Not every investment in gold can be owned by an IRA. The basic rule is that an IRA is not allowed to own a collector's item, and precious metals are defined as collectibles, whether the investment is in bullion or coins. Fortunately, there are exceptions to the general rule for gold, silver, platinum and palladium that is held in certain forms. A gold anger is a specialized, self-directed individual retirement account designed to hold precious metals.
As with a traditional IRA, a golden IRA allows pre-tax contributions and investment gains can accrue tax-deferred. The contribution and income limits are the same. But unlike a traditional IRA, which typically contains paper assets such as stocks, bonds, funds, ETFs, and cash equivalents, a gold IRA is strictly established to hold physical gold or other approved metals. You don't keep the gold yourself; you must keep it in a secure deposit.
Standard custodians, such as Fidelity, Schwab, or TD Ameritrade, will not handle physical gold in an IRA. Therefore, if you want to keep gold in your IRA, you must first set up a self-directed IRA and then you have to find a custodian who specializes in self-directed gold IRAs. A quick Google search for “Self-Directed Golden IRA” yields a lot of results. I know that American Bullion has been around for years, just like APMEX.
The IRA Gold ads appeal to our fears and, on the surface, may seem supported by a persuasive argument. Think twice before setting up a Gold IRA. Including gold or other precious metals as a significant part of your IRA is often a long-term mistake due to high costs, relative volatility, and a mixed investment history. Thanks to Noble Gold's extensive network of partners and suppliers, customers get competitive prices on gold purchases.
Bullion bars and gold and silver rounds are also allowed in an IRA when they are 99.9% pure. Unlike withdrawing funds from a traditional retirement account, a gold-backed IRA allows you to leave with a powerful physical asset in hand with gold that you can hold, sell at a later time, use as currency at a time of crisis, or pass on to family members. Gold IRAs are usually defined as “alternative investments,” meaning that they are not traded on a public exchange and require special experience to value them. Augusta's two major drawbacks are its limited choice of metals and its high minimum investment requirement to establish a gold IRA.
Examples of accepted forms are the American Eagle and Canadian Maple Leaf coins made of gold and silver, the Austrian Philharmonic coin, the PAMP Suisse gold bars and most platinum bars. That said, since the Great Recession there has been a wave of announcements encouraging retired savers to convert their savings into cash in precious metals within an Individual Retirement Account or Gold IRA. Still, with its low minimum investment requirement and extensive educational resource, it has quickly become the favorite as the best gold IRA company for new investors. If any of the IRA-eligible gold coins listed above have been qualified by a certification organization (such as the Professional Coin Classification Service), the IRS will normally define them as “collectibles” and are therefore not allowed in IRAs.
For a gold IRA, you need a broker to buy the gold and a custodian to create and manage the account. If you really think it's a good idea, at least check the IRS rules and custodian's fees before you put gold into your IRA.
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