Are you looking to plan your retirement future with a self directed gold IRA, with the thought of whether or not you should begin purchasing gold as part of your retirement plan?
Many retirement plans that have made a gold IRA investment in the form of gold or silver have enjoyed substantial gains since The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. On the other hand, many retirement plans without gold or silver, who invested in stocks only, have not performed nearly as well.
These are all very valid questions and I understand your concerns so I’ll do my best to answer them now and explain exactly how the gold market works.
- A self directed gold IRA is a retirement account that allows you to buy physical gold and other precious metals that you can hold in that account for as long as you choose.
- The beauty of having an account like this is that all of the wealth that you accumulate inside this account, and it can be through other investments besides gold, is earned tax-free.
So when you sell off any part of your investment portfolio to collect the capital gains that you have earned, you will never have to pay a penny in taxes on that money which is incredible and something you may want to take advantage of.
In 1997, The Taxpayer Relief Act was passed which made it legal to add precious metals to IRAs by investing in silver, gold and platinum.
The United States government currently allows certain bullion and rare coins to be held in an IRA for retirement plans. The common phrase and most popular term for this is a precious metal retirement plan. Here is the current list of acceptable precious metals for retirement accounts.
Gold Coins Allowed In Self Directed IRA.
- American Eagle coins (1)
- Australian Kangaroo/Nugget coins
- Austrian Philharmonic
- Canadian Maple Leaf coins
- Credit Suisse gold – PAMP Suisse gold Bars .999
- U.S. Buffalo Gold Uncirculated coins (No Proofs)
- Bars and rounds as referenced below (2)
Silver Coins Allowed In Self Directed IRA
- American Eagle coins (1)
- Australian Kookaburra coins
- Austrian Philharmonic coins
- Canadian Maple Leaf coins
- Mexican Libertad coins
- Bars and rounds as referenced below (2)
Platinum Coins Allowed In Self Directed IRA
- American Eagle coins (1)
- Australian Koala coins
- Canadian Maple Leaf coins
- Isle of Man Noble coins
- Bars and rounds as referenced below (2)
Palladium Coins Allowed In Self Directed IRA
Bars and rounds as referenced below (2)
*(1) Coins, including the American Eagle, that have undergone “certification” (also known as “slabbed” coins) are not acceptable in retirement plans at this time
*(2) Bars and rounds produced by manufacturers accredited by Nymex/Comex, LME, LBMA, NYSE/Liffe/CBOT, and ISE-9000 or a national mint. The minimum finenesses for bars are: Gold .995+, Silver. 999+, Platinum .9995+, Palladium .9995+
The self directed IRA is held by a trustee or a custodian that will carry out the investment process on behalf of the client. Most IRA custodians are banks or brokers who will prepare the paperwork and ensure that the investments are legal.
Active custodians will work with the customers to investigate the investment options and then guide the consumer in dealing with them. Passive custodians do not provide advice. They carry out the necessary paperwork and just ensure that everything is filed legally.
The price of gold has been in an up trend for the past 11+ years.
But pay attention to what happened over the last four years or so as well. The Great Recession began in 2008 and the economy and stock market crashed.
The price of gold and other precious metals began to steadily rise over this same time span.
The reason for gold’s rise even when the stock market and economy are going down is due to stimulative policies from the Federal Reserve. The lower interest rates go and the more money that is printed and injected into the economy, the greater the probability of inflation coming at some future point in time.
Countries engage in currency debasing or devaluing which is the practice of a country pushing down the value of its own currency in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage over world markets. You see, the more a currency drops, the cheaper that country’s exports are on world markets. Thus countries are each in a race to further devalue their currency. This practice is known as the Currency Wars.
Lowering of interest rates, currency devaluing, and stimulative policies from central banks all help strengthen gold as gold rises as inflation gets worse.
With a self directed IRA you can add gold and other precious metals to your retirement account. This is an excellent opportunity for you to be able to diversify into precious metals like some of the world’s most richest investors.
The price of gold has grown quite a bit over the last 11 years.But pay attention to what happened over the last three years or so as well. The economy took a terrible tumble and the stock market crashed at the end of 2008.
As these two major financial events were taking place, the price of gold and other precious metals began to steadily rise in the background and not too many people noticed what was going on as it began.
There is a very specific reason why this happened and I’ll explain it to you right now.
As the economy struggles this precious metal becomes more attractive since the price of gold historically rises as inflation gets worse, and tends to escalate more as inflation grows to be worse, so they are inversely related in that way.
So having all of these terrible economic events take place really weakened the US dollar and the US financial position.
Since that happened, some of the big-money investors were afraid to keep their money in cash or real estate alone, so they did the next best thing in their estimation and they moved over to gold. Even some countries such as India and China procured some vast amounts of gold in 2009.Not only this, but over the long term, the price of gold has always risen, and savvy investors who refuse to be victim of market volatility always seem to have their gold preserves, and move aggressively towards gold when the markets take downturns.
The bullish market that follows leads to higher demand as well. So that’s why gold has been rising so high in price, and it will continue to do so as the economy struggles.
So through all the upturns and downturns of markets and economies, there is one questionably bulletproof opportunity available to you throughout it all, and that would be your procurement of physical gold. Then there are other options that are higher risk, and thus may yield some nice returns during better times in the market.
There are those who have seen the spike in the market who are still a bit raw from what transpired a few years ago, and they are often dividing a percentage of their portfolio in physical gold for some nice diversification, along with other potentially profitable shorter term gold investments that are available. Some consider commodities overall a nice hedge against market volatility.
With a self directed IRA you take control of your investments and tell your IRA manager where you would like them placed, whether gold, ETFs, or real estate. This is a nice hands on opportunity for you to take charge of your future and participate in directing your own investments, where you are the one deciding where they go.