Investing in Gold IRA – A How-to Guide

Most people focus on retirement accounts that can take them into their golden years comfortably and without stress. Strategic planning is crucial here. While you should concentrate on employer-sponsored 401(k) products, you may also want to think about gold investing.

You can choose to invest in bonds, ETFs, and the stock market. However, a self-directed IRA, often called a precious metals IRA or gold IRA, is another option. Here, you must purchase IRS-approved precious metals or other tangible assets. Investors use such accounts to protect themselves from inflation and diversify the investment portfolio.

Generally, investors don’t like the idea of cash and other investments losing money with time. Therefore, they turn to gold IRA providers, such as Augusta Precious Metals, to help them create gold IRAs and do something different.

There’s a huge opportunity with physical gold and other precious metals, but it requires you to know what to do. This guide discusses setting up gold IRA accounts, choosing a reputable gold IRA company, and which options to select. Let’s get started!

The Heart of the Matter for Gold IRAs

Before opening a gold IRA account, it’s crucial to understand how they work and what they entail.

Account Types

You should understand the account you wish to open. Self-directed IRAs can include a ROTH IRA or a traditional IRA. The difference is how you’re taxed. You pay taxes before contributing to the fund with a ROTH. Traditional IRAs have you pay taxes whenever you withdraw money.

Contribution Limits

There’s a limit of how much gold you may invest in a gold IRA, and this varies by age. If you’re over 50 years old, you can add $7,000 per year into the self-directed IRA, though that’s lowered to $6,000 if you’re under 50 years of age.

Storage

Gold and silver products purchased for precious metals IRAs have to be stored in an IRS-approved depository or bank. Some companies featured below market themselves as self-storage options, but the legality here is questionable.

Many investors could face fines or penalties from the IRS if they hold physical gold personally. Still, you may take the precious metal as a distribution, though you must think about storage fees, as well.

Gold IRA Fees

Gold IRAs have fees attached to them. Usually, you pay a setup fee, management fee, and storage fee from the account custodian of your choice. The prices range from $250 to $350 during the first year and lower to $150 to $250 after that. Generally, traditional IRA account fees are much lower or nonexistent.

Step-by-step Guide

Here are the steps to take to create gold individual retirement accounts:

1. Choose the Best Gold IRA Companies

The best gold IRA companies help you with your gold investments and are the first step in the process. Often, it takes the longest because you must research them thoroughly to see what types of gold and silver coins are available.

Generally, gold IRA companies help you with creating an account, transferring funds, purchasing metals, and ensuring that the gold, silver, platinum, and other metals are sent to an appropriate depository for storage.

Sometimes, your gold IRA company acts as the account custodian, so they deal with IRS compliance and handle the paperwork.

Gold bars are highly popular, but you must focus on the unique services, fees, and customer care you get from each brand.

The top gold IRA companies include Oxford Gold Group, Noble Gold Investments, Augusta,

Patriot Gold Group, and Birch Gold Group!

2. Fund Your Account

Most gold IRA companies help you add funds once the account is opened. There are three choices for your gold IRA investment:

• Cash Contributions – Use checks, cash, and wire transfers to fund the account as you might with a traditional investment or savings account.
• Rollovers – A gold IRA rollover helps you take your distributions from the existing retirement accounts and add them to a gold IRA. It’s best to speak with the current administrator for instructions so that they can start the process. Gold IRA rollovers can be done by you or the custodian.
• Transfer – A direct transfer is also an option. You must fill out a form with the existing administrator, or the custodian can reach out to them for you. They’re penalty and tax-free and take about five days to finish.

The direct transfer is the best choice for many people because it reduces your hassles and costs less.

3. Select Your Precious Metals and Gold Bullion

Once the money clears and your account sees the funds, you can purchase precious metals, including silver, platinum, and palladium. Remember that the IRS only lets certain precious metal coins in a self-directed gold IRA, and they must be of the right purity and type.

The exact process of buying precious metals depends on the company you select.

Sometimes, the firm sells IRA-approved precious metals, allowing you to buy them directly from the brand. Other times, you’ve got to go through a dealer and add them to your precious metal IRA. It’s best to understand gold prices in this case.

Acquiring precious metals like gold coins is easy with the right gold investment companies. Plus, the account representative can help you move funds from an existing retirement account to the IRA.

4. Monitor Performance

You must work with your gold IRA custodian to monitor the performance of the physical precious metals in your account. Many gold IRA companies have online dashboards to help you do this, but some don’t.

If your goal is to get regular insights and updates, you should be upfront with the representative, asking if those services are available. Otherwise, you must contact the custodian each time to learn about your precious metals IRA account. It’s not necessarily difficult to do so, but it can be a pain.

Conclusion

Investing in a gold or silver IRA can help you hedge against inflation. While you should have paper assets and mutual funds, a gold individual retirement account is another consideration.

Generally, gold IRA investments are a great option, but you should speak to your financial advisor to find the best gold IRA company. We recommend Birch Gold Group.

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