Physical precious metals can make an excellent addition to a retirement portfolio, yet Traditional and Roth IRAs only permit access to gold ETFs, mutual funds and mining stocks.
To buy physical precious metals, you must utilize a self-directed IRA account with higher fees and greater oversight requirements compared to traditional IRAs.
What are the rules?
As with anything involving investing, purchasing physical gold for retirement requires many rules and regulations as well as fees associated with opening and maintaining a Gold IRA. These fees include one-time setup charges, annual account maintenance charges (paid to an IRS-approved depository), insurance premiums and cash out fees upon selling precious metals.
Gold can help diversify and lower risk in your portfolio, though you should always consult with a financial advisor or accountant prior to making any decisions regarding retirement savings.
Can I put my own gold in my IRA?
Gold IRAs are Self-Directed Individual Retirement Accounts that enable investors to store physical metals. You can either convert an existing IRA or 401(k) into this type of account, or open one through an IRA gold custodian who specializes in them. When selecting your gold account provider, look for companies with good BBB ratings and customer service – such as American Bullion, APMEX or Red Rock Secured as potential options.
Gold IRAs provide many advantages to retirement investors, including diversifying your portfolio with hard assets while protecting against inflation. Unfortunately, however, they also come with additional costs that may outweigh any potential returns.
As opposed to traditional or Roth IRAs, Gold IRAs don’t provide tax-advantaged growth – meaning any gains you experience from investing will depend solely on the price of gold when sold instead of being dependent on any yield or interest income.
Can I buy gold in my IRA?
People seeking exposure to precious metals through their retirement account have several options for acquiring exposure: mining companies or ETFs may provide exposure. Physical gold coins like American Eagle proofs or bullion and Canadian Maple Leaf coins may also qualify. But purchasing and selling physical gold can be costly: one-time and annual account maintenance fees; seller markup on spot market price of gold; brokerage fees; storage costs and insurance are just some of the costs that may be involved in buying and selling physical gold.
When purchasing physical gold in an IRA, the best method is to work with a precious metals IRA specialist who handles every step for you. They’ll make sure your purchase is tax-compliant and that you receive high quality IRA-eligible gold bullion products with outstanding customer support, not to mention all paperwork related to storage in IRS approved depository locations; furthermore they may even give you options between allocated or commingled storage depending on your needs.
Can I sell my gold in my IRA?
Gold IRAs provide an extremely safe way to invest your retirement funds. If you are worried about currency collapse, investing in gold may provide the ideal way to protect against it by diversifying with an alternative form of currency trusted by both central banks and billionaires alike.
However, gold is considered by the IRS to be a collectible and most IRAs do not allow ownership of collectibles. There are ways around this rule.
Lear Capital provides one option when it comes to Gold IRAs: this firm can assist in setting up, funding and purchasing precious metals over time for safe storage in your account. They also offer various other advantages including price match guarantees, 24-hour risk free periods and online portfolio tracking services. Another strategy might be selling coins and bars eligible for retirement under an IRA at buyback programs when reaching retirement age; however this option offers lower returns since you’ll only be reimbursed the wholesale price plus fees charged.
