IRA accounts and Bullion Investing

My understanding is that you can't make an IRA contribution with anything other than cash. That's what it says in Publication 590 (2008) from the IRS. You can't mail bullion to a custodian. Once the cash is in the IRA, the custodian can purchase bonds, stocks, gold or other IRA eligible investments, and they can be rolled-over to another IRA with another custodian. The APMEX ad seems misleading to me.

 

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Great advice Illini. I wouldn't trust anyone to hold my PM's. I don't think anyone else should either.....

 

agreed. everything i have seen has indicated so. the reason i brought it up in another thread a couple of weeks ago was because of what i had seen on apmex.

there are a few, but here is one example with silver. perhaps the ad is to be able to direct a custodian to purchase? that is all i can think of, but it is just odd.

 

I looked into this myself as i had an IRA account from a previous job. it wasn't paying much of anything and i have a current IRA with my new job.

I wanted to diversy a little bit and given the shape of things in the economy gold/silver is never a bad investment.

I got in contact with the superior gold group (this is not an advertisement for them at all). i talked with a broker about maybe doing an Gold/silver IRA as i didn't want to pay any penalties on the transfer.

for a PM IRA the minimum investment is 5000 dollars. You get a certificate of what you have but that is about it. they hold the metals for you. Also it works the same as a regular IRA. You cannot sell it or touch it till you retire or you pay a penalty.

which to me is not very good if you need money or want to capitalize on your investment. plus you don't actually own the coins or anything just a piece of paper that says you do.

The other thing at least from almost all resources that i have check is that if needed the federal government can seize any and all bullion to stem for inflation and or to back up their currency.

the house measure was passed and approved that they cannot seize collectable coins which is <=1933.

if you are wanting to invest i would recommend investing in neusmatic coins. That is what i did and have some nice coins for the money.

i have a MS 61 1910 Indian
a MS 62 1907 Liberty
and about 8 American Silver eagles all in my posession.

i have check the prices and they have currently jumped in value.

 

Mystery,

You seem to be missing the point, it's an IRA Individual Retirement Account. It's not a mutual fund or a savings account. With a regular IRA, you get a statement (a piece of paper) that gives a balance. You don't have the actual money in your safe. You can't sell or touch your normal IRA funds either until you retire or you pay a penalty for early withdrawal. You only put into your IRA (metal or regular) money that you won't be needing until you retire. It's not a savings account. You don't actuall own the money in your traditional IRA either ..just apiece of paper that says you do.

You are applying a double standard to the gold ira when that's not really fair. It's an IRA period ...so the same rules apply no matter what you put in it.

 

Regarding [1], if you feel this way then you also can't invest in stocks, bonds, commodities, options, bank accounts, bank CD, real estate investment trusts, limited partnerships, oil & gas royalty trusts, and lottery tickets because by your definition you don't actually own anything except a piece of paper. This just about rules out participating in the economy of the 21st century and becomming a subsistance farmer.

Regarding [2], can you source this for us? Of course circumstances can arise where a government could theoretically take your property or your life, but you make it sound like current law, which it isn't. Also, be advised that the currency isn't backed by gold or silver bullion. It is backed by Treasury bonds and notes.

 

http://goldandsilverblog.com/precious-metals-investment-tax-rates/

 

Please go back and read because that is what i said. You just repeated what i said. then stated to call me wrong.

No it doesn't. I am sorry but this is not correct. The coins are not in your position. You just have a piece of paper that gives you the value of what you own. If the government wanted to they can come in and seize it if they have to. since it is not in your possession there is nothing you can do about it.

They did it in 1933 which wasn't that long ago.. No it isn't back by gold or silver, However that doesn't stop them from seizing it to buy back those treasury bonds and notes does it?

Technically yes the government can enimate domain?

Whether it is back by gold or silver doesn't matter. What does matter is that they can use that to sure up the dollar and lower infalation or pay down the deficit if they have to.

 

mystery45, I think you are too paranoid and perhaps overly-influenced by a few gold-bug internet articles. This isn't 1933 and we no longer have a monetary system backed by metal. Owning gold is legal in this country, and it would take an act of Congress to repeal that right. Something like that isn't going to happen overnight. There are too many large banks and investment firms that play in this space through ETFs, hedge funds, futures, and storage arrangements for clients.

 

I never understood why anyone would want gold in an IRA. Gold may be good for short-term investing, but thats it. If you took the same $5,000 and put it in a savings account for 30 years, I'd guarantee you'd make more money than if you had bought gold. If you bought savings bonds, you'd have made even more. Why gamble your money away?
Guy~

 

It is true that gold isn't a buy-and-forget investment, but then again, nothing else is either. Gold has just about quadrupled this decade, which is better than a savings account or the stock market. There is a time and place for everything. But you are correct that savings accounts and savings bonds are best for folks who never want to think about it.