Retirement funds are necessary if a person is to live comfortably when they can no longer work like they used to. Luckily, people can save up for their retirements with individual retirement accounts.
However, several economic happenings may reduce the value of a person’s retirement funds if care is not taken. This is why experts advise investors to diversify their portfolios as much as they can.
Right from time, people have always considered precious metals especially gold and silver as haven investments. Even though the markets of these metals are volatile in their ways, people still think they are great choices for long-standing investments.
It is therefore not surprising that these precious metals can now be held in retirement accounts. However, special accounts known as gold or precious metals IRAs are needed to do this. What this means is that these valuable metals cannot be held in regular IRAs.
Therefore, if you are interested in this investment option, you would need to set up a gold IRA. But how do you go about this you may be wondering. Well, that is what this article focuses on.
Here, we will be discussing in steps how you can setup precious metalsIRAs and the parties involved in the whole procedure. Let us get right into it.
Table of Contents
Steps To Set Up a Gold IRA
Setting up a precious metal individual retirement account is a little bit more complicated when compared with opening a regular one.
However, once you know the steps, it won’t look that complex anymore. Here is a breakdown of the steps required to do this:
Step 1 – Choose Your Custodian
The first step to opening this account is selecting a custodian from the long list of available custodians. This is because according to IRS regulations, a custodian is needed to manage these accounts.
The custodian is often any financial institution that has been approved by IRS to operate in this capacity. It may be a bank, trust company, credit union, or any other similar organization approved by IRS.
The custodian handles the transactional and administrative aspects of the investment; hence, they have to be chosen with care. You have to be sure they are reliable before you select them for the job.
One way to weed out the scams from reliable custodians is IRS approval. If the custodian you are considering is not IRS-approved then you would save yourself a lot of future trouble by avoiding them.
Also, you can read any gold ira custodian review where several custodians are evaluated. This would help you weed out the good from the bad. Do not rely on the reviews you find on the custodian’s website as they would typically not put up bad reviews about themselves.
Step 2 – Select a Dealer
The next thing you have to do is choose a dealer. Dealers often sell precious metals from gold to silver to platinum and so on.
Just like with the custodian, you need to do proper researches before you select the dealer. You need to be careful with your selection so that you do not get swindled. Dealers that are members of trade groups such as Industry Council for Tangible Assets, American Numismatic Association, and other similar trade groups should be your target.
When you have gotten your dealer, you would then have to choose what product you want. A popular choice among investors is the American Eagle Bullion Coins; the U.S Mint is the issuer of this coin. After which, you will speak to your custodian and ask them to pay the money for the precious metal to the dealer.
Step 3 – Select a Depository
The IRS law doesn’t allow the investor to hold precious metals bought with IRAs. Therefore, the metal has to be kept in a depository.
Again, the depository has to be approved to be sure they are capable of holding the assets. Most of the time, the custodian would recommend a reliable and approved depository to their clients. In which case, you would need to properly evaluate the depository recommended to you.
Sometimes, the investors aren’t satisfied with the recommended depository. If this happens in your case, then you can speak to your custodian about getting a depository by yourself. If you choose to do this, then you have to be careful with your search.
Also, ensure the service you end up selecting meets all of the IRS requirements.
Step 4 – Finish the Transaction
With a depository, dealer, and custodian in place, you can now move on to complete the purchase. Remember the custodian is in charge, so they will typically handle the payment.
Once payment is made, your dealer will deliver the assets to the selected depository. The entire procedure will be overseen by the custodian.
How to Withdraw From the Account
There are 2 options available to investors when it comes to withdrawing from a gold IRA:
- In-Kind Distributions: With this option, the physical metal is shipped to the investor after distribution is done.
- Depository Purchase: With this option, you can sell the metal to the depository and get fiat currency for your asset value.
Despite the option you opt for, your custodian will be the one handling the transaction. Also, you have to begin taking RMDs once you become 72 years old. You can click here to learn more about RMDs. RMDs can be quite complicated when it comes to precious metals. This is because you have to make these withdrawals at intervals which would be based on the total asset you have.
Hence, you may end up being forced to withdraw way more at a time than you’d have if you had been working with fiat currency.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed the steps needed to open a gold individual retirement account. Each step also involves a particular party; therefore, we also spoke on how to select these parties as well as their role in the whole process.
