When you realize that it is time for you to get more concerned about your retirement, you will decide to take some important steps towards properly saving money. There are numerous different savings accounts that you can choose to set up, but there is also one significant rule to remember. It is always the smartest option for you to invest in those assets that will surely keep their value overtime, because you never know what may happen on the market, in terms of inflation and currency devaluation.
The very fact that investing in stable assets is important has led to an increased popularity of gold as an investment opportunity. If you go here, you will realize that there are a lot of benefits to buying this particular asset. Apart from being stable and serving as a great inflation hedge, this precious metal also provides for a great diversifying opportunity, which is highly important for all investors, as you may already understand. Furthermore, the demand for it is high, while there are some supply constraints, meaning that it is highly liquid.
If you have come across these opportunities to invest in gold IRAs, then you must have done some research on the topics already. You have found out that there are a few different investment options to choose among, one of them being the home stored gold IRA. This particular option allows you to hold bullion in your own home, which must sound like the perfect opportunity.
Is this really such a perfect opportunity, though? Well, that is what we are here to find out. If you keep on reading, you will get a clearer idea on the rules of home storage and on the potential safety issues and penalties you may face if you decide to use this particular option. Furthermore, you will also learn how to safely invest in this asset, and thus avoid all of those issues and penalties that we will mention.
Home-Stored Gold IRAs
Home stored gold IRAs, as the name says it, allow you to store your bullion at home. A lot of people assume that this is the safest investment option, because they are in charge of keeping the gold safe, and they are in physical possession of it. Some individuals tend to assume that they will get scammed if they don’t physically own the asset. I am not going to argue against the fact that this could be a possibility, but I have to make it clear that not everyone is out to scam you, meaning that you can find legitimate options out there even when not using the home stored gold IRA opportunity.
Read about some things you should know before buying gold: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2021/03/29/five-things-you-need-to-know-before-buying-gold/?sh=506893342e06
As explained, a lot of people assume that the home stored option is the safest one. That, however, isn’t really the case, and there are numerous reasons why not. First and foremost, the IRS has actually banned home stored gold IRAs, meaning that setting up this type of an account can be quite challenging. Not to mention that any of your attempts to do so can be subject to certain penalties.
The idea of buying and holding physical gold at home instead of getting future contracts or paper certificates has definitely sounded appealing to most people in the past. In 2009, though, the IRS issues a warning, stating that owning physical precious metals as part of IRAs could result in penalties. This is because the IRS doesn’t exactly consider gold as a permissible investment for Individual Retirement Accounts.
Potential Issues & Penalties
The above must have made it clear that there are penalties for those attempts to hold physical gold at home after buying it through your IRA. Naturally, you are now interested in learning what kind of penalties you could face if you made any such attempts. Well, let me start by saying that those penalties can be really high. In fact, they can even be up to 100% of the actual value of your investment. That just doesn’t seem worth it, does it?
So, if you’re thinking whether you should buy gold, here’s some food for thought. Let’s say you own physical gold worth $50000 in your IRA. And, let us even say that you haven’t decided to keep the assets at home, simple because that can lead to some risks that we will mention later on, and that you have, instead, stored them somewhere in a secure vault. The IRS could come after you due to this and you may end up paying a penalty as high as $50000, meaning that you will lose all the money that you have invested. Once again, this doesn’t really seem worth it, right?
Of course, if you have had a gold IRA for a long time now, i.e. if you have set it up before 2009 and if you’ve bought this physical asset before that period, you will still be able to enjoy home storing and physically holding the precious metal. The law has changed in 2010, though. So, now, all of the new accounts that attempt to buy physical gold and home store it will be subject to the penalty that I have mentioned above.
I have also briefly hinted at the fact that there are some risks of storing this precious metal at home. I suppose that you can think of one right away. In the simplest words possible, there is the danger of getting robbed. If something like that happens, you will wind up losing all of your investments pretty quickly, which will certainly not be to your liking. Plus, there is also risk of damage that could decrease the value of the assets you are storing this way.
Apart from all of this, you could also risk coming across companies that could force you into buying certain specific packages in exchange for managing your account, instead of allowing you to invest in what you want. Dishonest companies like those may also try to sell you some rare coins at very inflated prices instead of selling you the gold that you wanted in the first place. This is just another potential issue that you could face if you go for the home stored gold IRA option.
Why SDIRA Managed By Custodians Is A Smarter Option
Fortunately for you, there is a smarter option you can use to your advantage. If you pay a quick visit to https://bmogamviewpoints.com/home-storage-gold-ira/, you will get to learn even more about the dangers of the home storage option, as well as get acquainted with the smarter one that I have mentioned here. Basically, the smarter one consists of you setting up a SDIRA (a self-directed IRA) and having it managed by a custodian.
This opportunity is much better because you won’t have to worry about any penalties for diversifying, such as those that I have mentioned above. Plus, since qualified custodians will be managing your account, instead of investors, your investments will be much safer. Since there is this safe option out there, I don’t see a reason why you would risk it with the home stored one. If you want to do everything the right way, make sure to set up a SDIRA, find a great custodian and then start diversifying.