What Are The Benefits of a Gold IRA?

Retirement should be all about not worrying. Not worrying about work, about schedules, and certainly not worrying about money. That’s why so many people put so much time into fine tuning their retirement accounts.

By now you’ve probably seen all the commercials about transferring your IRA or other retirement funds into a Gold IRA, and it’s a good idea to find out why. You don’t want to miss out on an investment opportunity, but you don’t want to be taken in, either.

Here is an outline of the typical benefits of a Gold IRA.

Technically speaking, a Gold IRA is referred to as a Self-Directed IRA for Precious Metals. A typical IRA is constrained by the government; it can only invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other traditional financial avenues.

A self-directed IRA is one in which you have the ability to tell your IRA manager to invest in various untraditional investments. In a Precious Metals account, you are able to purchase gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.

This means that if you’re not totally sold on gold, you can branch out into various other forms of precious metal.

Many proponents of Gold IRAs argue that investing in gold can help you protect your assets against inflation. The argument goes like this: if you store $1000 in a savings account, and it gains 3.0% over ten years, that would be just under $350 in earnings, for a grand total of $1,343.92. That sounds pretty good, unless inflation rises at 5.0% over that same time period. In that case, your money in ten years would only be worth around $825 in today’s money.

Gold historically has held its value against inflation very well. The question is whether it will hold its value more than a stock or bond that could be actually earning you money.

It may seem like a stretch, but according to the World Gold Council, Gold is being used in everything from aerospace to nanotechnology, from space travel to medicine. That means that rather than simply being a shiny metal, you may be able to leverage the gold you hold in your IRA for a higher price in the future.

We should note, however, that the gold market is notoriously volatile as an earning commodity. You should consult a gold futures expert for forecasts.

There are several benefits to adding gold to your portfolio, and there are even ways to do it without actually converting to a Gold IRA. Whatever you do, make sure you go through a trusted Gold IRA firm who can manage and advise you with sound reason and expert analysis.