The possible effect of inflation over the retirement plans of a lot of Americans cannot be ignored. If you are hoping to have enough to live by through your IRA, you may be in for quite a shock. Inflation is truly a real problem that could over time, erode the value of the funds you may have accumulated for your retirement. Changing over to a precious metals IRA may be your best option for ensuring that your retirement savings will be able to preserve its value, and will be enough too to meet your needs when you eventually retire.
Precious Metals Are Good IRA Investments
The fact that inflation is not a real problem presently does not mean it will not affect your retirement plan in some way. Since the government stopped using gold and silver as the standard for the country’s currency some years ago, inflation will most likely become a problem for the country’s economy at some point in time before your retirement.
This can put the value of the funds in IRAs at risk, investing in some precious-metals may therefore be the only solution for avoiding inflation with an IRA. These metals would generally counter the effect of inflation and may get some dramatic price increases too. They may also outpace inflation too if the demand for them for industrial/commercial use increases.
Rollover 401k to a Gold and Silver IRA
IRAs are less conservative and more flexible with the type of investment options that are available with them, unlike 401k and pension plans that may typically have investment options that may not appreciate or increase in value quickly enough during inflation to keep up with current inflationary trends, which may result in some disguised or concealed losses. Such type of hidden losses is what most people would want to try and avoid with a precious-metal IRA.
Finding An IRA Custodian With Precious-Metal Investments
Knowing that these metals can preserve the value of your retirement savings is only the first step. Some people may be able to take advantage of this while others may not be able to do the same. There may however be some ways to opt out of retirement plans with under-performing investments.
You can get a precious-metal IRA if you leave an old job that has a retirement plan in place for a new employment, or if you lose your job.
If you have a new employment with some retirement options, you do not have to transfer your old pension or 401k plan to your new employer’s plan. You can rollover your old plan into a precious-metal IRA. You can do this too if your new employer does not make any provisions for retirement plans.
Though the IRS regulations allow IRA custodians to use retirement savings for this type of investments, however not every custodian is open to this. You will therefore need to find or search for an IRA custodian who may allow you to direct or transfer your retirement funds into a precious-metal IRA.
You will want to get the lowest possible fees for your transfer and any other transaction. Most of these IRAs are usually self-directed IRAs which may incur some losses through fees, if an account holder trades too often.
Precious-Metal Options In An IRA
You can invest in different types of precious metals with your IRA. A precious metal will typically have some ratings requirements, for example gold must have a minimum of .995 fineness in rating, silver a .999 rating, while palladium and platinum must have a minimum of .9995 finesse rating each. These ratings will help you to avoid losing your money on substandard precious-metals.
In addition to this, you may also choose to invest in some precious-metal bars or coins. Some investors may choose to invest in some coins while others may invest in some bars instead. Bars are usually considered to be more efficient investment purchases, since they are generally sold at prices that are a lot more closer to current spot values.
* Gold
Gold is the most popular out of all the other precious metals, the condition of the world’s economy however will usually determine the precious metal that is the most lucrative at any point in time. Gold is generally used by investors during problematic economic conditions to deflect inflation and preserve their wealth and investments’ values.
Some gold coins that are allowed in a precious metals IRA include the American Gold Buffalo, Canadian Gold Maple Leaf, American Gold Eagle and several others. A lot of companies also sell gold bars that are used as IRA investments. One top company provides more free information about gold, precious metals, and how to rollover 401k savings.
* Silver
Is silver a good investment? Though silver is not as valuable as gold it can, however, preserve and even increase your retirement savings and its value too. It is important to get ideas from a custodian or representative of a company in order to learn the best way to buy silver.
Countries like Canada, China, US and the United Kingdom produce coins that fulfill the purity ratings requirements for silver metals used for IRA investments. People may also invest in silver bars too through precious metal IRAs. It takes a bit of research on your part to discover the best place to buy silver.
* The Platinum Group
The platinum group is made up of different types of metals though only two out of all of them are presently used for investment purposes in IRAs, and these are palladium and platinum.
Some countries also produce some platinum coins with the correct purity ratings too, examples of these are the Isle of Man Noble and American Platinum Eagle coins. Palladium metal assets are not as prevalent as the other metals but do exist.
How And When To Put Precious-Metals In Your IRA
You should invest in some precious-metals as soon as possible, waiting for some economic problem to happen is not really the best way to take advantage of the opportunity that investing in such metals provides. You should also invest in them regularly too to avoid incurring a lot of trading fees.
Because you will most likely have more than one type of precious metal to invest in with a typical IRA, you should ideally diversify your investments. Each investor will need to decide on the amount of precious-metals to invest in with their IRAs.
Do not worry if you are not ready. The best thing to do is to contact a reputable company to get more information. Usually they are very professional and offer something like a free gold kit that really helps you to understand the process. You do want to make sure they have a good reputation. Here is an example of an A+ rated Better Business Bureau company.
