FAQ’s
What is a Precious Metal?
A Precious Metals IRA is also known as a Self-Directed IRA which is an individual retirement account that allows you to hold alternative investments such as real estate, raw land, oil/gas, and precious metals. The self-directed IRA puts you in full control of your investment decisions, while your IRA custodian facilitates the management of your account on your behalf.
Why a Precious Metal IRA?
Having a Precious Metals IRA gives you the true ability to diversify your portfolio because it allows you to invest into alternative investments such as precious metals. Precious metals such as gold and silver play a key role in a diversified portfolio. Precious metals is a safe haven asset that protects and preserves your hard-earned savings during inflation when the dollar is devalued. By diversifying your portfolio with gold and silver you are protecting yourself against market crashes. This is because precious metals have an inverse relationship to the stock market because when the stock market goes down, gold and silver tend to go up.
How do I rollover an existing retirement account?
Give us a call and one of the experts at Wilshire Capital will walk you through the simple process of filling out the necessary paperwork to roll your funds over from your current retirement account to your new Precious Metals IRA.
Why can't I hold previous metals into my existing IRA?
Typical IRA’s and 401(k)’s are only allowed to equities such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs. In order to diversify your retirement savings with precious metals you will need to establish a Precious Metals IRA which allows you to hold alternative investments such as gold and silver.
Where are my metals stored?
You have several options for where to store your metals. One is the Delaware Depository, the largest precious metals depository outside of New York City. There, your metals are insured up to $1 billion. You may also be able to store your metals with Brink’s, the largest non-bank, non-government holder of precious metals in the world, in Los Angeles, New York City, Salt Lake City or Ohio.
Can I take physical possession of my metals?
You will own real, physical precious metals in your Precious Metals IRA. Once you are age-eligible to take distributions, if you would like to take physical possession, the depository storing your metals will ship them directly to you. If you prefer, you can also choose to liquidate your metals and take your distribution in the form of cash. Depending on the type of IRA you set up, you may need to pay taxes on these distributions.
Are there penalties for moving into a Precious Metal IRA?
There are no penalties or tax consequences when you roll your funds over from an existing IRA or 401(k). However, there are eligibility requirements in order to roll your funds over, to find out if your retirement account is eligible, give us a call and one of the experts at Wilshire Capital will help you out and let you know.
Which retirement accounts can be converted to a gold-backed IRA?
There are many types of retirement accounts/plans that can be converted to a Precious Metals IRA including an IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b), TSP, SEP, and annuities. Please keep in mind, there are eligibility requirements in order to roll your funds over into a Precious Metals IRA. Give us a call and one of our experts at Wilshire Capital will help you out and let you know.
How long does the rollover process take?
Helping you establish a Precious Metals IRA takes one business day with our partner custodian. One of the experts at Wilshire Capital will help you throughout the whole process. However, the roll over process of moving your funds into your new account depends on your current custodian. This process should take anywhere up to 10 business days.
Who is the custodian of my account?
Wilshire Capital works with Strata Trust Company, who has an A + rating with the Better Business Bureau. Strata Trust Company manages 2+ Billion dollars of assets under management, 30,000+ satisfied clients, and over 350 years of collective experience.
What Types of Precious metals can I place in my IRA?
IRS tax law allows precious metals products that meet certain standards of purity to be included in a Precious Metals IRA. For example, the fineness of gold coins and bars must be at least 0.995, silver products must be at least 0.999 fine, and both platinum and palladium products must be at least 0.9995 fine.