Although IRAs used to be limited to owning American Eagle gold and silver coins, IRAs can now invest in IRS-approved gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bars and coins. You can store coins or gold bars in a precious metal IRA. Despite the colloquial term “gold IRA,” you can hold silver, platinum, and palladium in this account. IRS rules allow funding a Gold IRA with funds from another IRA, 401 (k), 403 (b), 457 (b), or Thrift Savings Plan.
There is
no limit to the number of direct IRA transfers from one IRA custodian bank to another that you can initiate. A silver IRA is also a traditional IRA, a ROTH IRA, a SEP IRA, a SIMPLE IRA, or an inherited IRA that is managed by the account holder himself and holds valid forms of physical silver coins or silver bars. Most of the country’s largest IRA custodians, such as JP Morgan, TD Ameritrade, Edward Jones, and Merrill Lynch, offer structured paper financial products such as stocks, mutual funds, CDs, etc. People who believe that physically owning gold or other precious metals is safer can get that peace of mind with a gold or silver IRA.
Even with a long time horizon, gold investors have no guarantee of making money from their investment, particularly if you’re planning to rely on a gold IRA company’s repurchase program to sell your gold if you need to accept distributions from that IRA. So if your portfolio consists of both gold and paper investments, a loss on the gold side is offset by the gain in other assets. A platinum IRA is an IRA in which a portion of its total assets is invested in IRA-approved forms of platinum bars. According to the latest PLR, the rules that prohibit direct IRA investments in gold do not apply if the gold is held by an independent trustee.
You can also make annual contributions to your IRA based on limits based on your IRA category and age. If you’re not sure whether a gold IRA or a silver IRA is right for you, contact a fee-based financial planner who isn’t affiliated with a gold IRA company to determine whether it would be a good addition to your portfolio. A rollover is the preferred and most efficient method when moving from similar accounts, such as one traditional IRA to another. Many investors choose gold to diversify their portfolio, either by investing in a gold IRA or buying the metal outright.
Given today’s stock market valuations and historically low interest rates for fixed-income investments, some IRA owners may be interested in switching some funds from low-risk stocks and securities (such as government bonds and money market funds) to precious metals. Some IRA companies guarantee that they’ll buy back the gold from you at current wholesale prices, but you could still lose money if you close the account, which is not usually the case when opening and closing regular IRAs. To avoid the prospect of missing out on the rollover cutoff, many people choose to have their Gold IRA company coordinate the rollover through a direct transfer from institution to institution.
