Investors must continue to find a custodian bank and a secure depository for their gold. Many Gold IRA companies work with a custodian, and either the custodian or the Gold IRA company may select a custodian bank. The company’s Gold IRA product has several positive features. There is no minimum purchase requirement or account and a reasonable gold bar spread is also charged.
Silver Gold Bull offers decent customer service. Our researchers found that American Hartford’s customer service representatives gave vague and indirect answers when we were contacted by phone during our survey, which could make the company a bad choice for beginners. The spread on gold bars is remarkably high, and the company only allows you to work with a single custodian bank, the Equity Trust. Our top pick to get started is American Hartford Gold as it has the best reputation in the industry.
A gold IRA company should offer rollover and repurchase services to facilitate the transfer of funds from conventional IRAs to gold IRAs or the liquidation of gold investments. Any unofficial, unapproved storage facility or physical gold storage arrangement will result in your IRA being disqualified by the IRS. Investors should assess the reputation and fees of the depositary that an IRA company uses to store its customers’ precious metals. While you can buy and store precious metals in your home outside of an IRA, these metals cannot be considered IRA assets, and trying to include prohibited investments in your IRA can result in penalties and fines.
You can buy these funds in a standard IRA in a regular brokerage account, making it an easier and less expensive way to invest in gold. Birch Gold Group makes opening and financing your individual gold retirement account as easy as possible. You won’t earn dividends with a gold investment like you would with stocks, but gold IRAs offer some protection against inflation and recession. The only difference between a gold IRA and a conventional IRA is that physical precious metals make up the assets invested in a gold IRA.
Only very few companies maintain their own storage facilities. As a result, most work with external depositories that are approved by the IRS to securely store precious metals held in IRAs. While Equity Trust is a popular choice for gold IRAs, if you want to choose another custodian bank, you’re out of luck with Silver Gold Bull. This price premium is almost never announced by IRA Gold companies and represents a hidden fee for investors. You can also roll over Gold IRA from a 401 (k), 403 (b), 457 (b), or Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees if you no longer work for the company that provided the account.
A Regal Assets account specialist will contact you to help you set it up. You can then fund your Gold IRA. Even the Gold IRA companies, which allow you to choose your own custodian bank, strongly recommend that you opt for their preferred partner.