Precious Metals
More and more people today seem to be getting nervous about the future of the economy and their financial well-being. With growing fear of a possible recession, continuing problematic inflation, and the uncertain impact of tariffs, there’s certainly a lot to be concerned about.
Despite headlines that try to downplay the risk of recession, the reality of falling consumer spending and business uneasiness can’t be ignored. More and more people are beginning to understand just how dangerous and uncertain the future may be, and they’re looking to help preserve their assets accordingly.
Many people today are starting to turn to silver to help safeguard their assets, as silver has a reputation, along with gold, of being a safe haven asset during times of financial distress. And one method in particular, a silver IRA, continues to gain in popularity. Here is how a silver IRA works.
You may be wondering what a silver IRA is, and you’re not alone. To those who have experience with owning stocks and bonds within a conventional IRA, the idea of buying silver through an IRA may seem somewhat strange.
But as long as you follow all the IRA rules and regulations, buying silver coins or silver bars through a silver IRA works just the same as buying stocks or bonds through a conventional IRA.
Many people choose to start silver IRAs because they want to gain some of the advantages of owning physical silver. Here are three potential advantages of owning silver that you should consider.
One reason to buy silver is to help diversify your portfolio. Because precious metals like gold and silver tend to have low correlation with many traditional financial assets like stocks and bonds, silver is sometimes looked at as an asset that can help diversify portfolios.
Many people think that holding a broad array of stocks and bonds, or mutual funds and index funds, is sufficient to diversify their portfolios. But they may not realize that their assets are strongly dependent on the performance of Wall Street and the US financial system for their value.
In the event of a systemic financial crisis, both bonds and stocks can lose value. If the purpose of diversification is to lower the risk of holding any single asset, then portfolios that are too highly concentrated could experience greater risk of loss.
Silver can also serve as a hedge against inflation during times of high inflation. With inflation having become problematic in recent years, inflation defense could become increasingly important in the future.
The last time the US faced significantly high systemic inflation was during the stagflation of the 1970s, when inflation peaked at over 13%. During that decade, silver’s average annualized growth rate was over 30%.
If inflation were to become as high in the future as it was in the 1970s, silver owners would certainly appreciate it if silver could repeat that type of performance. And if that were to happen, silver owners could look back years from now and be incredibly happy that they made the decision to buy silver.
Silver can help protect your assets both in the long term and the short term. While many people hold onto silver for years or decades to help safeguard their portfolios, silver’s performance during times of financial stress has made it a popular asset in recent years.
Whereas markets lost well over 50% of their value during the 2008 financial crisis and took over five years to regain their pre-crisis levels, silver held most of its value. In the years after the financial crisis, silver more than quintupled in price.
Just like gold, silver has a reputation for increasing in price as markets begin to perform poorly. When markets are expected to decline, silver can be one possible choice to act as a hedge.
Purchasing silver through a silver IRA has an additional advantage over other methods of acquiring silver such as buying silver coins with a direct cash purchase. The silver coins or bars that you buy for a silver IRA can be purchased with pre-tax dollars, and your gains within your silver IRA accrue tax-free until you decide to take a distribution.
This is the same tax treatment as any other IRA account, which is why a silver IRA can be a popular choice for those with existing tax-advantaged retirement accounts such as a 401(k), 403(b), TSP, or IRA. As long as you follow the silver IRA rules and regulations, moving a portion of your retirement savings to a silver IRA can be done relatively easily.
As with any IRA or other tax-advantaged retirement account, you need to follow various rules and regulations. You may want to consult with your tax advisor or financial advisor to make sure that you’re following these regulations and not accidentally exposing yourself to taxes or penalties.
The rules and regulations pertaining to silver IRAs are largely the same as those pertaining to other IRA accounts. Here are some important silver IRA rules to be aware of.
Many people choose to fund their silver IRAs through rollovers or transfers from existing retirement accounts such as a 401(k) or Traditional IRA.
Sometimes this is done to safeguard gains made in these retirement accounts. Other times this is to put funds in orphaned accounts managed by previous employers to better use.
Most of the time these rollovers and transfers from an existing retirement account to a silver IRA can be done tax-free. Goldco has helped thousands of silver IRA customers roll over their retirement savings into physical silver to help safeguard their existing retirement assets.
Contribution limits are the same for a silver IRA as they are for any other IRA account. For 2025 the contribution limit to an IRA is $7,000 if you’re under age 50, and $8,000 if you’re over age 50. These limits of course don’t apply to rollovers and transfers, which can be any sum you want.
Not all silver coins and bars are eligible for acquisition through a silver IRA. In fact, the tax code forbids collectibles in general, including coins and metals, from being acquired by an IRA.
There are exceptions, however, for certain coins produced by the US Mint such as the Silver American Eagle coins, as well as coins and bars meeting minimum fineness requirements, which are .999 (99.9% pure) for silver coins.
