Are you worried about the future? Are you afraid of the economic turmoil in the United States? Are you terrified of the political unrest between the Republicans and Democrats?
Answering yes to any of these questions means you’d benefit from a gold IRA.
How so?
Minimizing your exposure to the US dollar is an excellent way to distance yourself from political and economic strife. And it’s the perfect way to hedge your bets against inflation and other possible negative areas of financial fallout.
But your true question is, “What is a gold IRA?”
I’ll take some time to answer this question in greater detail below. Ultimately, it’s the perfect retirement account vehicle to invest in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium with the greatest tax benefits.
And the best part?
Not only is it perfectly legal, it’s encouraged by the federal government. Believe it or not, they want you to have a healthy and safe retirement future. They want you to remain a taxpaying consumer until the day you die.
With that said, we’ll take a closer look at the gold IRA account. I’ll provide full details explaining the type of account it is. And I’ll also share my favorite reasons why it’s such an excellent investment.
Explaining a Gold IRA Account
Ultimately, the main purpose of a gold IRA account is to begin saving for your golden years. Like most people, you plan to invest a portion of your weekly, monthly, or yearly income to save for retirement.
Traditionally, your employer potentially offers you access to their 401(k) or 503(b). This allows you to invest in stocks, bonds, and other traditional investments through your company. They may even provide an employer match up to a certain point.
A gold IRA account is something entirely different.
With a gold IRA also known as a precious metals IRA, you’ll rollover your existing account to get started. And you’ll use the proceeds of the rollover to invest in precious metals like platinum, palladium, silver, and gold.
But there’s a catch.
Instead of having a portfolio manager make investment decisions on your behalf, you’ll choose all of your own investments.
Guess what? This may seem fearful and very scary right now. But if you work with a top-level gold company, they’ll help you choose the best investments to grow toward retirement.
Examples of Acceptable Gold IRA Investments
After speaking with a qualified gold broker, you’ll learn a thing or two. You’ll learn that not every piece of gold, silver, platinum, or palladium is acceptable by the IRS. Some precious metals do not make the cut because they aren’t pure enough.
The purity levels acceptable by the IRS include:
- Acceptable gold purity level = 99.5% pure
- Acceptable silver purity level = 99.9% pure
- Acceptable platinum purity level = 99.95% pure
- Acceptable palladium purity level = 99.95% pure
Why are certain precious metals rejected by the IRS?
They either come from a country that produces precious metals with lower standards. Or the coins, bars, or rounds do not meet the purity requirements listed above.
The IRS is strict because they only allow the purest precious metals as investments within a gold IRA account. Anything else isn’t good enough for this investment vehicle.
Some acceptable investments to consider include:
- Gold American Eagle
- Gold American Buffalo
- Gold Austrian Philharmonic
- Silver Mexican Libertad
- Silver Australian Kookaburra
- Silver Chinese Panda
- Platinum Australian Koala
- Platinum Canadian Maple Leaf
- Palladium Canadian Maple Leaf
- Palladium Bars and Rounds w/ .9995 Purity
5 Reasons Why a Gold IRA Is an Excellent Investment
Believe it or not, this investment has a lot more potential upside than traditional stocks and bond investments. In fact, the stock market is breaking all-time highs at the moment.
Is this a good thing? Many cautious investors feel that the market is completely overbought. They believe that a massive correction is on the horizon.
Your portfolio might look amazing right now, but in a couple of months you could potentially lose 35-50% out of nowhere.
Can you withstand taking such a massive hit?
Instead, consider the following reasons why a gold IRA is a much better investment. They include:
- Portfolio diversity – owning a diversified version of the same type of investment isn’t really diversifying at all. Why? In many instances, the entire stock market sells off and every one of your investments loses money. By diversifying into gold and other precious metals, you’ll hedge against a stock market selloff. In fact, gold and other metals tend to rise during times when the stock market struggles.
- Massive liquidity – selling gold and other precious metals has never been easier. And buying it is just as easy because of the tremendous amount of liquidity in this market. This may surprise you, but gold is the most liquid investment in the world today. Someone is always willing to buy your gold at fair market value because it’s such a treasured and hot commodity.
- Gold IRA tax benefits – the beauty of a gold IRA is you get to invest in precious metals and take advantage of exciting tax benefits. These benefits aren’t offered anywhere else by the IRS. You can grow your precious metals IRA account through tax-deferred or tax-free investing. This makes it possible to accumulate more wealth over a greater amount of time. If you fund the account using income with the taxes already paid, you can keep everything earned within this account. Funding with pretax dollars means lowering your yearly adjusted gross income and only paying taxes once you begin taking distributions. Not bad, right?
- Gold is hot right now – this commodity is going places. It’s currently worth roughly $1840 per ounce. Today alone, it’s up $8.50 per ounce. And it will likely continue to rise in value in the near future. But the prospects of owning gold are even better over time. This valuable commodity is sought after by the rich and famous, first world governments, and others. Its value will continue to grow throughout the years, decades, and centuries. It’s a great investment with huge potential upside.
- It’s a hedge against out-of-control debt – this debt is so bad and it’s only getting worse. Corporations are in miserable scenarios because of global shutdowns. Consumers have been out of work for nearly a year and desperately need money. And the government keeps printing more and more money to stimulate the economy and pay to keep the US afloat. The culmination of these negative scenarios means the US dollar is headed for massive inflation. Protect yourself by investing in gold through a precious metals IRA. You’ll retain your overall wealth as the US dollar falters.
Take a moment to read my review of the top gold IRA companies in business right now.
The Necessary Steps to Take to Set Up a Gold IRA Account
To close this out, I’d like to make it easy for you to set up your gold IRA account when you’re ready to begin investing. This may seem difficult on the surface, but nothing could be further from the truth.
First…
As I mentioned, I have already reviewed the top 10 gold IRA companies doing business today. My recommendations of 1 through 10 include:
- Regal Assets
- Goldco
- Birch Gold
- Augusta Precious Metals
- Goldsilver
- Cornerstone Bullion
- Advantage Gold
- APMEX
- Monex
- California Numismatic Metals
Why did I choose these companies?
They passed the seven critical factors test and excelled in each area. These companies have received excellent reviews, have great credentials with the BBB and other organizations, and have great staffs.
They’re the best and brightest in the industry. They have a trustworthy reputation. And other industry organizations look highly upon each of my recommendations too.
Second…
You’ll have to set up your new account with the precious metals broker that you choose. This is easy enough to accomplish. You can follow the on-screen instructions on their website. Or call the company to ask for further directions.
Third…
Now it’s time to fund your account. Your options include a gold IRA rollover or a gold IRA transfer. Talk to the representative at your new precious metals broker to learn the difference between these funding options.
Gold IRA Rollover
Ultimately, you’ll rollover an existing retirement account into your gold IRA. Your former custodian will mail or direct deposit a check with the proceeds. You’ll have 60 days to deposit these funds into your new gold IRA account. If you fail to deposit in 60 days you are subject to penalties and you’ll have to pay your taxes.
Gold IRA Transfer
In this case, you’ll transfer the money from one IRA account to the other. Your existing custodian and new gold IRA custodian will handle the entire process on your behalf. You do not need to get involved in the transfer process whatsoever.
Bottom Line
In truth, there isn’t really much to a gold IRA account. It isn’t this mind numbingly difficult financial instrument that seems impossible to learn. It’s like a traditional IRA with one major exception: you can buy physical precious metals within it.
Are you ready to get started? Take a moment to read my review of the top 10 precious metals companies. This information is invaluable and it will help you choose the best company to meet your needs.
