Everyone with an investment portfolio is concerned with protecting their hard earned savings in any way they can. There are several types of investments that are actually relatively low risk, but they often fail to generate significant financial growth. As such, the typical investor will have most of their assets invested in the stock market in hopes of major growth, or have their holdings invested across the board in a wide array of stocks that do very well on a regular basis.
There are myriad strategies for investment. However, one component that each and every portfolio should include is a precious metals investment retirement account holding a set amount of assets for insurance purposes. After all, it’s a historical fact that gold and silver have always been considered money in times of uncertainty, which makes precious metals an excellent backup plan for emergency market conditions.
What is a Precious Metal Retirement Account?
A precious metal retirement account is a financial instrument that contains a certain type of assets; it can include and gold and silver as primary items, but can also include other special metals such as platinum and palladium. In addition, the accounts can also contain typical stocks and bonds that are not even associated with the precious metal market. Having a precious metal IRA management company directing the inclusions is an excellent way of ensuring the flexibility of the instrument used to its greatest advantage.
Steady Holdings Valuation
Gold is not necessarily an asset that is intended for growth purposes. It is priced twice daily in London through computer automation and is effective a stabilized commodity. This means that fluctuations in gold ride along with general market trends and they are an indicator of the value of other stocks across the board. Minimal rises and dips are a daily occurrence. Other precious metals typically follow suit along with the value of gold. This is clearly true for silver, and is also the same for other precious metals for the most part. Industrial uses of precious metals can impact their value as well; for example, when demand increases for manufacturing purposes there tends to be a spike in value.
Tax Avoidance
Taxes are always a major concern for investors, and a precious metals account can be an excellent method for minimizing tax obligations. Most investors who use precious metals for financial growth purpose have had an account for years and play it for the long run. However, this is not necessary, and when indicators in market trends show the price of any precious metal will be going up they can also be short-term growth investments as well. The best choice is typically to let any growth funds remain in the account and serve as more financial wealth protection without tax implications.
Portfolio Value Insurance Applications
The stock market has assuredly grown exponentially during the past decade. When the New York Stock Exchange hit the 10,000 mark, it was considered a watershed moment. Today the market is inching upwards to 30,000, which means many individuals have made huge gains playing the stocks. However, all investors should have some level of precious metal investment for insurance purposes. When the market holds steady, gold holds steady or inches up as well. But, when the market drops, the prices of gold typically climb.
There are still many naysayers when it comes to investing in a precious metal IRA, with most of those claiming lost opportunity cost by holding a large portion of assets in precious metals that could be used in other manners that produce more profit taking. This potential for other growth could be an issue, but protection is the goal with a precious metal individual retirement account. Reaching goals is all important for every investor, and there is no such thing as too much insurance.
Photo Credit: King World News
RD Blakeslee says
If there is a way to legally hold PHYSICAL gold in an IRA (not an account representing gold), then an article how to do that would be useful.
Holding gold the way this article describes defeats one of the most important reasons for holding gold in the first place: No intermediary between the gold and the owner.
Len Penzo says
You can legally hold physical gold and silver in a Self Directed IRA (although there are limitiations; for example, so-called “rare” collectable coins are not allowed …). I’ll put together an article on this in the near future.
Peter says
Holding gold and silver in IRA is really a good option as it can be beneficial for you in the future but invest it through the right agency.
James Borst says
It is interesting that gold, silver, and other metals such as platinum can be included in a precious metal IRA. My wife and I are trying to find ways to grow our money while we are saving for retirement. If we get an IRA, we may look for one that has no fees for life or something like that.