There are a couple options you can go about opening a gold IRA account. One of the most convenient is transfer funds from your existing 401k plan to a gold IRA. This has been the most popular in recent times as individuals want to diversify their retirement planning past the typical limitations of a typical 401k plan.
What you’ll do is begin a 401k rollover to your new IRA account. This way does have a few points you’ll need to consider.
First you’ll need to be qualified for a distribution from your 401k. Then the point you want to know is that you’ll have 60 days to avoid taxes. The rest of the details you’ll need to discuss with your current account holder, and the prospective IRA custodian. The process is rather simple once you understand the basics and make sure to follow the guidelines.
Make sure you obviously elect for one that allows physical precious metals to place actual gold and other precious metals in there, and then you can go ahead and look into which of the precious metals are allowed.
You can also of course transfer the funds from your existing IRA into a gold IRA. This transaction will go in between custodians without any direct involvement from you with the funds, so your task is mostly hands off, aside a few forms etc.
In this case you are already aware of the IRA benefits, and can sit back knowing some of your assets are now in real precious metals which are going to be working for you over the years, performing identically as gold does, or whichever you choose, which is basically a guaranteed upward movement in value over the long term.
This is going to be a self-directed IRA which allows you to decide which investments go where, and you will have the option of investing in a plethora of investments aside physical precious metals. With a self-directed IRA, you will also have the option of investing in other gold investments such as ETFs if you choose, and of course some diversification is always wise.
There are some restrictions as well that you’ll want to be beware of before going on and planning for unlimited investment strategies. Some include certain collectibles, there are restrictions with investments in real estate, and forms of insurance are not allowed, as a couple examples.
Overall the options are vast, and if you felt restricted in your 401k with your choices, then with a self-directed IRA you’ve basically hit the lottery, a play of words that may just prove to hold true for you in a very literal sense.
Of all the aforementioned points, the one to really cling to is having physical gold in your account, whether in bars or coins. It holds many benefits, such as hedging your portfolio from risk, and it is considered by many to be most secure and lucrative long term investment available to you.
Learn More About Gold IRA
Opening an Gold IRA account is not that difficult but there are things you should be aware of. IRA Investing is a great website with informative articles that will help you understand gold IRAs and how they work. The site has a lot of great information about investing in precious metals, including what makes them such a good investment option. If you are interested in investing in precious metals for your retirement account, then you should definitely spend some time looking through the website. You will find that it is full of useful information that will help you make better investment decisions.