Can You Hold Gold in an IRA?
An Individual Retirement Account, or IRA, is an investment account open to anyone earning income. People often invest in stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds via an IRA.
Although investing in gold and silver physically may provide diversification benefits, some investors also choose it as an inflation hedge. It should be remembered that adding precious metals to an IRA requires careful consideration.
Purity
Precious metals have long been recognized as a safe haven in uncertain times and as an inflation hedge, but investing in precious metals with an IRA comes with additional costs due to storage and insurance expenses for physical precious metals; these may be higher than investing in stocks and bonds directly.
Precious metals eligible for inclusion in an IRA must meet certain purity standards, with 99.5% purity or greater being essential. Furthermore, the IRS mandates that physical precious metal dealers store the gold at a depository approved by them – although investors should seek out segregated storage options which offer greater security than co-mingled storage solutions.
Physical gold investing within an IRA may be an attractive solution for investors looking to diversify their retirement portfolios with non-traditional assets, though investors should keep in mind that these accounts remain subject to IRS regulation and the same contribution limits apply as with traditional pretax IRAs, Roth IRAs or SEP IRAs.
Liquidity
Precious metals have long been seen as safe havens during times of market unease, yet once market volatility subsides they often revert back. Without yielding returns themselves they primarily appreciate through price.
Physical precious metals IRAs allow investors to hold physical precious metals via self-directed accounts, but doing so requires working with multiple entities in order to meet IRS rules. Investors must find a precious-metals dealer, work with a custodian, and select an approved depository; many gold IRA companies charge hidden fees for these services and shipping the metals, Moy warns.
If you want to purchase precious metals for an IRA, look for a company with clear pricing on purchases and competitive storage rates, as well as impartial customer education without additional charges or hidden fees. Direct purchases may cost more than investing through mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that hold these assets because both dealer and custodian must be paid separately.
Taxes
An IRA must abide by IRS rules when holding physical gold. This means ensuring your custodian offers essential platform services for investing in physical gold, as well as storage capacity at an approved depository. Furthermore, keeping in mind that stashing it away in safe or closet is against IRS rules and could incur steep fines should it be discovered!
When selecting a company to purchase and store your gold, make sure that their pricing is transparent. A reputable gold IRA provider should clearly outline all costs that may accrue to you, including one-time and annual charges from your custodian and dealer markup fees; storage/insurance fees paid directly to depository; as well as shipping costs when moving gold in/out of IRA. Although gold IRAs don’t fall under traditional IRA classification rules like other IRAs do – investors must begin taking required minimum distributions at age 73 for traditional pre-tax and Roth/SEP accounts respectively.
Withdrawals
IRAs have specific withdrawal rules. Distributions made prior to age 59 1/2 are taxed as ordinary income and penalties apply if taken earlier than this threshold. Furthermore, various fees associated with an account exist such as initial setup charges that vary based on institution; annual custodian and storage fees; transaction and asset management fees may also apply.
In order to secure physical gold in an IRA, investors must open a self-directed retirement account with an IRS-approved custodian (such as a bank, credit union, trust company or brokerage firm that allows such investments). Furthermore, this institution must offer depository facilities approved for storage of precious metals.
Many investors use gold IRAs to diversify their investment portfolios or protect against inflation, though it should be remembered that gold has not outshone stocks over time and does not produce any yield – instead being driven mainly by price increases rather than income generated through dividends or interest payments.
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