Gold IRA questions, answered plainly.

A gold IRA is a self-directed individual retirement account that holds IRS-approved physical precious metals instead of only stocks and bonds. It carries the same tax structure as a traditional or Roth IRA. The metals must be held by a qualified custodian and stored at an approved depository, never at home.

Gold must be at least 0.995 fine (99.5% pure) and generally produced by an approved national mint or accredited refiner. Silver must be 0.999, platinum and palladium 0.9995. The American Gold Eagle is a written exception: it qualifies at 22-karat, about 0.9167 fine, because Congress named it specifically.

No. The IRS does not permit you to take personal possession of metals held inside your IRA. Storing them at home can be treated as a distribution: the full value counted as taxable income, a possible 10% early-withdrawal penalty under age 59½, and loss of the tax-advantaged status.

A gold IRA follows the same limits as any other IRA. For 2026 the standard annual contribution limit is $7,500, with an additional $1,100 catch-up contribution at age 50 and older, for a total of $8,600. Most gold IRAs are funded by rollover rather than by new contributions.

For a typical account, ongoing annual costs often come in under about $300: a custodian administration fee of roughly $75 to $150 plus flat depository storage of about $100 to $150. Setup is a one-time $50 to $100, and the dealer markup is paid once, inside your purchase price.

A fair markup is roughly 3% to 8% over the spot price for standard bullion. On a $50,000 purchase that is a few thousand dollars, and an honest firm states the number plainly. Markups of 20% to 40% are a warning sign, not an industry norm.

It is the gap between the price a dealer sells to you and the lower price they pay to buy the metal back. A fair firm’s buyback bid sits close to spot; some quietly bid 10% to 15% below it. In retirement you sell repeatedly, so the spread becomes a recurring cost, not a one-time one.

Bullion, in almost every case. Bullion is priced off spot with a low single-digit to 8% markup and resells cleanly. Numismatic or collector coins are priced on rarity and often carry 20% to 50% markups, and many graded or slabbed coins are not IRA-eligible at all.

Yes, when it is handled as a trustee-to-trustee transfer. The money moves directly from your old plan to your new IRA custodian, nothing is withheld, and there is no 60-day clock. Done this way, the rollover is generally not a taxable event.

Most rollovers take two to four weeks from start to finish. Opening the new self-directed IRA is quick; waiting for the old plan to release the funds is usually the slow part. No legitimate firm needs to rush you through it.

There is no single correct number. The widely cited starting point is a 5% to 10% allocation to precious metals. Adjust down if you need your portfolio to generate income, since gold pays no dividend or interest, and adjust for your other guaranteed income and tolerance for price swings.

It depends on what you want it to do. Gold adds diversification and has tended to hold purchasing power over long stretches, but it pays no income, can be volatile in the short term, and carries storage and custodial costs. It works best as a modest portion of a plan, not the whole plan.

In about 15 minutes: insist on a written quote with spot price, exact markup, storage and all fees; look up today’s spot price and check the math; review the firm’s Better Business Bureau rating and complaints; search its name with "SEC," "lawsuit," and "complaint"; and get the buyback policy in writing.

Because the "free" metal is paid for by a much larger markup baked into what you buy. Nobody gives away precious metal at a loss. Treat a splashy bonus as a prompt to ask exactly what markup over spot you are being charged, in writing.

Yes. In May 2023 the SEC charged Red Rock Secured, its CEO and two former senior account executives, alleging investors were promised a 1% to 5% markup while being charged as much as 130%, and that the firm took in more than $30 million from retirement savings.