Are you planning for your retirement? When you have the funds guaranteed for the future, you can lead a stress-free life. For this, you may choose to invest in IRA which can be a gold IRA or investing in exchange-traded stocks. Investing in a gold IRA has many advantages of which being a hedge in times of inflation is the top one. You can read on further to know the steps involved in opening a gold IRA account.
- Choice of gold IRA company
The first step to starting a gold ira account is to choose an ira company. These are the companies that will help you to start the account, transfer the amounts in, and purchase gold and also make sure it is stored in an approved safe depository. It also handles all the documentation work regarding IRS compliance and thereby a guardian for your account. You have to do research and find out the best company you can work with. There are many available each with different fees for their services. In case you plan to transfer funds from another IRA, you need a state-issued ID as also details of your retirement accounts.
- Funding
The second step is to fund your account. Only when you fund your account you can start investing in the metal.
- Funding through cash- As with transfer to any other account, you can transfer funds to your IRA account as well. It can be cash, wire transfer, or check. You only have to pay the associated fees.
- Account transfer- This is another way to fund your account where you can do a direct account transfer. They are tax-free. You have to fill out a form with your existing bank and request for the process to be done.
- Rollovers- When you shift sums of money from your existing retirement account to the gold IRA account it is called a rollover. You can make this as a cash transfer or as account to account also. To avoid a penalty you have to complete this process within 60 days but this does not apply if you are almost 60 years old.
- Selecting the metal
Now that your account has funds, you can start purchasing gold. While doing so, keep in mind the regulations of the IRS. It accepts only metals of specific purity to be held in IRA accounts. Each company dealing with gold IRA has a distinct procedure so make sure you follow accordingly. In some cases, the company directly sells the gold to you and in certain other cases, you have to purchase them from a metal dealer and then assign safe custody with the IRA firm.
- Performance analysis
You have to frequently monitor the performance of your assets. There are IRA firms that offer online monitoring whereby it is easier for you to track. But this service is not available with all the companies. If you want to monitor your account, you have to enquire about the availability of the service before choosing the IRA company.
