Converting a traditional 401K to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) has become increasingly popular as Americans turn to precious metals to protect their retirement accounts from the devaluation of the dollar. The Gold IRA allows people to invest in physical gold and silver through their IRAs, and it comes with many benefits over a traditional 401K account. If you’re thinking about converting your 401K, here are three reasons why you should consider opening up a Gold IRA instead of going with your typical 401K plan.
Do you have a traditional IRA or 401k invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds? If so, what do you plan on doing with your account when you retire? A lot of people simply don’t know how to convert their traditional retirement plans into gold-based IRAs. That’s where investing comes in. By learning more about investing early on, you can make important decisions that will impact your future self.
Converting 401K to Gold. One of these options is converting a traditional 401(k) or IRA into a precious metals IRA—also known as an investor owned segregated account (IOSA). This allows you to direct investments away from paper assets like stocks and bonds, which are vulnerable to inflation over time; instead, it directs investments toward physical assets like bullion bars and coins.
When you convert your traditional IRA or 401(k) into a precious metals IRA, you can direct investments toward physical assets like bullion bars and coins. These tangible assets are resistant to inflation over time, which means your retirement savings will continue to grow in value. As well, when you own precious metals, you have an investment that’s completely free from government influence. That’s important because it means that they’re unlikely to lose their value—or risk becoming worthless—in an economic crisis.
Why Convert a Traditional IRA or 401(k) into Precious Metals. By converting your traditional IRA or 401(k) into an investor-owned segregated account (IOSA), you will gain access to physical precious metals that are kept in secure vaults, with direct ownership over your assets and no government oversight. This means you won’t have someone else making decisions about what happens with your assets; rather, it’s all up to you.
Note that not all traditional IRAs and 401(k)s can be converted into precious metals IRAs. Be sure to check with your brokerage or IRA administrator before you begin converting an existing account, as not all institutions will offer these accounts. If you have questions about how to convert your traditional IRA or 401(k) into a precious metals IRA, get in touch with our specialists today. We’ll help you understand what steps you need to take and walk you through each one.
What to Consider Before Converting Your IRA. If you’re considering converting your traditional IRA or 401(k) into a precious metals IRA, there are some important factors you should take into account. First and foremost, you want to make sure that all of your accounts—and their holdings—are being held at a single institution.
People often wonder if converting their traditional 401k into a precious metals IRA is a good idea. They think about how secure their retirement will be once they retire and how much money they’ll have. But before you make that conversion, it’s important to know what you’re getting into—and how much work you might have ahead of you.
If you’re thinking about converting your traditional 401k into a precious metals IRA, consider what pros and cons might be involved. This will help you better understand whether it’s worth it for you.
The Conversion Process - If you want to convert your traditional 401k into a precious metals IRA, there are several ways that can happen.
Once you’ve decided that converting your traditional 401k into a precious metals IRA is right for you, you’ll need to get started on setting up your account. read more
One of two things will happen:
If you have other IRA accounts, your next step will be opening an account with a precious metals IRA custodian. This is important because different companies offer different types of precious metals IRAs. One might be better than another depending on your situation and needs.
The second step is choosing your precious metals IRA custodian. Different companies offer different types of precious metals IRAs, so you’ll want to choose one that works best for you. It might have better rates or more flexible investment options than another. Whatever situation you find yourself in, make sure it’s something that fits with what you need and will help meet your goals as an investor.
What You Can Invest In - Another key part of deciding whether or not converting your traditional 401k into a precious metals IRA is right for you involves understanding what kind of investments are available through such an account.
Your choice of precious metals IRA custodian will help determine which investment options are available. However, some types of investments might still be off-limits. For example, you won’t be able to invest in mutual funds or stocks through your traditional 401k once it’s been converted into a precious metals IRA. You can use your account only for physical coins and bullion products from reputable dealers—not exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stocks, or any other type of financial product that is not made up of metal itself. What about dollar cost averaging?
Dollar cost averaging is one way of investing in precious metals, especially if you don’t have much money available. It allows you to spread out your investment over time and make it last longer. Here’s how it works
You can transfer or rollover your old 401k into a self-directed IRA. (A self-directed IRA is any IRA that allows you to choose investments other than just mutual funds.) Once you’ve rolled over your existing plan, you can invest in gold as an alternative asset class. Many investors like gold because of its lower correlation with other asset classes (which means it doesn’t move in lockstep with stocks and bonds).
When you convert your traditional 401k into a self-directed IRA, you’ll have more control over how you invest and diversify your portfolio. But it’s still important to work with a financial professional because there are tax implications when rolling over a traditional plan. To learn more about converting your existing 401k, start by reading Self Directed IRAs by Jeff Rose (available on Amazon).
It will walk you through step by step how to open an account and which companies offer self-directed IRAs. This book is especially helpful if you don’t already know where to get started.
Once you’ve read through Jeff’s book, call up your financial advisor or rollover specialist and ask them if they have any other resources that might be helpful. After all, it makes sense to gather as much information as possible before making such an important investment decision. Then you can make an informed decision about whether or not it makes sense for you to convert your old 401k into a self-directed IRA.
If you’re interested in investing in gold, and do want more information about how you can convert your existing plan into a self-directed IRA, start by reading Jeff Rose’s book. Then reach out to your financial advisor or rolling over specialist for any additional guidance. To learn more about converting your traditional 401k into a self-directed IRA, check out my previous post on What is a Self Directed IRA?
A common question that our customers ask is whether or not it makes sense to convert their Traditional 401k into either a Gold IRA or Silver IRA. The answer depends on many factors, including tax implications and risk tolerance, but one of the most important factors to consider is cost.
Although many different factors will determine whether or not it makes sense for you to convert your Traditional 401k into either a Gold IRA or Silver IRA, one of the most important things that you need to consider is cost. The last thing that you want is to find out after converting your account that it would have been better financially if you hadn’t converted.
Fortunately, there are several services that provide free cost estimates for converting your Traditional 401k into either a Gold IRA or Silver IRA. We’ll take you through an example and then discuss exactly what these different costs mean for you so that you can make an informed decision. Let’s say that you have $200,000 in your Traditional 401k account and want to convert it into either a Gold IRA or Silver IRA.
Now that you have an idea of what these different costs mean for you, you’ll need to decide whether or not it makes sense for you to convert your Traditional 401k into either a Gold IRA or Silver IRA. Before making any big decisions like converting a portion of your retirement savings, it’s best if you sit down with a financial advisor and go over all of your options.
If you decide that it’s in your best interest to convert some or all of your Traditional 401k into either a Gold IRA or Silver IRA, make sure that you do it through an IRS-approved trustee. Check out providers like Regal Assets for more information about how you can get started with these exciting and profitable retirement options.