A tax lawyer quit his big-law job to bet everything on an idea Wall Street had buried for 50 years, and now he moves $7 billion for clients who invest their retirement money in Bitcoin, real estate, and private deals instead of index funds.
Adam Bergman is the founder of IRA Financial. He started with zero clients, zero assets, and one phone line in his apartment, bootstrapped it on Google Ads, took no salary for five years, and built a regulated trust company custodying over $7 billion for 30,000 clients. In this episode Adam and Ivan Patriki dig into the retirement loophole most Americans have never heard of, why the truly wealthy hold 60 to 70% of their money in alternative assets, and what it actually takes to survive the decade it takes to build a real business.
We cover:
The retirement rule almost nobody knows: only THREE things you cannot buy in an IRA
Why owning the S&P 500 means you basically own seven companies (and that is not diversification)
How the rich actually got rich (hint: it was not stocks and bonds)
$39 trillion in US retirement money and why the big banks wall you off from it
Adam's first client story: going live on Google Ads with no office and no idea what to do next
"Make mistakes with other people's money" and other advice from his entrepreneur father
The 5-year stretch where he and his wife "did literally nothing" while friends got rich
His biggest CEO mistake: not hiring people smarter than himself
Bitcoin in 2015, a friend told him it was a scam, and the risk/reward math he used anyway
Why he almost took the company public 7 years too early (and dodged a disaster)
"If you're not gonna quit, just shut up and fight"
No Adderall, no ketamine, no McLaren: water, coffee, and a morning run
The one platform in the country to trade stocks, crypto, and alt assets in a retirement account for one flat fee
What every young person who "wants to be successful" is getting wrong
RESOURCES & LINKS:
IRA Financial: https://www.irafinancial.com
MORE OF ADAM BERGMAN:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adambergman1/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adambergmanesq
MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv
Spotify:
Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com
MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado
MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki
Timestamps:
00:00 - The retirement money nobody tells you how to use.
00:38 - The only three things you can't buy in an IRA.
02:45 - Why IRA Financial doesn't sell you investments.
04:00 - Owning seven companies and calling it diversified.
04:47 - From tax lawyer to founder: the accidental discovery.
09:28 - Starting at 35 and five years with no salary.
12:00 - Zero to seven billion, fully bootstrapped.
13:31 - How do you get strangers to trust you with their money.
15:09 - The famous clients he can't name.
16:32 - Bad investments, and why your IRA gives you time to recover.
18:07 - Is running billions actually relaxing.
20:01 - The morning solitude ritual and "three wins a day."
25:51 - The 80% of businesses nobody thinks to start.
28:57 - The first Google Ads client and figuring it out live.
30:50 - Stop perfecting the business plan and just start.
39:49 - What liquidity actually buys you: long-term thinking.
40:46 - Peptides, ketamine, Adderall? Just water and a run.
43:51 - What the billionaires actually hold in their portfolios.
49:42 - One man sells his house for Bitcoin, another retires middle class.
51:06 - The one platform for stocks, crypto, and alt assets.
54:03 - Why taking a percentage of your gains is "criminal."
56:39 - Advice for the young person who wants to be successful.
01:01:18 - Why buying a course won't make you rich.
Make sure to like, comment, and share, and I'll see you in the next one.
