Gold IRA Guide

There is a lot of hype and excitement around gold, Gold IRAs, 401K rollovers. Consequently, unless you know what you are doing, you can get in trouble with the IRS…and make life more difficult for yourself. As a reader of Gold-Eagle.com you understand that gold and silver are important for your retirement. However, a Gold IRA rollover may not be something you are aware of.

We are going to explain the benefits and details of precious metal IRAs - and how you should go about investing in them. Please be aware everyone’s circumstances are different. Consequently, you should seek qualified, professional advice before you embark on any investment of this type.

An IRA (Individual Retirement Account) is a “savings plan,” with your name on it, into which you may put certain investments approved by the Government. The Government does this because they give you tax breaks on the assets they allow in your savings plan.

In the past many people tried to include several things in their IRA plan over the years – i.e. property, rental real estate and raw land, are all prime examples of things which are sometimes allowed, and sometimes not.

With property, for example, you cannot live there, or let anyone else in your family live there. You cannot gain any immediate benefit from the property either, in fact you cannot have any personal involvement with the property in your IRA pot.

Once your investment is in the IRA savings plan, it stays there - untouched, until the person looking after it for you lets you have it back to draw the proceeds down.

Rules like this exist to ensure your investments are sound, and still likely to be there when you finally retire.

There are various types of IRA pots used for different investments.

Imagine a set of savings plans that have rules stating which types of investments they allow.

You are permitted as many types of investments as your income, assets and circumstances allow.

A “Self-directed IRA” is a savings plan that will only let you put certain “alternative” investments like real estate or intellectual property into it.

A simple “IRA” savings plan will allow stocks or mutual funds to be put in.

A “Gold IRA” or “precious metals IRA” savings plan will allow physical (i.e. real) gold, silver, or other approved precious metals to be put in. This type of IRA does not allow ETFs, or gold mining shares - just physical metals.

Like the others, the Gold IRA savings plan is kept by other people, so you are not tempted to spend the metal before you retire. This is an especially important and convenient point with gold - it can be easily sold. Make sure the people looking after your IRA are reliable and honest. A safe place for your gold is also a must.

Normal everyday coins in use in countries around the world may well look similar to those above, but the majority are made of an alloy or amalgam of cheap metals, which gives them a value far less than the one stamped on to them. In the same way a $100 bill is worth just cents valued in the materials used for its manufacture. So it is with most coins.

In monetary terms, when such coins are collectable, they are known as numismatic coins.

These coins become valuable, not always because of their metal content, but because they are rare, not made any longer, one-off special issues of a limited number, or because collectors created a fashion for them.

Numismatic coins are generally worth more than the content of their metal. Some are incredibly rare and purchased mainly by collectors - they’re not an investment in the typical sense. Their value depends on their “collectability” rather than any tangible value in their raw materials.

Investing gold, silver, platinum or palladium into your IRA portfolio is a necessary means to protecting the value of your assets. Should your investments in the stock market tank, the chances are good that your precious metals will hold their value…if not increase in this scenario.

As a reader of Gold-Eagle.com you understand that gold and silver are important investment assets. However, a Gold IRA rollover may not be something that you’ve heretofore considered.  A Gold IRA rollover is a popular way of diversifying your investment portfolio by getting exposure to precious metals - and away from paper investments such as stocks and bonds.

An IRA rollover is a method of swapping some of the contents of one savings plan, with another. You may hold excess cash or stocks in an account, and want to convert some of these to gold. Here, the person looking after the stocks savings plan, sells some, and buys gold with the proceeds. The gold is then put into the Gold IRA savings plan.

This savings plan is then guarded by another custodian specializing in precious metals.

If you have a 401(k), 403b, 457b, Roth IRA, SEP, TSP, annuities, or pension plans with a previous employer or you are above the age of 59 ½, you may be eligible to place these plans into a Gold IRA account. The plans are distinct with different eligibility rules, tax brackets and ways of taking your money out. Discussing your existing plans with a Gold IRA rollover specialist will help determine your best available options.

Precious metals are a long-term way of:

- Hedging against inflation
- Managing your risk
- Leveraging supply shortages
- Diversifying your investments
- Minimizing geopolitical uncertainty
- Taking advantage of increasing demand for precious metals
- Having a tangible physical asset - rather than just pieces of paper
- Dealing with the effects of deflation
- Ironing out currency volatility
- Maintaining value - precious metals have inherent worth (intrinsic value)

For example: Had you invested $35,000 of your money in a Gold IRA rollover in 2002 - you could have turned it into $152,000 by December 31, 2016.

As a further incentive – the gold price increases when there is a financial crisis.

This graph shows the little wobble the stock market had around the time of the Presidential election - when it became clear Donald Trump was going to win.

The top graph is the S&P500 - the bottom graph is the gold price. Notice how gold rises as the stock market falls in almost exactly the opposite (inverse) direction. It did not fall much - but it fell quickly. A position in gold would compensate for losses made on such stocks.

Choosing a Gold IRA Company - Make It Easy On Yourself

There are a lot of difficult decisions to be made when dealing with IRAs.  

You need to find someone that knows their way around the gold and precious metals market, but is also the best fit for you and your IRA.

To help you make the best decision, we have put together a list of 10 gold specialists who deal with Gold IRA rollovers, Silver IRA rollovers and other precious metals eligible under the IRS rules.

There are a lot of difficult decisions to be made when dealing with IRAs.  

You need to find someone that knows their way around the gold and precious metals market, but is also the best fit for you and your IRA.

To help you make the best decision, we have put together a list of 10 gold specialists who deal with Gold IRA rollovers, Silver IRA rollovers and other precious metals eligible under the IRS rules.

These ten gold companies all enjoy a superb and highly regarded reputation, not only by their clients - but also their peers.

We briefly compare each here to give you an overview of them. For your convenience there are links to their websites for further details.

Choosing your Gold IRA administrator is a very important decision. It is critical that you research and contact as many companies as possible. See our easy to read chart before making your decision.

Company	Annual Fees	Storage	Dedicated Custodian	Reviews
American Bullion, Inc	First year waived	Both Shared and aggregated storage with other clients		Read full review
Noble Gold	First year waived	Segregated storage for all clients		Read full review
Rosland Capital	Unlisted	Shared storage with other clients		Read full review
Birch Gold Group	$175	Shared storage with other clients		Read full review
Goldco	$290	Shared storage with other clients		Read full review
Money Metals Exchange	Unlisted	Shared storage with other clients		Read full review
McAlvaney ICA	Unlisted	Shared storage with other clients		Read full review
APMEX	Unlisted	Shared storage with other clients		Read full review