Even though you won’t be accessing your IRA or your 401k money until you retire, you are a forward thinker who wants to make sure that your money is placed in the most profitable places that it can be. Playing the stock market with your money — even though this is retirement money that you hopefully won’t need for a long time — is a scary proposition for many people, and if you want to look to the most stable investment you have probably been wondering about Gold IRA or Gold 401k investments. Such an investment is possible and it can be quite profitable, although you will need to take the proper steps to get this done legally since it is not the traditional way of investing in IRA or 401k.
Thanks to the IRS Code, it is indeed possible to have a Gold IRA, which means that you have your money invested in gold or other precious metals like silver, platinum, or palladium bullion. For example, as an IRA owner you can have your money invested in American Gold Eagle or Silver Eagle coins, Platinum coins, or fine silver bullion that is 99.5 percent pure. There are some gold coins that are not appropriate investments for a Gold IRA or Gold 401k because they do not have high enough purity percentage: An example of this is the Krugerrand from South Africa.
Who Holds The Gold?
While you are allowed to make this investment, the law does require the gold or precious metal to be held by your IRA trustee, meaning that you are not allowed to be in physical possession of the precious metals that are part of your IRA investment in your home. This simple rule applies to all types of IRAs and 401ks, and is actually fairly easy to deal with. It will simply require you to have a self-directed IRA.
Your IRA trustee must be able to get the money to the gold dealer, make the purchase of the gold on your behalf, and be responsible for storing the gold. Some companies are not willing to do this type of IRA due to the extra effort involved on their part — however you can still find reputable companies that have IRA trustees who will set up this type of IRA for you.
There is usually a set up fee for the IRA, a yearly IRA management fee, (both fees that you will need to pay with any type of retirement investment vehicle), and then a yearly fee for the storage of the gold. The yearly storage fee for your Gold IRA is usually around $125 to $250 and is your insurance that the gold or other precious metal is being held in a safe and secure location.
