For some 60 million Americans who have retirement funds sitting in some type of retirement or pension fund account, self-directed IRA investing is becoming more and more popular.

Major banks are falling by the wayside; the credit markets are tightening worldwide; the sub-prime mortgage mess has crippled the housing market; and even Wall Street, the ultimate symbol of financial largesse, is broke. What does all of this spell out for the average worker with years of retirement funds tied up in a regular retirement account?

Self-Directed IRA Investing: Can It Save Your Retirement Account?

What it means is that retirement accounts, which are traditionally invested in the stock market, are plunging fast. Many accounts have lost as much as half of their value in this economic crisis – with no end in sight.

Man investors are seeking safer havens for their retirement savings, and self-directed IRA investing is one way to get it. More and more workers are shifting their retirement funds to hard, tangible assets in lieu of investing in the volatility that is the stock market these days.

Self-directed IRA investing permits investors to buy real estate and other alternative assets that traditional retirement accounts disallow. Traditional retirement accounts stick to so-called “traditional” stock market investing, ie, mutual funds, stocks and bonds. But, these are the very things that are losing value into today’s economy. And, these types of traditional IRAs don’t allow the flexibility to invest things like real estate.

Real estate – in any market – is a tangible investment. Its value doesn’t “disappear” on the whim of a stock market high or low. Real estate is an investment you can see, touch and feel. It stands the test of time. And, a recession is the perfect time to capitalize on it. If you buy low now, when good economic times return, your investment can have doubled, tripled or quadrupled in value. What better way to grow – and protect – your hard-earned retirement dollars?