A gold IRA or precious metal IRA is an individual retirement account in which physical gold or other approved precious metals are stored for the benefit of the IRA account holder. It works in the same way as a regular IRA, except that it holds physical investment coins or bars instead of paper assets. In a gold IRA, you can hold real physical gold. It must comply with IRS standards and be held by the IRA trustee, not the IRA owner.
It must also be kept in an IRS-approved depository. Gold IRA rules require that you store eligible precious metals with a national depositary, bank, or IRS-approved trustee. Your custodian bank can refer you to an approved institution and process the gold transfer as part of setting up your Gold IRA. The Gold IRA company also coordinates the involvement of the financial company, which is responsible for account custody, and the custodian institution that stores the precious metals you purchase.
Some people prefer the idea of holding physical gold rather than getting exposure to precious metals by buying stocks in gold mining companies or gold-based ETFs. As mentioned above, a gold IRA allows investors to stash their money in gold or other precious metals. The IRS does not allow popular gold coins such as the South African Krugerrand or British sovereign coins to be stored in a gold IRA. Once you’re 59½ years old, you can liquidate the precious metals in your self-directed IRA for cash or take physical possession of your gold and silver without penalty.
Because you buy your precious metals with pre-tax dollars to keep them in the IRA, you’re taxed when you accept distributions (similar to other tax-preferred retirement plans). Your designated Allegiance Gold team members, both IRA Specialists and Senior Portfolio Managers, will manage the entire process of setting up and funding your Gold IRA or custom precious metals IRA. The term gold IRA is primarily used to describe a self-directed IRA whose funds are invested in hard metals. Unlike a gold ETF, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of gold, a gold IRA allows you to hold the physical precious metals at an IRS-approved depository institution.
If you want to avoid the complications of investing in physical gold, you can find out how to buy a gold ETF. A gold IRA works just like any retirement account with the added benefit of giving you more control over your investment, including physical gold coins and bars, as well as other IRS-approved silver, platinum, and palladium metals. Make sure you check the list of approved gold objects with your custodian manager before you deposit gold into your IRA. A gold IRA is characterized by the fact that the account holder owns the actual precious metals, as opposed to stocks or fund shares in mining companies.
Gold IRA companies are not investment companies that have a fiduciary obligation to act in your best interest. Money Reserve’s Gold Standard Precious Metals IRA program combines the traditional protection of gold and silver with the modern convenience of an IRA.