Find the Best Precious Metal IRA for Your Needs

• Precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, have seen their attractiveness as an investment increase in recent years.
• Precious metals may be an attractive investment option for you, whether you're looking to diversify, hedge against certain investment risks, or protect your portfolio from market volatility.
• However, gold, silver, platinum, and palladium futures and options are different from traditional investment options such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

Precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, have seen their attractiveness as an investment increase in recent years. Precious metals may be an attractive investment option for you, whether you're looking to diversify, hedge against certain investment risks, or protect your portfolio from market volatility.

Choosing the Right Precious Metals

IRAs have exploded in popularity in recent years, and one of the most popular vehicles for storing gold and silver is the self directed precious metals IRA. This type of IRA gives you almost unlimited freedom when it comes to buying and storing your precious metals.

Types of IRAs

There are several types of IRAs, each with its own pros and cons. The most basic option is the traditional IRA, which can be opened with self-directed or brokerage accounts. It's also possible to open an IRA through a bank, credit union, or brokerage firm.

Gold IRA

A Gold IRA is an IRA account that allows investors to hold gold and other precious metals in their retirement accounts. Any investor can contribute to a traditional IRA, including precious metals. The account can be self-directed, meaning that you can invest your retirement funds into precious metals, real estate, and other investments.
A Gold IRA is an account that holds precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. The account can be self-directed or held at a custodian. A custodial account allows investors to hold precious metals without holding the actual metal. Ultimately, the custodian keeps the metals in a vault.

Silver IRA

A silver IRA is a self-directed retirement account that can hold physical bullion, such as silver bullion coins. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows investors to hold physical precious metals in an IRA.
A precious metals IRA can be a great way to diversify your retirement portfolio. While precious metals can be volatile, they can hold steady when other investments are down.

Platinum IRA

While gold is the most popular precious metal to hold in an IRA, silver and platinum are becoming increasingly popular. In fact, platinum is becoming an increasingly attractive option, thanks to rising prices. A 2016 report by Barron's showed that platinum has been rising steadily in price, increasing 15% from 2013 to 2016.
Platinum is also getting a lot of attention because of its industrial uses. It's used in catalytic converters, which remove toxic gases from automobile exhaust gases, and in fuel cells, which convert hydrogen into electricity.
While platinum isn't as widely recognized as gold, its industrial uses makes it an appealing option for investors who are concerned about inflation.

Gold IRA: Should You Open One To Save For Retirement?

The Bottom Line

A self-directed IRA allows you to invest in precious metals, such as gold, silver, and platinum, held either in your own name, or in the name of a trust or company. A precious metals IRA offers investors diversification and an alternative to paper currencies, which are plagued by inflation and devaluation.