If there’s one thing financial planners will tell you right off the bat, it’s that there are no promises when it comes to investing. If there were such a thing as a sure bet, trust us: you’d already know about it.
Likewise with retirement: there aren’t a lot of certainties when it comes to retirement planning, either. Nevertheless, most of us are heavily invested in mutual funds through either an IRA or a 401(k) plan at work.
IRAs as Most of Us Know Them…
Over the long term, Individual Retirement Plans usually pan out quite nicely.
An IRA has always been a smart way to save for retirement, especially if you don’t have a pension from your job. In fact, roughly 40% of US households own an IRA.* Considering how bad we are at saving, that’s an impressive number!
And why not? After all, IRAs offer the following benefits to their owners:
- they come with great tax savings advantages
- they’re easy to open
- they’re hassle-free since someone manages your IRA for you
The Problem With IRAs as We Know Them…
An IRA is certainly a smart way to plan for retirement, but consider this: almost half of all the IRAs in the United States are invested in mutual funds*…and going back to the stock market crash of 2008 that’s a scary percentage.
If you recall, in 2008 stock prices tumbled and thousands of Americans lost their life savings. As we’re all painfully aware of, there are definite risks involved when we invest in the stock market, and the Crash of 2008 is a prime example of what can happen.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to balance out all that volatility but keep that convenience and tax savings we all love with IRAs? Well there is, and its’ called a Precious Metals IRA.
The Beauty of a Precious Metals IRA
A precious metals IRA carries with it the same tax advantages as an IRA but allows the investor some diversity as far as risk goes. The following precious metals are allowed in this type of IRA:
- Gold
- Silver
- Platinum
- Palladium
All these precious metals are great hedges against inflation, stock volatility and devaluation of the dollar. They are valuable commodities which retain their worth even through economic upheavals and political instability.
Precious metals also offer growth opportunity: they’re used in all sorts of industrial applications most people aren’t even aware of. For example, Palladium is used in catalytic converters** and platinum is used in all sorts of industry: medical, automotive, and computer.
It’s no wonder China and India are purchasing vast amounts of these precious metals as they continue to develop their economies.
How Much Should You Invest in Precious Metals?
Nobody is suggesting you go whole hog and put all your money into a precious metals IRA. In fact, most financial planners recommend putting 5% to 20% of your retirement savings into such a plan. Why the wide range? Because every investor is different: some can tolerate risk more than others, and some of us are closer to retirement than others.
To find out the perfect mix for your retirement portfolio, it’s best to do some research on your own, then speak to a financial planner about investing in a precious metals IRA.
There are a number of precious metals IRA providers out there. We have reviewed a few of them and you can read about them by clicking the links below.
*Source: Investment Company Institute
**Source: Wikipedia
