thousands in fees I've paid them I've received a lot of frustration. There's a reason why there are so many 1-star reviews here. Be careful. read more

I really wish I did not have to write this negative review but unfortunately this company has been extremely unprofessional as I'm attempting to transfer away from their brokerage. I realized after signing up that the fees associated with my Roth and SEP IRA were extremely high and I also was not going to be self directing in the way I had planned previous. I decided to change over to Vanguard and sent through the paperwork necessary. I never made a single transaction with STC once I opened my account. I checked my fee schedule and I'm going to be charged $1,800 simply for closing my account with them. This seems ridiculously high but I figured I would bite the bullet and get it over with. It's been over month since they received the paperwork from Vanguard to process the brokerage transfer and they still have not processed it. Since my account did not involve any transactions, even one of their own employees said there is no reason it should be taking so long. Beyond the extremely high fees and the unbelievably long paperwork return times, I never received a single communication from them concerning any of this. I've had to call in every time myself to get any information. Literally zero proactive communication about any of this. It seems that since I am trying to exit their firm, I have been kicked to the bottom of the barrel in terms of customer service. How you treat customers leaving your firm says a lot about how you view your clients. I'd take a hard look at this going forward. Amanda Holbrook was wonderful getting me set up but the customer service since I asked to transfer has been truly appalling. read more

I've been a client of Specialized Trust Company for many years and have sent friends and family to them because of how well they've cared for my money. I highly endorse this company for their care, service, and professionalism read more

A series of horrible experiences. The worst is that one of my goals was to set up a self-directed Roth IRA. The law requires having it for 5 years before withdrawals. So I transferred my money in to Specialized and set up a self-directed Roth IRA. (Actually, I paid $2,000 to set up a Roth IRA and a 401(k). The price included personal consulting with the company's owner, Edwin Kelly. I'd periodically ask a few questions and was told everything was OK, though I wasn't getting any solid answers and I really didn't understand how the two entities (Roth IRA and the 401(k)) were supposed to work together. I suppose they have "account managers," but it really seemed as if there were just two departments: (1) Sales, and (2) Paper Processing. If you weren't a member, you talked to sales. If you were a member, you talked to paper processing. Finally, I got suspicious and pushed hard. Specialized finally acknowledged that while the IRA was set up, it had never been funded, so the clock hadn't started yet. Huh? And this was five years in (yes, really), so I'd been paying fees for five years for an unfunded Roth IRA. The statements that I saw online only identified the accounts by account number, so it was impossible to tell what had been funded and what hadn't. Plus, its fees are much, much higher than any of its competitors--around $1,500 or more a year versus less than half that with other companies out there. They'd been taking the fees for years for an account that wasn't fully set up. Plus, I'd been thinking of setting up a brokerage account to invest some money in stocks or mutual funds. Well, THIS self-directed IRA doesn't have that capability. Plus, if you ask for any advice (within the limits of what such services can offer), there's only one guy there--let's call him Ed--who can provide it...if you sign up for a $14,000 program. If you don't pay the $14,000--though it may be more now--you get someone else who says that only Ed can address that issue. No, I didn't pay $14,000. Bottom line: Stay far away from Specialized Trust (formerly IRA) Services. read more

Terrible company. DO NOT USE!!! They send money to the incorrect places. They do this repeatedly and Make no apologies for their errors. They double their fees without telling you and say that they can because "their fees are subject to change" Tried to speak to a manager they gave me Ned Kraguljac who just repeated himself that "their fees are subject to change". I had many other investors warn me not to use them but I gave them a try anyways and have had nothing but problems in the 2 years they held my money. I am so happy I got my money out of there. read more

STC is my self-directed provider. They have been a tremendous help in setting up my account and helping me with processing my investments. I refer anyone I know wanting to use a self-directed IRA, 401k, HSA's and Coverdell account to STC read more

Worst company to work with. They doubled the yearly fee in the first year. Always non responsive or the customer service staff would give wrong information. Chose to switch companies and still problems. Wrong forms sent miss information after 2 months trying to get my funds out they charged me $1180 to cancel after all the screw ups on there side. I waited for my check and they sent it to an old address tried to say it was my fault until I proved I put the correct address on the form they requested I fill out. Worst customer service I have ever dealt with. Do not let them invest your funds. read more

I have had a great experience so far with STC and they came highly recommended from other investors in my network. I am just getting started with them, but they have been very communicative and helpful thus far. read more

If I could give them a negative score I would. I was trained by a real estate mogul in how to fix and flip properties. He highly recommended we use these guys and open an IRA to use with our real estate business. We stupidly trusted this guy. Both my husband and I opened a Roth IRA with $500. I don't see anywhere in the paperwork that it would cost us $469 a year for the "Black Service" we have. I called to transfer the money(almost two years in) and found out I have $31 in it. Yes, $31.00.....this is so they could "send me checks without paying $5 a check and overnight money without a $40 fee, etc etc. appalled at my stupidity for not knowing it would cost me this much to "save my money", I told them I want to close my account and they can send the whopping $31.00 or I would lose it but I was NOT going to pay $495 to keep it with them. Ok he said, he would send me the form and it will cost me, wait for it........$375 to close it. Where is THAT in the paperwork I signed????? Can't find it. I refused and said I was calling my attorney to verify this is legal and get back to them. I'm ticked off that I was sold a bill of goods from the trainer and at myself for trusting my "investment". I thought IRA's were a place to save and build your money. I have some things to learn. Please get ALL the details before you choose to work with these vultures....sadly I did not. read more

