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In today’s uncertain economic climate, many people are looking for ways to hedge their retirement accounts to combat inflation. Gold IRAs provide a way for investors to put their money in precious metals.
While many people feel that their standard employer-provided 401(k) will be enough to sustain them through their golden years, more and more people are waking up to the fact that the value of our currency could plummet, devaluing their retirement accounts.
If you’re thinking of changing your 401(k) over to a gold IRA, there are specific steps you’ll have to take to do that.
To start, you’ll need to work with an expert in gold IRAs who can give you the latest information about gold bullion and other precious metals. They should also be able to work with you to collect all the necessary resources to start a direct rollover and open your account.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to find a custodian for your gold IRA rollover. This entity will oversee your account for you.
The next step is to open up an account with that custodian for them to purchase the bullion or other precious metals as needed and keep all of this in a secure facility.
The final step is to ensure the custodian has processed your rollover. Any funds you had in your old 401(k) get moved over to the new gold IRA, where you can use them to acquire the gold bullion for your new account
While this process seems complicated (and is when you’re handling this on your own), it’s not nearly as complex when you have a gold IRA expert to walk you through it. We’ve created this gold IRA rollover guide to help you through each step.
Step 1: Find a Provider
Gold IRAs differ from regular IRAs in a few key ways. The most noticeable difference is that while standard IRAs have assets like bonds or stocks, a gold IRA mainly relies on the value of gold or other precious metals.
Many investors have an idea of what they can do by investing in silver or gold, but an actual provider will have the expertise they need to set up a gold IRA.
A provider will be able to give you the information you need to open your new account, get in touch with a custodian, select the precious metals you’d like to invest in, and find a facility for you to store your new precious metals. Think of the provider as your guide throughout the entire process of setting up your new account.
Not only is a provider an expert in gold IRAs, but they’re also experts in the precious metals themselves. They’ll help you with any paperwork you might need to be completed, inspect the metals, and help you make an informed decision throughout your transaction. They’ll be there after the transaction’s done, too, as a resource should you have any questions.
Step 2: Identify Your Custodian
Believe it or not, it’s against the law for someone investing in a gold IRA to keep custody of the gold themselves. For that reason, you need a designated custodian to look over the gold for you.
Usually, a custodian will be a company that can keep track of any of the transactions you and they have made. They can give you any information you might need when reporting to the IRS.
The primary responsibility of a custodian is to buy and sell the metals that you’ve put into your gold IRA. From there, they will carry out any transaction you want during the duration of your account with them.
When offering an IRA, most investment businesses don’t include things like precious metals or other tangible assets. Instead, they’ll try to get investors to put their money into the stock exchange. They do this for the sizeable commission they’re liable to receive.
For this reason, you’ll want to make sure that the company you go with for your gold IRA provides what’s known as a self-directed IRA. This product will give you more agency than a traditional IRA.
With a self-directed IRA, you retain control over all of your assets and don’t give decision-making powers over to anybody else. Keep following this gold IRA rollover guide to see how to make the best of your rollover.
Step 3: Open the Account
With a company chosen and a custodian selected, your next move is to open up your new gold IRA account. Once you’ve done this, both your provider and the custodian will have everything they need to invest your assets. They will work directly with the precious metals provider to either sell or buy metals as needed and as you see fit.
After the provider understands what you’re looking to invest in, amounts and quantities, they’ll confer with your custodian to physically transfer your new assets to a secure location. Your gold and silver bars and coins will then get put into safe storage for the duration of your account.
Not only does the custodian physically secure your new assets, but they will also make sure that you’re adhering to the IRS’ regulations. They’ll handle essential details such as how they manage your account and where you’ve stored the precious metals. They’ll make a detailed record of the total amount of your purchase, and they’ll send copies of all documentation to both you and the IRS.
You’re free to open up a gold IRA with any amount you’d like to invest, so long as you meet the minimum amount for your chosen company. While some companies require a minimum of $5,000 to set up a gold IRA, other companies may need as much as a $50,000 investment to determine it’s a worthy account for them.
It’s best to do your research ahead of time to find a company that can serve your needs.
Step 4: Start the Rollover Process
After you’ve followed the first three steps, the next thing is to roll over all of your money and assets from your existing account to your new account. You can either do this through a direct rollover or an indirect rollover.
