IRA’s and Gold

When there is an increase in the price of gold more people begin taking an interest in purchasing it. Large institutional buyers have bought gold for years and the general public only recently started investing in gold, and they only make up a small percent of buyers. If you decided to make an investment in gold you would have the option of choosing paper gold or physical gold. One aspect of physical gold that most investors are not aware of is that it can be bought and held in an IRA (Individual Retirement Account).

If you currently have an IRA or 401K that can be rolled over you would not face any taxation or penalties when converting to a precious metals IRA. Many people purchase gold through an IRA because of this reason. You cannot purchase physical gold and put it in any IRA, it has to be a specific IRA that you get through a precious metals IRA custodian. You can set up a Roth or Traditional IRA and have existing retirement funds rolled over, or add new funds to the account in order to put gold in Roth IRA accounts.

You will need to pair up with an IRA custodian and a precious metals dealer because IRA custodians do not sell precious metals. Most precious metals dealers already have an IRA custodian that they like to work with. Once you have your IRA set up the dealer will help you purchase the right qualified coins to place in your IRA account. The dealer will direct you in what gold meets the criteria for your IRA account and also supply the custodian with the precious metals purchased. After you have purchased the coins they are shipped to your custodian and stored for you. You will be charged an annual storage fee and administration fee. The yearly cost is determined by the size of your account.

Later down the road you may take distributions in the form of cash or the physical gold itself. Precious metals IRA accounts and a regular IRA accounts have the same taxation laws and penalties regardless of if you choose cash or physical gold for distributions.

We will continue to see the popularity of owning gold increase due to the worldwide printing of money and increasing value of gold. There are several ways to owning gold and an IRA is just one way. I would encourage you to speak with a gold dealer so that they can direct you in a direction that best fits your goals and objectives.