Gold IRA: Why You Should Think About Getting One In 2023
Last updated on February 22nd, 2023 at 08:17 am
What Is A Gold IRA And Why You Should Think About Getting One?
I started this site to share information about my research of Gold IRA companies. Like you, I was looking for a safe place to invest my money in retirement. As you can see in the chart to the right, hyperinflation has plagued many countries and has affected the livelihood of the people that live in those countries. Just
because the United States is not on that chart doesn’t mean we have immunity to that type of economic crisis. The recent economic downturn that we just went through and are still in should clue you in. Facts like this are what prompted me to look at ways to protect my retirement for the future financial security of me and my family. I have shared the information that I have found to make it easier for the next person in their quest to protect their family in retirement.
I have reviewed what I consider to be the top 5 Gold IRA companies in America for your convenience in the chart below. I think you will find this information very helpful in your decision-making process. Keep in mind that there is always a risk of loss in any investment endeavor so I am not making any guarantees in this information that I am sharing. You will have to make the ultimate decisions yourself should you choose to invest in a Gold IRA.
So let’s jump right into it, shall we…
What Is A Gold IRA?
A gold IRA or gold Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is a special type of IRA in which, instead of storing money like in your usual IRA or 401k, you store gold. This is basically the only difference, all other
functions are the same as a regular IRA. In this “small” difference lies the power of a gold IRA. Being based on gold and not on money, it offers good protection or a hedge against inflation and it brings the risk of bad investments down to almost zero. Gold has been proven to be very stable over long periods of time, thus the reason it is an excellent investment and a good asset to diversify your portfolio.
How To Establish A Gold IRA
You can establish a gold IRA account by setting up a self-directed IRA which you are going to use for performing a 401k gold IRA rollover. The IRS will not tax this rollover, so that is just another benefit for you.
Although this type of IRA account is “self-directed”, IRS regulations demand that a qualified trustee or a custodian is appointed to hold and manage the assets on behalf of the account owner. You can choose any custodian you want, but since this is a very delicate issue, you need to do thorough research before appointing any company to handle your retirement assets. There are several ways to check custodians. For instance, you can take a look at their Better Business Bureau rating, you can check whether they are on the Inc. 500 List and you can get in touch with some of their actual customers to ask them how happy they are with their services.
You have all the control you want over your assets, you can instruct your custodian or qualified trustee to buy gold at your request or which kind of bullion to buy, but you are not allowed to touch this gold until you reach retirement age. You also need to take care about what type of coins and bars you buy, because not all of them are approved by the IRS to be part of IRA accounts. Your custodian will be able to give you advice in this respect, but if you want, you can look at the relevant part of the code here …Internal Revenue Code 408 (m)(3).
Can I Sell Gold From My Gold IRA?
The gold in your IRA account is yours, but the IRS needs to make sure you don’t use it before the legal retirement age. What, the gold is mine but I can’t touch it? The reason for this is that the money you used to buy the gold was not taxed, therefore you had an advantage and this is the price you pay for it. The state wants to know if you are going to be able to support yourself in your elderly years, that’s why they encourage all citizens to save for their retirement.
Anyway, you should know that you can sell your gold earlier, but the moment you do it, you are going to be taxed as if it was any other type of income. As this is not the purpose of an IRA, people don’t set up such accounts with thoughts of breaking them before the retirement age.
Advantages of A Gold IRA
1. Protects you against inflation
The main advantage is that it helps you protect yourself against inflation. Gold maintained its value even during harsh economic times throughout history, therefore it can be considered a relatively stable asset, worth investing in. It always paid off long-term and there’s no reason to believe this is going to change any time soon.
2. Portfolio diversification
Portfolio diversification is yet another good reason to think about a gold IRA rollover if you haven’t done it until now. By putting all your eggs in the same basket, you run the risk of losing all the savings you worked so hard for. It’s wiser to have various types of assets to keep you financially safe when you reach retirement age and beyond.
With gold, you don’t risk seeing your retirement funds dwindle because of currency exchange rate fluctuations, or because of economies collapsing because of international wars or other events. Gold isn’t influenced by the Forex trading market, so you won’t have to worry if something happens and the US dollar collapses.
3. The price of gold will increase long term
Gold is in limited supply. This means that the price of gold can only increase long-term as more resources are depleted. The demand is bigger than the supply, and this is the condition that makes gold ideal for long-term investments.
4. Gold is easy to sell
Gold is in continuously increasing demand, which makes it very easy to sell. Should you have an emergency and need to sell it very fast, you should not have a problem finding buyers. A gold IRA is much better than bonds and stocks, even though it may not bring you amazing profits in the short term. As the purpose of gold IRA accounts is to secure yourself a happy retirement, free of financial worries, gold is perhaps one of the most suitable investments you could choose to secure your future.
Our Recommended Gold IRA Companies
In our opinion, you cannot go wrong with any of the Gold IRA companies that we have reviewed on this site. Below are links to the reviews that we have done on what we consider the top 5 best performing Gold IRA companies.