In a direct rollover, the cash and other assets transfer directly from your original retirement account to your trustee or custodian. The company you’ve chosen for your gold IRA can assist with anything you might need from here, and they’ll work directly with your custodian to do so.
An indirect rollover is a bit more involved and complex. With this type of rollover, the company will give you the funds from your old account with the understanding that you will put them into your new gold IRA and not either disburse the funds or use them for any other purpose.
Since an indirect rollover involves greater risk, it includes much more paperwork than a direct rollover. You’ll need to prove that you completed the rollover, so most investors opt for a direct rollover to cut out a few steps and eliminate the possibility of complications.
Along with that, the majority of experts also recommend going with a direct rollover, as it makes the process easier for all parties involved.
You can essentially bring in money from any retirement account to a new gold IRA account. As long as you can access the account, you should be able to transfer the funds.
Among the IRAs eligible, you can transfer funds from a 401(k), 457, 403(b), and other eligible accounts. You can transfer from a Roth IRA, a SIMPLE, a SEP, and a regular IRA.
You can set up your new gold IRA to behave like other IRA types. For instance, if you already have a Roth IRA, you can also set your gold IRA as a Roth. This will allow you to enjoy things like growth without taxation. Keep in mind, of course, that you’ll have to adhere to the rules of a Roth and not access your funds for five years or more.
It’s also important to remember that some Roth IRAs will have a penalty involved for transferring a 401(k) over to a gold IRA. To avoid this penalty, you need to ensure that your IRA is self-directed and that you have a trustee or custodian in charge of your new assets.
From there, you’ll need to transfer the funds to your trustee in 60 days or less. If you can follow all of these requirements, you should not incur any penalty. If you do take longer, though, these assets will fall under the distribution of funds and could be taxed.
A gold IRA comes with the same kind of regulations as other IRAs, and it also has its own set of pros and cons. It’s best to consult with a professional before making any choice to ensure that you’re not running afoul of the IRS. This gold IRA rollover guide is a great start, but, when in doubt, professional advice is invaluable.
Step 5: Buy the Gold
Now that you’ve taken care of the rollover process, you need to work directly with the company you’ve chosen to buy the bullion or other precious metals. They will have the knowledge and expertise required to purchase the assets and carry out the gold rollover.
You want to ensure that your chosen company has actual relationships with different facilities and trustees. With all of this in place, the company should be able to look over all of your options and help you decide which one is right for you.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed during this process. There are many choices to make and many different companies, facilities, and trustees. On top of that, you need to make sure that you meet all IRS standards and only use the type of silver or gold that they accept. Luckily, a suitable gold IRA company will be able to help through this entire process.
The IRS requires all silver and gold to meet specific standards of purity. For gold, the purity standard sits at 99.5%. The only exception to this is the gold eagle coin which is less pure but still allowed. For silver, the purity standard sits at 99.9%. Anything less the IRS will not accept.
It’s important to remember that you get to make the final say with your gold IRA. You can decide what precious metals to invest in and what type and quantity. Along with that, your gold IRA company should give you a confirmation notice and provide you with every detail you might need when it comes to your transaction.
Be sure to ask about how your precious metals will ship, and ask that the company provide insurance to cover the trip between the origin facility and your new secure facility.
Why a Gold IRA?
Now that you’ve seen all the steps involved in rolling over your old retirement account to a new gold IRA, you may be wondering why you should even do such a rollover.
While a 401(k) will similarly invest your funds to ensure you have a comfortable retirement, it will invest those funds in the stock market to do so. The hope is that as the stock market flourishes, so too should your retirement account.
But what happens if the stock market crashes? We all saw what happened in 2008, and the fact remains that a 401(k) is not impervious to devaluation over time, just as the stock market itself isn’t immune from it.
Many see a 401(k) as stable, but this is illusory at best. With a traditional 401(k), your retirement account only does as well as the stock market itself does. When the stock market crashes, so too does the value of your 401(k).
Once your 401(k) has dropped significantly in value, you’ll have no recourse apart from hoping that the stock market will recover. A standard 401(k) requires you to be at the mercy of a fluctuating, often chaotic stock market.
In response to this risk, many investors decide to pull all of their money out entirely and hold onto it themselves. While this eliminates the risk of devaluation, it also means that they lose the potential for asset growth over time.
