On occasion investors wonder if it’s possible to store gold for their precious metals IRA at home. Naturally, they want to physically possess the gold, silver, and other metals they purchase. But apparently they haven’t really thought this through.
In one way, a home storage gold IRA sounds like the perfect idea. You get to purchase physical gold. You can hold it as part of your gold IRA and accumulate tax deferred wealth. And still get to keep your investment safe and secure in the comfort of your own home.
This seems too good to be true. Guess what? It is.
Believe it or not, it’s actually illegal to act as your own custodian and precious metals depository. And if you think long and hard about it, it makes sense.
Why it’s Illegal to Act as Your Own Precious Metals Custodian
According to current legal precedent, any entity seeking to become a custodian must provide a written application to the IRS. Even more, they must meet a laundry list of requirements and demonstrate their ability to satisfy them. Some of the requirements include the following:
- Net worth
- Capacity to account
- Fiduciary ability
- Bonding
- Experience in a fiduciary capacity
- Retirement asset handling capabilities
- And audits
Only after each one of these requirements is met will the IRS consider making you a gold IRA custodian. But even then, it will still take quite some time before your application is approved.
But here’s what is likely to happen.
The IRS will instantly reject your application. Why? As soon as they learn you intend to become your own personal precious metals IRA custodian, they’ll dismiss you.
Simply put, you could easily create false statements about your gold and other precious metals. You can sell your metals under the table. And when no one is looking, you can still claim to own them as part of your retirement IRA.
If the IRS ever caught on to your schemes – and they will – you’ll find yourself in a world of trouble. You do not want to cross the IRS. They don’t mess around.
To wrap up this section, a home storage gold IRA isn’t real. The IRS will never approve it. And in all honesty, you don’t really want it anyway.
Keep reading to discover why this is so.
Pro Tip: Always Trust Your Storage Needs to Precious Metals Depositories
A home storage gold IRA certainly seems like a good idea on the surface. But it poses many potential problems for those considering storing gold at home. Some of the main problems that immediately spring to mind include:
- It’s illegal to store your own precious metals
- It leaves you vulnerable to protect your investment at all times
- It’s expensive buying the necessary home storage safes to keep your investments secure
- It is possible that you may find it necessary to keep a firearm in your home to guard your gold IRA contents
- It’s illegal! – A final reminder
On the other hand, storing precious metals using Brinks gold storage absolutely has its benefits. We’ll fill you one on some of the biggest advantages below.
4 Major Reasons to Use Brinks Precious Metals Storage Options
It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that precious metals storage is serious business. Anyone interested in a home storage gold IRA should forget this thought quickly. Not only is it illegal, but it’s foolish too. Individual investors will never have the necessary protections in place to keep their gold safe.
Leaving your precious metals IRA contents with Brinks is certainly a bright idea. They are one of the most-well respected storage companies and security services across the world. They bring many years of knowledge and experience to the table. Their expert services provide the following advantages:
Reason 1: Security
Storing metals in one of Brinks private vaults means your gold, silver, platinum, and palladium will stay safe and secure at all times. This money is well protected in some of the strongest, most unbreakable vaults that money can buy. If security is a major concern – and it certainly should be – you should feel comfortable leaving your precious metals with a well-respected company like Brinks.
Reason 2: Insurance
Brinks and other precious metals depositories have the best insurance policies that money can buy. They recognize that problems happen, investments get stolen or disappear, and insurance guarantees their customers’ investments. Storing gold at home isn’t legal as we already know. If it were, it’s unlikely you’d qualify for a large enough insurance policy to properly protect your investment anyway. So it’s best to trust your investment with a billion-dollar organization with a solid reputation in the industry.
Reason 3: Segregated storage
Investors desire to store gold at home for a few reasons. One major reason is they don’t want their investments mixing with precious metals owned by other people. Guess what? Brinks and other high-end depositories provide segregated storage. What does this mean? It means your gold and other precious metals are kept in an individual vault by itself. Your investments will never come into contact with other people’s investments as long as you request segregated storage.
Reason 4: Affordability
Precious metals depositories like Brinks precious metals storage is very affordable. The secure depositories are billed based on economy of scale. This reduces prices tremendously for individual investors. It’s not possible to purchase a safe to store your gold as part of a precious metals IRA investment. But you can trust highly praised custodians like Brinks. They offer affordable solutions while keeping your precious metals IRA contents safe and secure.
Bottom Line
To answer the question, “Is home storage gold IRA a real option,” the answer is simply no. This is not a real option if you intend to buy gold and store it in a gold IRA. This is completely against the rules and the IRS wouldn’t be very happy if they found out you were violating their terms.
