Investing in gold backed IRA or silver IRA can be a great investment in your IRA to hedge against Inflation and the devaluation of the US dollar.   In addition, your IRA is storing a physical asset rather than a paper asset so the chances of the asset going to 0 are minimal.  Gold and silver have always been worth something.  I get many questions related to storing metals in an IRA.  Below are a couple of commonly asked questions that I get:

Q. Can I store gold and silver myself in my self directed IRA?

A. In order to have an IRA account you must have an IRA custodian hold the assets for you.  The IRA custodian has many roles including:

1.     Report to the IRS an annual 5498 form.  This form indicates to the IRS the clients that have an IRA with the custodian and the current value of the IRA
2.    The IRA custodian needs to ensure that the investments the clients are investing in are allowed and not disqualified.

The custodian is performing a similar role as an escrow company is for real estate.  When property is bought or sold the cash goes to an escrow company to be distributed to the buyers and sellers.  With an IRA account it is the custodian’s job to hold the assets for their clients.  As a result, it is not possible for the IRA account holder to hold the metals themselves.

Q. What are the negatives/benefits to storing it myself or having it stored somewhere else?

A. If you store the metals yourself this would be considered a distribution and the current value of the metals would be taxable to you.  You would no longer have an IRA account since you had physical possession of the metals.  The only way to keep and maintain the IRA account is if the IRA custodian holds the metal for you in your behalf.

There are many advantages in storing the metals with our company.  We store all our metals for our clients in a depository, whether it be Brinks or another company.  The advantage of storing it as at a depository are the following:

1.     All metals are insured through the depository.  The insurance is based on current market values not what you paid for the metals
2.    All metals are secured through the depository.  Their facility is very secured to ensure that no one can steal the metals
3.    All metals are weighed and inspected to make sure that the metals are legitimate and not counterfeit.

If you have any more questions about a gold IRA or silver IRA feel free to contact me or leave comments on our self directed ira blog.