A gold IRA offers a much more viable and attractive solution. By staking your account against the value of physical, tangible goods like precious metals, you remove the threat of an unstable market and have something of value against which to stake your account.
Many investors think they need to be financial experts to take advantage of this type of account, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You don’t need to know everything there is to know about investing to reap the benefits.
By finding a company and professionals who know the entire process of setting up a gold IRA, you’ll be able to roll over all of your assets and invest in a universal currency. By the time you finish reading this gold IRA rollover guide, you’ll have much of the knowledge needed to conduct the process safely and securely.
What Is a Gold IRA Really?
At its core, a gold IRA isn’t much different from any other IRA type. The most crucial difference is that while a traditional IRA is at the mercy of the stock exchange, a gold IRA’s backing comes from the value of precious metals.
While the stock market could surge (and likewise bring the value of your 401(k) up), it could also plunge and crater your investment. The stock market is often volatile, but the value of gold and silver, in contrast, is relatively stable.
Even though it’s called a gold IRA, you can actually invest in several other precious metals alongside gold. You can also invest in silver, palladium, and platinum. Regardless of the type of precious metal you go with, these will come sourced from a certified mint that ensures purification and verifies all metals to guarantee that they meet all requirements.
Your investment might come in the form of bullion, ingots, or metal bars that come with a purity guarantee. You might also receive your precious metals in the form of rounds or coins. Whatever the form they take, the crucial thing is that the amount you receive matches your investment and meets all purity requirements.
Another thing to note is that your gold IRA will not exist in the same kind of retirement account that it would if it were a standard IRA. Since this type of IRA involves physical, tangible assets, the bookkeeping process is a bit different.
Along with a more involved bookkeeping process, you can expect to deal with more regulations regarding the maintenance of your assets and the assurance of their integrity.
For instance, a custodian must always be in charge of the metals and ensure their safety, security, and care. You also need to have a broker formally transfer them to your chosen company. However, with these extra steps comes added peace of mind.
What Are the Pros and Cons of a Gold IRA?
Pros
By far, the biggest notch in the pro column for getting a gold IRA is that you have a degree of control here that you simply don’t have in any other type of IRA.
While a typical IRA will bring with it the risk of the market crashing, currency seeing inflation, and the potential for a toxic political environment, a gold IRA isn’t subject to any of these effects.
With that said, you will want to thoroughly research several different companies to ensure that they are trustworthy and capable of managing your new account.
Another positive with a gold IRA is that you will even have control of the fees you might have (or not have) to pay. Most brokers now don’t charge a fee if you want to do a gold IRA rollover.
You can also opt to have an automated advisor for portfolio management. You will usually have to pay a minor fee for this service, but there are ways for you to bring this fee down or even eliminate it altogether.
It’s far easier to get your funds from an IRA than another type of option that your employer might sponsor. With all of that said, you should allow interest to accrue for as long as possible before pulling your money and putting it into a gold IRA.
Cons
With all of the pros that come with setting up a new gold IRA, you should know about a few cons as well. The most significant disadvantage here is that most retirement accounts try to stop you from withdrawing any funds before the age of 59.5.
While every retirement savings company has different terms and conditions, most will charge you 10% for pulling your money before this age.
With that said, 401(k)s behave a little differently. You can potentially waive fees on anything taken out by age 55 or older. This same logic does not apply to any type of IRA, however.
By far, the biggest con here is that it’s frequently complicated and difficult to move your assets from your standard 401(k) over to your new gold IRA without suffering any type of penalty. Or rather, it would be if you didn’t have this gold IRA rollover guide or a professional there to help you through the process.
Most investors pull funds from their 401(k) without knowing the various fees they might incur. Some can lose thousands of dollars in fees without even realizing it. It’s imperative that you know your rights, understand your options, and work with experts who can walk you through every step of the process and ensure that you don’t lose any money in frivolous fees.
What Exactly Is a Gold IRA Rollover?
Put simply, a gold IRA is when you take an existing part of your portfolio or retirement account and convert it into bullion, rounds, or coins of precious metals to hedge against market or political instability.
When you initiate a gold rollover, your assets get taken out of your original account and then put into a new IRA that measures against the value of the precious metals you’ve chosen. However, when you withdraw these funds, you can only hold them for 60 days before depositing them into your new gold IRA.
Should I Do a Gold IRA Rollover or Gold IRA Transfer?
