Anyone Here Do A Precious Metals IRA and Why?

Zubie

Howdy guys,
I heard about precious metal IRAs and even looked into how they work. I was curious how many here have a PM IRA and the pros & cons. Would you suggest opening an acct or rather keep it close to you...just in case.
Thanks, Tim

Justacommeman

I have trust issues that the physical will actually be there when I need it. But that's probably just me. If they let me visit it and gave me my own key I would consider it.

I'm a firm believer that you should always be in posession of your gold. I'm not old, but I'm old fashioned in that way.

MJ

roadrunner

I have PM stocks in my IRA but would never consider holding metal in one. The first step in trying to get safety via gold or other PMs is holding it without intermediaries. If the financial system balloon goes pop or springs a serious leak and your IRA or broker goes poof, and it turns out a lot of the bullion is not actually there, who do you think will get preferential treatment as the payouts begin? Joe Six Pack or big time investor? And even if you eventually get paid after months or years of standing in line what will you be paid with? Depreciated paper dollars. They certainly aren't going to go out and find replacement bullion for you at original cost.

Morgan Stanley ran a bullion gold fund for their clients a few years back. It turned out they had no gold, no storage area, but collected all the fees. Why would you think that IRA's can't be subject to the same "critical" oversight that Bernie Madoff's operation received?

roadrunner

fishcooker

I looked in to it some time ago. I never found an attractive scenario to justify a PM IRA. Always some bank I never heard of with restrictions, large buy/sell spreads, and extra fees. Then all they provide is a paper promise that they did buy the gold. Not the greatest scenario, to me.

Furthermore - as a long term investor - it seems each day I'm less and less enthused about IRAs period. I'd rather not bet my money on lower future taxes and less intrusive future Congresses. Your results may vary.

If you recently looked in to how they work, what is your first impression?

yellowkid

I think it's a bad idea, some PM funds maybe as RR advised but not hard metal, or a promise from someone. The government also then knows just what you have and will be standing there with their hand out looking for their cut when you go to sell it. The advantage, or the main advantage of an IRa, is that it compounds without tax until you withdraw, why not let your gold "compound', if it is going to, at home or in a SDB.??

coynclecter

In 2005 I converted a $30K stock IRA into Gold Eagles and Englehard Silver Bars which I bought from Tulving and had shipped to Sterling Trust, They are held in a segregated locked box and a listing of the bar numbers and coin dates are in my possession. I receive a statement every 3 months.

Current value is over $80K and I calculated the stocks I sold at around 22K. I paid $150 setup and $125 per year in storage and can transact any buy/ sell from the box through them.

Of course I have more in my SD box at the bank which is "under the radar"

The tax issue and "govnt knows" is the same as any IRA and I tend to think my return has been a little better

PerryHall

If you want to have PM's, take physical possession. Paper IOU's are too risky.

jimq112

Part of the fun of having gold and silver is looking at it. I don't want to give up that part and then take the risk that the rest is there when it's my turn to have it. Too many things could go wrong.