Instead of worrying about storing gold at home, consider using a trusted precious metals depository like Brinks gold storage solutions. They provide customers of Regal Assets, our #1 recommended company in our List of Top 10 Gold IRA Companies, with segregated stockpiling solutions at a flat fee of $110 per year from the second year forward since all first year’s fees are waived. You have no reason to worry about storing metals yourself. Your precious metals broker will take care of everything on your behalf.
I’m glad to have found your site today David! As a self-employed freelance writer, I’ve had getting an IRA on my list for some time, as I currently have no other retirement fund going. I can be honest in that I never really considered a gold IRA though. I see why you recommend trusting a precious metals depository with your gold. But when you say it’s illegal to store your own precious metals, is that true nationwide? Or are there different regulations based on the state you reside in? Thanks!
Hi Tucker! To answer your question first, it is not illegal to store your own precious metals as long as they are outside of a precious metals IRA. The main difference is that there are certain high purity levels that gold bars and coins that are eligible for an IRA must meet. Most collector’s items are not available for a gold IRA. If you decide to invest in a gold IRA, you will be purchasing only IRA-eligible gold coins and bullion, while if you decide to store your own precious metals you can choose from a wider variety. The IRA-approved gold coins and bullion are stored in a depository by the gold IRA company of your choosing. I hope this clears up the difference between having a gold IRA and storing your own gold at home (outside of an IRA)! In short, it’s not illegal to store your own precious metals, just to do so as your own home storage self-directed IRA custodian. Than you for the feedback and inquiries, Tucker!
When it comes to gold, home storage is never a good option especially in an Gold IRA account. You have mentioned the legal reasons for that and everyone planning gold investments should note that. If you are investing in gold, you should always use a precious metal depository as there is an established process in place to manage the “handling” of the asset. If you take storage and insurance costs into consideration, it is always lower due to the aggregation and risk management considerations. Some insurance will not insure the asset in your home or it will be a high premium, that cost itself would defeat the purpose of then investment, which is to get a good return.
Hi Stanley and I completely agree with everything you said! It’s much more costly to keep your precious metals at home, which can be one simple reason to leave it to the precious metals depositories. On top of all that, it’s just plain illegal to store gold as your own IRA custodian. Thank you for dropping by with your feedback, Stanley!
It’s an interesting concept, soring gold at home. First off, I’m not so sure what is terrible about having a firearm in the home. Many would say that is a positive not a negative. You give the impression owning a fire arm isn’t a desirable occurrence. I’m guessing, if someone is so conservative that they want to store their gold at home, they would back themselves up with a firearm or two willingly. My point being, it may not be a good enough reason to deter storing gold at home.
The fact that home storage gold IRA is illegal, however, is a good deterrent and worthy of listing as a downfall.
I just have one final thought. Home storage of gold IRA is a completely new concept for me. I would like to see a bit about the difference between simply storing gold at home vs. home storage for IRA (I’m assuming there is a difference? ….see??!?)
Kristeen
Hello Kristeen! To know the difference between home storage gold IRA and simply storing gold at home, you have to be familiar with what a gold IRA is. You can read all about it on this page: Best Gold IRA Options. A gold IRA is a tax-exempt individual retirement account in which you can invest in physical precious metals which are held for you at a depository. There are many scammers that say you can have a gold IRA at home, but as my article states, it’s illegal. However, you can store physical precious metals at home without them being in an IRA. There are no limitations. However, IRA-approved gold coins and bullion (that are approved by the IRS to be in a gold IRA) have to have a gold purity level of +.995 which means that not all the gold coins and bullion you can store at home can be in a gold IRA. Thank you for the feedback and the inquiries, Kristeen!
Hello David, saving your precious metal in your house is a really big risk you pose upon yourself because there ate so many factors that can cause damage and that marks the end of it. I would alsywa suggest the depositor as the best option for anyone considering insurance and theft alone. These metals ate too good to be kept in your house, even in small quantities.
Hello Benson! Totally agree with you. The precious metals depository that we recommend has a perfect reputation and that cannot be said about individual investors who store gold at home. It’s a good thing that the precious metals depositories offer those services for gold IRA companies! Thank you for dropping by with your feedback, Benson!
Great post, I completely agree, aside from storing precious metals in your own home being illegal, I don’t understand why anyone would want to put their property in harm’s way of getting stolen, Brinks sounds like a pretty safe and secure way to protect your valuables.
The yearly rate that Brinks charges sounds like a great plan, especially when doing things by the book with the IRS, thanks for sharing this timely information.
Hello Neil! Indeed, Brinks is the most widely known name in the precious metals depositories industry and has an outstanding reputation as a keeper of precious metals for its clients. The yearly rate that I quoted is the one by Regal Assets, our #1 gold IRA custodian. They use Brinks for their precious metals storage services and offer the best price for segregated storage. Prices can differ from different gold IRA custodians. Thank you for dropping by with your feedback, Neil!