I transferred my self directed IRA to Specialized IRA Services from another custodian several years ago. I have received 5 Star service and I am SUPER satisfied with them. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a self directed IRA custodian. read more

This company gave us the runaround so many times that I still cringe when I think about calling them. Our first negative experience came when SIS charged us $250 to "upgrade" one of our accounts to "specialized black," although the account in question was a temporary traditional account we had used one time to move our money into an IRA. Since the balance was $0, we had not requested this upgrade, and we obviously had no need for extra services on the old account, I called in to request a refund for the fee. After calling the first time, they told me to send in a form to close the account and to request the refund in writing. No one responded to my email for over a week. I sent another email to follow up. No response for another week. I had to call back every week after that for 8 weeks to get the refund. I was told over and over again that the refund could only be approved by an "operations manager," but I was never allowed to speak to one of these elusive managers. Sometimes they told me that an operations manager would call me back within 24 hours, or that customer service would call me with a resolution within 48 hours, but over and over again they pushed me off and never returned my call. Finally, after calling in for 8 weeks and then ultimately refusing to hang up the phone until I spoke with someone who could resolve the problem, we got our refund. When we decided to close our account later that year and move our money to a company that would actually communicate with us, it took over 2 months to complete the transfer. Our new financial advisor told us this was the worst company he had ever tried working with. Because of their delays, we missed completing the transfer by the end of the year, so unfortunately we had to deal with their poor customer service for another tax year. Save yourself a headache and look for another company if you want things done correctly or in a timely manner. read more

Mr. M. Thank you for your attention to this matter, finally. I would like to point out a few crucial facts. 1. SIS sales mis-represented both to me and to my investment provider, who referred me to SIS, that your company DOES use ACH. 2. After I became an SIS customer, SIS simply took my money without crediting my account on multiple occasions. I found out later that this is due to the fact SIS actually doesn't take ACH, contrary to what their sales had promised. It is SIS's responsibility to remedy the situation. 3. However, instead of owning up to this, SIS gave no apology until 6 months later. Their solution is just to cash my money and not credit my accounts for months, every time I had a payout via ACH. Most frustrating and wasteful of my time (and compromising to my investment practice) is the lack of response from the company over several months, not a peep, until the matter was escalated to outside entities. 4. There are other mistakes SIS made from last year, which I had to bring up on multiple occasions to finally get them fixed, just last Friday. Then I was charged and "waived" a fee for the mistakes being corrected. Do I work for SIS? Isn't it your job to get things done correctly? I didn't have anything to do with the process where the mistakes were generated. Why should I even be charged for your mistake in the first place? 5. Realizing I've been switched and baited into this company, and having experienced errors in the service and having my money held up for months without any response, I decided I had to close my accounts. At this point, SIS charges me almost $200 just to terminate the account. I hope my experience is an anomaly and not representative of the service SIS is delivering to other customers. But it did happen to me, all of the above. I'm not here to break your reputation. I was really at wits end as my investment provider and I couldn't get any response for months through normal channel. Mr. M, I hope you will bring a fair resolution to this matter. read more

I transferred about $3600 to an IRA account. They charged me $300 a year for maintenance and $695 for closing the account plus $15 for some other fees. This is the worst IRA Company I have ever seen. Do NOT waste your time putting your money there. I got back $2100... Worst investment ever. read more

The fees will eat you alive! They will also drag their feet in a very dishonest way if you ever ask to roll your money to another investment firm. I consider them to be highly dishonest. read more

Stay away from this company. I considered a questionable investment, which lead me to transferring retirement funds to Specialized IRA Services (SIS). SIS immediately took $700 out of the 401K retirement funds I transferred to them for their "annual fee" and "specialized black" fee. Not to mention the "concierge fee" of $150 I paid to open an account with them. Then I found out I could have paid $50 instead, but I wasn't given that option since I qualified (was dumb enough) to pay the higher fee. I am trying to get a reply regarding my $700 annual fee after 3 weeks now. Worthless pieces of garbage. Brian is an absolute idiot and Danielle is an intelligent manipulator. read more

We had a difficult set of circumstances closing on an investment property, which included funding from several sources that included our Solo K loan with SIS. There were extreme time issues at stake. Inside Plan Specialist Seth Jonas stepped up, sorted things out, went out of his way on his day off, to push our loan through that enabled us to close on time. Without his help and the other helpful people at Specialized IRA Services, our investment opportunity would not have been actualized. read more

I have opened my traditional SD IRA in May and funded with great service, I then recommended my 2 children also open up new accounts and again everything went well with them. read more