A gold IRA often has higher fees than a traditional IRA or Roth IRA, which invests exclusively in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Proponents of gold IRAs argue that these costs are worth the peace of mind protecting yourself from a potential financial apocalypse. But let’s assume that a disaster really does occur. How would you redeem your gold if it’s in a deposit at the other end of the country?
Gold IRAs are a special type of self-directed IRA that allows you to invest in physical gold and other precious metals, such as silver, platinum, and palladium. Investing in a gold IRA requires the services of a custodian bank, a broker to purchase gold, and an approved depositary to store gold. Like other self-directed IRAs, Gold IRAs can be Traditional or Roth. For example, pre-tax funds included in a Roth IRA are taxed before they are converted to a Roth IRA, while after-tax funds are not taxed.
Traditional IRA account, which can be easily set up and managed by a custodian bank, requires a few more moving parts to set up and manage a Gold IRA. If you suddenly need gold to exchange for food, you’d need to call your custodian manager first and fill out the necessary paperwork to get your own gold. However, when the majority of a company’s business comes from IRA rollovers, it deserves special recognition as the best gold IRA company for IRA rollovers. While most IRAs invest in conventional assets such as stocks or mutual funds, tax legislation also allows special IRAs that are “self-managed” or “alternative investments” that can hold physical silver
or gold.
If you really think it’s a good idea, at least check the IRS rules and custodian fees before you deposit gold into your IRA. These funds, such as SPDR Gold Shares, iShares Gold Trust, ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares and others, are essentially trusts that own huge amounts of gold bars. But unlike a traditional IRA, which typically holds paper assets such as stocks, bonds, funds, ETFs, and cash equivalents, a gold IRA is set up exclusively to store physical gold or other approved metals. Those who prefer to invest in gold company stocks (such as Barrick Gold), in mutual funds of such companies (such as Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio), or in ETFs that track the performance of a gold index (such as SPDR Gold Shares) can do so with a
mainstream IRA.
While Advantage Gold appeals to all types of gold IRA investors, it has a particular appeal for first-time buyers. A gold IRA is a specialized, self-managed individual retirement account
for storing precious metals.
