Precious Metals

Self-Directed IRAs

August 3, 2012

Last week, the Romney team visited the Villages, a sprawling community of over 100,000 residents over the age of 55, only about an hour from the NuView headquarters in Orlando. What does this group have in common? And why do politicians consider this a critical stop to deliver their stump speech? These residents have an obsession with protecting their social security, Medicare, and retirement plans. Politicians use this group as a surrogate to prove their policies are “senior-friendly”. I’m told that until you are retired, you cannot understand the helplessness of relying on personal savings, which have been ravaged by low interest rates and stock market uncertainty.

If only those of us who are still working had the same obsession about saving and investing wisely! Most workers continue to rely solely on the advice of money managers, or mutual fund managers to ensure their retirement is adequately invested. When the market takes a dip, participants in employer sponsored plans often scale back their contributions, due to a lack of confidence in their investments or their advisors. Most professional financial advisors see lower stock market prices as a golden opportunity to buy, while human nature moves investors to become more cautious and withdraw.

It’s time that we all woke up to the fact that no institution, money manager, or even financial advisor has more at stake than you do – in the health of your retirement funds. Despite the droning platitudes of the politicians, their ability to ensure a stress-free retirement for you is limited by huge budget deficits, tax stalemates, and the burgeoning growth in the number of taxpayers moving into their retirement years.

If you feel inadequate in making good investment decisions, find several friends, associates and professionals who can serve as your advisors – and avoid being influenced only by one source. Just as you wouldn’t subject yourself to a critical medical procedure without a second opinion, don’t move forward with important investment choices without consulting with several advisors.

As stated in the Wall Street Journal, over the next ten years, private investment choices are likely to outpace the public markets. Ensure that you understand all your options, including a self-directed individual retirement account that can access those private investment choices. You may find that understanding your options for investing in rental real estate, private lending, or buying precious metals through your IRA may be easier than reading a 100 page disclosure on the latest IPO. The best result is one that results in making your retirement political proof, providing a greater insulation against the potential damages of future policy decisions, and less reliant on the governments “dividends”.

 

The Basics of Self-Directed IRAs

July 27, 2012

Vice president of NuView IRA, Jason DeBono, explains the basics of self-directed IRAs.

Why Own Gold, Silver, Platinum or Palladium in an IRA?

May 29, 2012

Only an IRA administrator would likely be aware that the ability of a private US citizen to own gold was returned on January 1, 1975. It shares a birthday with the first Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) – offering a tax-advantaged savings plan for retirees. The fact that those opportunities can be coalesced into purchasing precious metals for a retirement plan is finally taking root.

Interestingly, as a self-directed IRA administrator in Orlando, we do not and cannot give our thousands of IRA clients any advice regarding their investment choices. A self-directed account by its very nature is not influenced by the record-keeper, custodian or administrator of their account.

So, why are clients self-directing their IRA funds into Gold and other precious? Most cite the uncertainty of traditional investments and the desire to hold something tangible and not tied to a particular currency. While speculators often purchase the physical metals directly, many IRA holders that are trading in and out of their investments prefer mining stock as a surrogate. The majority of IRA custodians are unable or unwilling to hold title to the actual physical metals, although not constrained by the IRS.

For those that prefer the certainty that the IRA sanctioned precious metals provide (non-collectable Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium), additional due diligence is prudent to ensure that all the aspects of the investment process is followed.

Integrity: Buy and sell with a dealer with a sterling reputation. Calculate that costs are in line with the value desired, and that the dealer will be willing to sell to an IRA. This will require that based on a purchase request, the dealer will strike and hold a price for up to a three day receipt of funds.

Responsiveness: Deal with an IRA administrator in Orlando that can move quickly and effortlessly through the application and IRA funding process. Most importantly, the time to execute the purchase is critical – so ensure that you have a designated employee’s name and relationship established with your IRA administrator that will take responsibility on meeting your time constraints.

Fidelity of Storage: With an IRA, the holder must designate an authorized storage facility to house the precious metals. Ensure that your IRA administrator will provide multiple depositories from which you can choose, including both in the US as well as Canada. After all, once the purchase transaction is complete, the entire purpose of holding metals for security is diminished should your metals be incorrectly administered at the storage facility.

Whether for a long term investment, or for those seeking quicker gains, IRA clients have shown a historically unparalleled appetite for precious metals. The genie is out of the bottle, and will likely now be a constant in many self-directed retirement accounts.

Glen Mather is President of NuView IRA, Inc., a leading self-directed IRA administrator in Orlando. He can be contacted at 407-367-3472 or gmather@nuviewira.com

Topics

Featured Posts