How does using silver with an IRA work

[General of Darkness]

How does it work and is there any benefit to doing this?

[Mouse]

It works like this:

Sell your IRA and deduct about 20-25% and set it aside (You will need it to pay off your Uncle)
Buy silver.

The benefits are that you have removed counterparty and political risk from your IRA and have converted it into physical silver.

[Serpo]

Article on that subject.............If you want to know how to put physical gold or silver into your IRA or 401K retirement account without suffering tax penalties, Larry LaBorde explains how to do it in detail

http://financialsurvivalradio.com/goldsilver/

[beefsteak]

How does it work and is there any benefit to doing this?


I recall investigating this back in the early 90s. Should have done more than investigate, huh. :-\

Anyhow, Googling this: http://www.google.com/search?q=Physical+Precious+Metal+IRAs&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a pages of hits showed up.

AMPEX page dealing with self-directed IRA's and GoldStar Trust Company is listed as a "registered/approved type dealer" close to the top of google page. Maybe they could answer your questions. http://www.apmex.com/GoldinIRA/Default.aspx?gclid=CMfV5pimrqgCFQQ7gwod6138Hg

The benefits are these: it's not going to be ever a depreciating investment, since it is hard money if you're talking about GOLD self-directed IRA. Silver? The jury is still out on whether or not the world will ever return to a bi-metallic money standard as it was in decades past in many nations around the globe.

I'd be interested in hearing what you learn w/r/t management fees, annual fees, storage fees, and all the other tricks of the "off-site" storage world of 3rd party custodial IRAs. At least the price appreciation of the physical will more than make up for their current fees' structure...future fees' structure change should also be investigated I would imagine.

Hope this helps.
beefsteak

[Hatha Sunahara]

I've been dealing with this issue now for a long time--at least 5 years.

If you want PMs in your IRA, you need to find a 'fiduciary' who will hold them. You can't hold them yourself in an IRA. There are two 'fiduciaries' I know of who will do this, one is a Swiss Company, and another is an outfit that provides services for churches. I personally don't want any fiduciary holding metal for me--mostly because the whole point of holding metal is to not have anyone else holding it for you.

When I discovered this, I rolled all my IRAs together into a self directed IRA account--something you can start with any brokerage firm. I then invested the cash in Silver and Gold mining stocks--which faithfully follow the price of silver and gold, and are leveraged--because these companies own a lot of metal still in the ground. When silver or gold goes up, they go up by a multiple, but the same is true on the down side. I stay away from the small PM mining companies. I only buy stock of the larger better established companies. One of my better performers is Silver Wheaton. (SLW). But despite the good performance, the whole investment is at risk for what the government might do with tax deferred accounts like IRAs, and 401ks.

I have adopted the solution Mouse proposed in his post above. I am getting rid of the IRA entirely. My problem now is to develop a strategy to pay the least amount of taxes while liquidating all of it. If I take it all out, I will pay a huge percentage of it in taxes--35% or more. If I take it out in fractional portions, like 1/3 of it a year for three years to lower my taxes, I will fall behind on liquidating it because it grows by an amount greater than what I take out. At the rate PMs are appreciating, it could take me decades to liquidate the IRA entirely without paying the highest tax rate.

Holding physical metal in an IRA is an oxymoron. Metals make you free. IRAs are an extension of your tax slavery, and a jail for your money. Holding any value in an IRA is bad. Why would you want to hold something very good like gold or silver in a very bad investment vehicle? Even owning PM mining stocks in an IRA isn't without risk, or major encumbrance. If you withdraw any of it before you're 59 1/2 years old, you'll pay a hefty penalty on top of the taxes.


Hatha