Gold & Your Retirement

A patient guide for the long-horizon investor. How Gold IRAs actually work, the language that gets misused, and the questions worth asking before any rollover.

— or download this as a 22-page PDF if you prefer to read it offline.

Why we wrote this page

Each year we receive letters from American readers asking the same kinds of questions. Can I move my IRA into gold? Is it really tax-free? What's the catch? These questions are reasonable. The answers, unfortunately, are often presented in marketing language that obscures more than it reveals. We have written this page to give straight answers, in the same voice we would use with our private clients — without hype, without urgency, and without selling anything.

If, after reading, you decide to explore a Gold IRA further, we will point you toward licensed US providers in the closing section. We do not handle US retirement accounts ourselves. Our work is with non-US private clients in Luxembourg.

Tax-deferred, not tax-free

This is the single most important distinction, and the one most often blurred in advertising. A rollover from a traditional IRA into a Gold IRA is tax-deferred, not tax-free. The two phrases sound similar; they describe very different things.

If anyone tells you a traditional-to-Gold IRA rollover is “tax-free,” they are either being careless with language or selling something. The proper phrase is tax-deferred. The taxes are not gone; they are waiting for you at distribution.

How Gold IRAs actually work

A Gold IRA is a self-directed IRA that holds physical precious metals instead of (or alongside) stocks and bonds. The mechanics are not as exotic as they sound. They are subject to a specific section of the US tax code — IRC §408(m) — which dictates exactly which forms of gold qualify and how they must be held.

The four parties involved

1. The custodian — an IRS-approved trust company that administers the IRA. The custodian is the legal owner of the assets on your behalf and handles all reporting to the IRS. Examples: Equity Trust, STRATA Trust, Kingdom Trust. You cannot be your own custodian.
2. The depository — an IRS-approved facility where the physical metal is stored. The metal cannot be kept at your home, in your safe deposit box, or anywhere of your choosing. It must be held by an approved depository. Examples: Delaware Depository, Brink's Global Services, IDS.
3. The dealer — the firm that sources the actual gold and arranges the transaction. This is typically the company you see advertising. The dealer is who makes the sales pitch; the custodian and depository do the actual work.
4. You, the account holder — you direct the strategy and make the decisions, but you do not handle the metal personally. The custodian and depository do.

What gold qualifies

Not just any gold can go into a Gold IRA. The IRS requires specific purity standards and approved forms. The most common eligible items are:

• American Gold Eagle coins (the only exception to the purity rule — they are 91.67% pure and grandfathered)
• American Gold Buffalo coins
• Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coins
• Australian Gold Kangaroo coins
• Austrian Gold Philharmonic coins
• Gold bars and rounds from approved refiners, minimum 99.5% purity (24 karat)

Collectibles, rare coins, jewelry, and certain numismatic items do not qualify for a Gold IRA. Be cautious of dealers who try to upsell you into “rare” or “premium” coins for an IRA — this is one of the most common abuses in the industry, where buyers pay 30–50% over spot price for coins that offer no real advantage.

The 60-day rule, and why we recommend trustee-to-trustee transfers

There are two ways to move money into a Gold IRA from an existing retirement account, and the difference matters more than most people realize.

The questions worth asking before any rollover

If you are evaluating a Gold IRA provider — whether one we suggest below or any other — these are the questions that, in our experience, separate serious operators from those who are unfamiliar with what serious custody requires.

1. Who is your IRS-approved custodian, and how long has that custodian been operating?
2. Which depository will my metal be stored in, and is it segregated (allocated) or commingled?
3. What is the all-in annual cost — setup fee, custodian fee, storage fee, and any percentage-of-assets fees combined?
4. What is the markup on the gold itself above the spot price? This is where most of the real cost lives. Reasonable dealers charge 3–8% over spot for IRA-eligible bullion. Be very wary of dealers who push 20%+ markups or steer you toward "premium" coins.
5. What is the buyback policy if I want to liquidate? Is there a spread, and what is it?
6. Can I see the full fee schedule and account agreement before I commit?
7. Are you registered with the appropriate state regulators? (Most states require precious metals dealers to register; you can verify this with the state attorney general's office.)

If a salesperson cannot or will not answer these questions clearly, that is itself the answer. Take it as a signal to look elsewhere.

When a Gold IRA might make sense — and when it might not

Cases where it can be appropriate

• You hold a substantial traditional IRA and want a portion (typically 5–25%) diversified into a non-correlated, physical asset.
• You are concerned about long-term currency debasement and want hard assets in your retirement allocation.
• You are within ~10 years of retirement and want a portfolio component that historically performs differently from equities during recessions.
• You have already maxed out other retirement vehicles and want additional diversification within the tax-advantaged structure.

Cases where it probably does not

• You are young (20s or 30s) with a long horizon — equities have historically outperformed gold over multi-decade periods, and the fees on a Gold IRA can erode the advantage.
• You only have a small IRA balance — the fixed costs of a Gold IRA (setup, annual storage) become a meaningful percentage drag on smaller accounts.
• You are looking for short-term price appreciation. Gold IRAs are not a trading vehicle. Frequent transactions inside a Gold IRA are expensive and inefficient.
• You are being told by a salesperson that gold "always goes up" or that the dollar is about to collapse. Anyone using urgency or fear to sell you a Gold IRA is selling something other than gold.

How Ariyor differs from a Gold IRA

For clarity: what we do is not a Gold IRA. Ariyor is a Luxembourg-based private custody service for non-US clients with non-retirement assets. The structural differences are worth understanding even if you never become an Ariyor client — they help illustrate what to look for in any custody arrangement.

Where to learn more

If you want to investigate a Gold IRA further, we recommend the following starting points. None of these are affiliated with Ariyor; we receive no compensation for mentioning them.

• The IRS itself — Publication 590-A and 590-B describe IRA rules in plain language. Slightly dry reading, but authoritative.
• The Better Business Bureau — check the BBB rating and complaint history of any Gold IRA company you are considering. This single step prevents most disasters.
• Your state attorney general's office — verify any precious metals dealer is properly registered.
• A licensed CPA or tax attorney — a one-hour consultation before you commit to a rollover is well worth the fee. Bring the dealer's full fee schedule and contract for them to review.

Stay on our private dispatch

If you found this useful, we publish a short letter every six to eight weeks on questions of long-horizon wealth, custody, and the slow craft of preservation. No more than six dispatches per year. No advertising. No urgency.

A 22-page magazine-style version of this material, prepared for slow reading. Save it, print it, share it with your CPA. There is no email gate — just download it.