It’s easy for investors to get confused about the differences between a gold IRA rollover and a gold IRA transfer, so we’ve broken down the similarities and differences for you.
The first distinction is that a gold IRA transfer provides a greater level of security and works better for those who want to manage risk during the transition process between the two accounts. A gold IRA rollover has many regulations you need to follow, and you may incur a fee from the IRS for breaking any of them. Transfers generally have fewer regulations than rollovers.
Gold IRA Rollover
In a gold IRA rollover, you must transfer your funds within 60 days to not incur any fees. In addition, you could incur a penalty for any early withdrawals, with some fees climbing as high as 10%. If you break the 60-day transfer requirement, your funds also become taxable.
Along with all of those regulations, you’re only allowed to do one rollover every calendar year, but you don’t need to withhold any tax as long as you’re transferring from a personal IRA.
Gold IRA Transfer
With a gold IRA transfer, you don’t have to worry about transferring your funds within 60 days. You also don’t have to worry about any penalties for withdrawing your funds early. On top of that, your funds are not taxable, you have no annual limits on transfers, and you don’t have to withhold taxes.
How It Works
At its most basic level, a gold IRA transfer involves moving assets from one trustee to another. Because of the security of this process, the investor does not handle any of the money themselves. Instead, the assets get moved between the trustees and the trustees only. This process is far more straightforward, less risky, and involves little to no possibility of incurring fees.
The main distinction between a gold IRA rollover and a gold IRA transfer is that with a transfer, the funds never go to your actual bank account.
Most investors prefer going with a transfer because they eliminate the risk of human error in the process. Many others choose it because they don’t want to have to deal with the money themselves, and still others prefer not to deal with added complications and paperwork if they can help it.
Whatever the reason, a transfer remains the best option for most investors, as it eliminates the possibility of incurring IRS fees by mistake. This gold IRA rollover guide will walk you through the process so you know what to expect if you go this route.
From 401(K) To Gold IRA – Rollover
Some investors think that they need to stick with a standard 401(k) and that they’re subject to the effects of the stock market. This just isn’t the case. You can roll over or transfer your assets from a 401(k), whether an employer has sponsored it or it is self-directed by the account holder. With that said, the process is a bit different.
If your 401(k) was employer-sponsored by one of your former employers, you likely won’t run into any issues during the rollover process. All you’ll need to do is choose your custodian and then have them carry out the rollover.
If, however, you’re trying to roll over a 401(k) that your current employer is sponsoring, you’ll have to jump through a few more hoops to get that into a self-directed IRA. For instance, some employer-sponsored IRAs explicitly prohibit you from investing in gold while still an active employee.
It’s best to talk with your human resources department to determine whether this is allowed under your current policy. They should be able to tell you what the conditions are and whether or not you’re allowed to invest in gold while working for them.
Deciding on Your Strategy
Just as every investor is different and has different goals and priorities, there isn’t only one approach that will work for every investor every time. Your goals will ultimately decide which strategy is best for you.
For example, you might wonder how much of your overall portfolio should be set aside for precious metals investment. While an expert can give you their perspective and opinion, the final decision ultimately rests with you.
Just as with other investment options, the answer comes down to how much risk you’re willing to accept. Another important consideration is how close you are to retiring and how much you already have in your retirement account, among many other factors.
If you don’t want to take that much of a risk and are already close to retirement age, you might benefit from putting a more significant amount toward precious metals than someone younger and more risk-tolerant.
No matter what you ultimately choose, diversifying your portfolio with silver, gold, or any other precious metal will allow you to hedge against the volatility and instability of the stock market. The added benefit here is that precious metal prices tend to go up whenever the stock market is unstable.
As the economy fluctuates over time, it’s best to invest in something a bit more stable, like precious metals. You can work with your company throughout the duration of your account to reallocate as needed, too, so what you decide today does not need to be what you stick with in the long term.
When it comes to investing in precious metals, you have many options at your disposal. This gold IRA rollover guide exists to help you understand the differences between these options and determine what’s best for you.
Choosing the Allocation
The amount of your portfolio that you allocate for precious metals will entirely depend on your needs and wants. When choosing your allocation, you should think about a few things. Namely, how do you think the economy will look in the next few years?
Also, consider whether your portfolio has been meeting your expectations and, if not, what you’d like to see changed. You should also examine your reason for investing in gold or other precious metals. Is this to diversify your portfolio, manage your risk level, or make a profit? Lastly, how close are you to retirement age or your own personal date for when you’d like to retire?
