Ricky Harmon
I was referred to Allan at Golden, Peiser & Peiser for a relatively simple question regarding whether or not self directed IRAs from a husband and wife could form a partnership and own the same real estate holdings without violating any ‘self-dealing’ or other IRS guidelines that would trigger penalties or a ‘taxable event.’ Allan agreed and scheduled a time for us to come in and chat. We met with him and a junior guy for about 15 minutes and basically they told me it was possible and discussed what I told them I wanted to avoid and was already aware of....didn’t really learn anything new and they just reassured me that it was perfectly fine. They didn’t agree with it from a financial standpoint but didn’t provide ‘advice’ from that aspect. Then came the invoice.... I was billed for 2.5hrs of research @$450/hr. They were nice enough just to knock it down to a cool $1,000 because of my devilishly handsome good looks and striking personality. Needless to say this feels like highway robbery as I don’t believe it took 2.5 hours and I suspect the poor guy who actually did the research probably is not making anywhere near the $450/hr that I was charged. Maybe this is standard fee and some of you will not be shocked by this...if so - it is still absurd!! I think I now understand why Golden is the first name/partner in this business....