A key selling point of gold IRAs is that you own the physical gold yourself. If that doesn’t matter to you, there are other ways to add exposure to precious metals to a retirement portfolio, such as buying stocks in gold mining companies. The IRS rules allow funding a Gold IRA with funds raised from another IRA, 401 (k), 403 (b), 457 (b), or a savings plan. A Gold IRA can give you the tax benefits of a traditional retirement account, but you must comply with IRS rules or risk fines and penalties.
Annual fees are generally charged by the account custodian, and storage and insurance fees are more often owed to the custodian than to the Gold IRA company. If you want to open a Gold IRA account to diversify your investment portfolio, protect yourself against inflation, increase your long-term wealth, or achieve any other investment goal, compare your options first. With its versatile precious metals catalog, from gold bars to platinum coins, Birch Gold is aimed at a wide target group of investors. No other Gold IRA company goes to such great lengths to present investment information in an organized and objective way to earn the full trust of its clients.
One important rule for knowing how physical gold can be stored in an IRA is that your precious metals MUST be stored at an approved depository agency such as the Delaware Depository Service Company or Brink’s Global Services, not at your home or in a safe deposit box. According to Moy, there was little demand for gold IRAs during his tenure as director of the mint, as it is a very complicated transaction that only the most tenacious investor was willing to make. Once you’re 72 years old, you’ll be required to accept the required minimum payouts (RMDs) from a traditional Gold IRA (but not from a Roth IRA). A high-quality IRA Gold company only works with carefully vetted, reputable third-party storage companies or secured repositories.
We’ve researched 18 legitimate companies that offer Gold IRA services and reviewed them for the highest consumer ratings from the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA). There are plenty of rules and regulatory hurdles you’ll need to overcome when thinking about a Gold IRA. Or, if you have a traditional retirement savings account and want to increase your exposure to gold, read here how to buy a gold ETF, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of gold. They sell gold coins, gold bars, and the like but don’t offer IRA investment advice (regardless of what their websites or other marketing materials might suggest).