Of all those things to think about and ask yourself, your actual reasoning behind investing in precious metals might be an essential thing to consider. Let’s look at the three most common motives for investing in precious metals.
Diversification
One of the most common reasons to invest in gold or silver is to diversify your portfolio and protect it from the effects of a stock market crash or similar market fluctuation. Many investors who want to limit their potential losses will put a percentage of their assets into precious metals so that all is not lost in the event of a recession or collapse.
For this strategy, an investor would benefit from putting between 5 and 10% of their portfolio value toward precious metals. You could potentially go higher than that, but anything much higher than 10% might not be as profitable as a lower percentage would be.
Inflation
Those concerned about the effects of inflation will often invest more of the total percentage of their portfolio value toward precious metals. This works exceptionally well since the value of gold has stayed remarkably consistent over the years, despite currency fluctuations elsewhere. Even as the dollar declines in value, gold remains stable in value.
Considering that the United States currently faces a severe inflation issue, this mindset is understandably popular. The 1970s was another period of extreme inflation, and during that time, the value of gold rose significantly, even as the dollar declined in value.
For those who want to mitigate the effects of inflation on their retirement accounts or portfolio more broadly, consider investing between 10 and 20% in precious metals. This larger percentage should allow the overall value of your assets to remain consistent, even through times of severe inflation.
Systemic Collapse
Those who feel the economy overall is headed in the wrong direction and might even be unsustainable should invest more in precious metals. When world events cause instability and the economy becomes volatile, silver and gold tend to rise in their overall value. Even in the event of a market crash, precious metals tend to retain their value.
Even in recent years, geopolitical flashpoints have sent the price of gold soaring. The oil crisis in 2020 led to the highest gold prices in more than seven years, and the 2020 airstrike of an Iranian military commander sent the prices of gold up as well, even as the stock market took a tumble.
Any investor who wants to hedge their investments against the possibility of war or a total collapse should invest more of their total portfolio value in precious metals. For some, this could mean putting as much as 20 or 30% of their entire portfolio into precious metals. By reading this gold IRA rollover guide, you’re already a step ahead of the game and well on your way to greater financial security.
Choosing IRA Approved Bullion and Bars
As mentioned earlier, the IRS is quite strict regarding the purity and type of precious metals they allow in a gold IRA. Some of the products that definitely meet the IRS’ standards include the American Eagle gold coins, the Valcambi Gold CombiBar, Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coins, Credit Suisse gold bars, and Johnson Matthey gold bars.
It’s important to note that you cannot use gold and silver collectibles in a gold IRA. You cannot use any type of rare coin. For classification purposes, the IRS does not consider a gold bullion bar to be a collectible.
If you do invest in a precious metal that the IRS has not approved, you run the risk of them incurring a fee or penalty on your account. The best thing to do is to stick with gold bullion bars, as these are always allowed for use in a gold IRA. If you want to use gold coins, make sure that the coins you’ve chosen have IRS approval.
Physical Gold Rollover vs. Paper Gold Rollover
You have two options for the type of rollover for your gold IRA. The first is a physical rollover. This is the more traditional option, and it involves securing actual gold bullion bars in a facility that a custodian will watch over.
The second type is a paper gold rollover. In this option, you’re investing in a security based on gold. Some common modern versions of this include investing in an ETF or some other type of mining stock for gold.
While paper gold rollovers are a bit more convenient than physical gold rollovers, there’s no denying that having physical gold remains the more secure option for most investors. Some investors like paper gold because of the liquidity involved, but this comes with its own set of drawbacks.
The most serious concern here is that an asset with greater liquidity can be more challenging to sell or buy quickly. For this reason, paper gold is far more uncertain and volatile of a commodity than actual precious metals would be.
The only way to take advantage of all of a gold IRA’s benefits is to invest in physical gold or other precious metals. Gold stocks might be more convenient in the short term, but all it would take is a severe case of inflation or a market collapse for those stocks to lose all value. In contrast, the value of precious metals will remain the same or even increase.
Even with all of this being said, many investors still shy from investing in precious metals. Here are a few more reasons that might help you change your mind if you’re still not convinced:
- Counterparty Risk: With a standard stock that’s publicly traded, you run the risk of a company declaring bankruptcy or not honoring its obligations. You simply don’t have the same risks when investing in something tangible, like precious metals.
- Safe Haven: When the worst-case scenario occurs, and the market crashes or the economy collapses entirely, gold bullion retains its intrinsic value. Cash can lose its value entirely, but countries and entities will still honor gold.
- Ownership: A company or other entity can confiscate your stocks and bonds, but your gold bullion bars and other precious metals remain safe.
- Convenience: Gold bullion is easy to store and secure, but you can still move your assets somewhere else if you need to. You can withdraw gold from your gold IRA via distribution whenever you want.
There are many other benefits to investing in silver, gold, and other precious metals, but these are some of the most compelling reasons by far. Next, this gold IRA rollover guide covers how to a custodian with your best interests in mind and who you can trust.
How to Find the Custodian for You
Investors who are used to the process involved in a traditional IRA probably expect something similar for a gold IRA. While some similarities exist, opening up a gold IRA account is a bit more complex.
For starters, your average brokerage won’t even support a gold IRA. They specialize instead in IRAs based on stocks and bonds. When you’re ready to open your gold IRA, you will need to do some research and choose a custodian.
The suitable custodian will be more than just a watchdog for your bullion. They’ll also work with you to ensure your precious metals’ safety and guarantee that you’re following all protocols and IRS regulations. Considering that breaking protocol can result in fees and taxation, the custodian you’ve chosen must have a firm grasp of IRS regulations.
The suitable gold IRA company will help you with your whole rollover, from acquiring the precious metals to their storage in a facility and beyond. This company needs to guarantee transparency and give you all the documents and materials you need to finish the rollover process.
Beware of any gold IRA company that isn’t transparent or adds fees onto your contract without explaining what they are.
When you’re ready to decide, you have a few considerations to make. Here are some of the things that you should think about:
The Company’s Reputation
You check reviews for most of the products you buy online, so you’ll want to check the reviews of the gold IRA company you’re choosing. Be sure to look for reviews that specifically speak to overall customer satisfaction and level of service.
The simple truth is that a gold IRA company without reviews online is not a company worth your time. Whether you’re looking at the Better Business Bureau, Trustpilot, Google, or even on web forums, you should be able to find some sort of review footprint before making a final decision.
Also, keep in mind that review sites exist that sell fake reviews. Look out for reviews that don’t make sense or sound like spam. Also, look for repetitive reviews or reviews that seem like minor variations on the same theme, as these could be copied and pasted from other sources.
Only a trustee or custodian approved by the IRS can operate a secure facility for precious metals. Put simply, if the trustee you’re looking at doesn’t have IRS approval, dump them and move on to the next one.
Another concern is the practice of subpar vendors offering coins or bars for a discount that end up being of low purity. Since the IRS requires a certain purity standard for gold and silver, this type of transaction could be disastrous for you if not caught early.
Their Limitations on Rollovers
An important consideration is that the IRS only lets you do one rollover within a calendar year. You can technically complete more than one, but those additional rollovers will incur fees. It’s essential, then, that you secure the exact amount you want to roll over.
It’s also essential to choose the proper custodian. If you choose a custodian that ends up not being a good fit and you want to switch after a few months, you can expect to pay fees to do so. However, if you’ve followed this gold IRA rollover guide so far, you know how to be discerning in your choice of a custodian, so you should find the right one for you on your first try.
Their Fees
In most cases, you will pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 to $325 to store your precious metals.
What Are the IRS Rules About Gold IRAs?
The IRS rules for gold IRAs are quite strict and precise. Most importantly, you must be able to prove that you’re using a custodian and that this custodian has IRS approval to operate. Without this requirement met, you cannot open a gold IRA.
A similarly essential but not well-known point is that you cannot purchase the precious metals on your own. You have to have an administrator who carries out the transaction for you.
You can set restrictions on how much is purchased, what type of precious metal to buy, and more, but the administrator must be the one who arranges the purchase itself. The IRS also requires the administrator to take care of organizing and insuring the shipment.
After you’ve bought the gold or other precious metals for your gold IRA account, you need to ensure that the precious metals get appropriately stored. The IRS has specific regulations regarding precious metals storage, and your gold IRA company should have a deep understanding of these requirements.
Your new trustee or custodian will accept the shipment of your precious metals and then transport them to a secure facility that is itself approved and sanctioned by the IRS. You can choose your facility (so long as the IRS approves it) or ask your custodian to select an approved facility.
From here, your custodian will look over your precious metals for as long as you keep your account open. Once you want to sell your assets or have them distributed, the custodian will help throughout the entire process.
Does a Gold IRA Produce Higher Returns?
When looking at long-term investments, a gold IRA will consistently outperform any other investment type or strategy. While real estate or stock investments can give you higher short-term returns, they also carry the risk of volatility and market instability.
Gold has retained its value throughout human history and continues to show advantages in times of market stress. While other methods of portfolio diversification involve some degree of risk, precious metals instead offer stability.
Can You Store Your Gold IRA at Your Home?
It’s important to note that the IRS has not approved the home storage of precious metals for a gold IRA and is unlikely to do so in the future. Since an IRA is actually a partnership between you and the Internal Revenue Service, they require specific standards of custodianship that you cannot meet with home storage.
Keep an eye out for companies that offer for you to store your gold IRA-eligible precious metals at home. This is false advertising, and it’s also likely a scam. If you’ve signed on with a company that offers this already, disband the arrangement and set up a gold IRA with a more reputable company.
With all of that said, you’re allowed to store gold and other precious metals in your home, especially as collectibles. Just know that these collectibles cannot apply to the overall value of your gold IRA when stored at home.
Can I Use Platinum Instead of Gold in a Gold IRA?
While many consider gold as a sort of value standard, the fact remains that platinum has more value than gold. You can easily test this out by walking into any jewelry store and comparing a comparable platinum and gold item. Without exception, the platinum item will cost more.
For this reason, many investors might want to turn to platinum instead of gold as a potential precious metal investment. But is this viable or even allowed by the IRS? After all, this is a gold IRA rollover guide, and for good reason.
While platinum definitely has a higher value than gold, it doesn’t have as great of a demand. As a result, you might come into some difficulties down the road should you want to liquidate your assets.
Another complication has to do with the automotive industry. In times of financial crisis, the demand for new vehicles drops sharply. Since the automotive industry remains the largest market for platinum, a market downturn could lead to the devaluing of your assets.
With all of that said, there are times when it’s prudent for you to invest in platinum. However, these opportunities can be challenging to spot if you’re inexperienced at investing, so it’s generally best to stick with something more stable, such as gold.
What Could a Gold IRA Cost Me?
In general, you can expect to see three different types of fees when you open up a new gold IRA. The first fee is a one-time fee to set your account up. This fee is usually small and no greater than $150. Some gold IRA companies waive this fee entirely.
The second fee you can expect to pay is the trustee or custodian fee. This can also go as high as $150, but the total amount will depend on the overall size of your account.
The third fee you can expect to pay is for storage. While this can be as high as $300 per year, it could also be as low as $50. Again, the total amount in your case will depend on how much you’re storing.
One crucial thing to keep in mind is that most gold IRA companies out there will not charge you a commission when you either buy or sell your precious metals. With that said, they will likely add an amount to the final sale for markup.
Regardless of whether they add a markup or not, consult with your gold IRA company to see how transparent they are about this. You should also remember that a gold IRA company that purchases directly will usually have a lower markup since they won’t have to work through an intermediary.
Should I Go with Bullion or Coins?
You have the choice between gold bullion bars or coins when purchasing your precious metals. Coins are a bit easier to trade, so investors who want some flexibility might opt for coins, while investors who plan on keeping their gold situated for some time might choose bullion bars. Either way you choose, companies value them the same.
As with most of the other items on this list, there really isn’t any right or wrong answer here, just different options that you can choose from based on your unique preferences and needs. While this gold IRA rollover guide might not have all the answers, it should provide an excellent starting point in your research in the exciting world of precious metals.
Final Thoughts
With all of the uncertainty that we face here at home and abroad, many investors want to find additional ways to hedge their retirement accounts against inflation and market instability. Gold IRAs provide stability, whereas other investment strategies only compound risk.
Too many investors make the mistake of believing that their employer-provided 401(k) will be able to sustain them throughout their retirement. With that said, many investors have woken up to the fact that they need a better and more sustainable option.
A gold IRA provides investors with a sustainable, stable way to secure their future. We hope you’ve found useful information in this gold IRA rollover guide and that you consider transferring your assets to a gold IRA soon.