What this means, however, is that most older coins are not eligible for purchase through a silver IRA, such as older Morgan silver dollars or US junk silver. If you were to attempt to purchase these coins with IRA assets, it would be considered a distribution, and would subject you to potential taxes and penalties.
You also can’t purchase coins you already own with silver IRA assets, as this would violate rules against self-dealing.
With over a decade of experience helping customers buy silver, and with established relationships with mints around the world, Goldco’s representatives can ensure that the silver coins you buy are indeed eligible for your IRA.
Most silver IRAs are Traditional silver IRAs, in which purchases are made with pre-tax dollars and gains are taxed only at distribution. But you can also open a Roth silver IRA, in which assets are purchased with post-tax dollars and gains are not taxed at all when you take a qualified distribution.
There is also the possibility of a Roth conversion, in which you convert pre-tax dollars from existing retirement accounts into a Roth silver IRA and pay taxes on that conversion. In general, whatever can be done with a conventional IRA can be done with a gold IRA.
Regulations pertaining to required minimum distributions (RMDs) are the same for a silver IRA as they are for other IRA accounts. If your silver IRA is a Roth IRA, there are no RMDs.
If your silver IRA is a Traditional IRA, you will be required to take RMDs once you reach age 73. If you attempt to take a distribution before age 59½, you could be subject to potential taxes and penalties.
As with any other IRA account, your silver IRA assets will need to be managed by a custodian. Goldco partners with silver IRA custodians who have years of experience in the precious metals industry.
Your silver IRA coins and bars will also be stored at a precious metals depository. Goldco partners with depositories who have significant experience helping keep our customers’ assets safe and secure.
More and more Americans today are turning to silver as a safe haven asset to try to help protect their wealth. If you think you may want to start a silver IRA, it can be done in just three easy steps.
The first step to starting a silver IRA is to choose trusted silver IRA partners. If you’re going to be spending tens of thousands of dollars or more on silver, you want to make sure that the partners with whom you work are trustworthy, dependable, and dedicated to customer service.
Starting a silver IRA in order to help protect your wealth is a major financial decision, one which you’ll want to discuss with your financial advisor and tax advisor. And you’ll want to do your homework when choosing a silver IRA company with which to work, such as looking at customer reviews.
With over 7,000 5-star reviews and over $3 billion in precious metals placements, Goldco has established itself as one of the best silver IRA companies in the country.
As with any other IRA, your silver IRA assets will need to be managed by a custodian. Perhaps you’ve heard of a home storage precious metals IRA, an arrangement that purports to allow you to store your gold and silver IRA assets at home. If this sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is.
Your IRA assets need to be managed by an IRS-approved custodian. Attempting to store your silver IRA assets at home could potentially subject you to taxes and penalties.
Goldco works with established silver IRA custodians who have years of experience managing precious metals, making sure that the process of establishing your silver IRA runs smoothly, and that your silver IRA assets are properly managed.
Your silver IRA custodian will manage your silver IRA assets, and your assets will be stored at a bullion depository.
Goldco works with established bullion depositories who have vast experience storing precious metals. Even within these depositories there can be different levels of storage to ensure that your silver IRA assets remain as secure as possible.
Along with choosing trusted silver IRA partners, you’ll also want to consider what type of silver IRA you want to start.
Do you have a 401(k) or TSP account that you want to help protect with physical silver? Then a rollover to a Traditional silver IRA may be what you’re looking for.
Do you want to do a Roth conversion of your assets while moving into physical silver? Then a Roth conversion from your existing accounts may be what you choose. Just be sure to consult with your tax advisor about the tax consequences of Roth conversions beforehand.
And if you have assets in Roth IRA or Roth 401(k) accounts that you want to move into silver, then you would have to set up a Roth silver IRA to do that, as Roth assets can’t be transferred back into Traditional IRAs.
The type of self-directed gold IRA you set up will determine how you fund your silver IRA.
Once you have chosen to work with a trusted partner like Goldco and established your silver IRA, the second step to starting a silver IRA is deciding on how to fund your silver IRA. Normally this is done by informing your plan administrator or IRA custodian of your rollover intentions.
Your current plan administrator or IRA custodian will normally be responsible for liquidating the assets you want to roll over and sending the funds to your gold IRA custodian.
It can be very important to work with gold IRA specialists as well as your financial advisor to make sure that the rollover process goes smoothly, that your funds end up where they’re supposed to, and that you’ve adhered to all IRS regulations. While the rollover process can be simple, if you make a mistake you may inadvertently open yourself up to tax liabilities or penalties.
Because a silver IRA is just like any other IRA, it is subject to the same rules and regulations as any other IRA. This includes the rules surrounding IRA contribution limits.
IRA contribution limits for 2025 are $7,000, or $8,000 if you’re over age 50. It’s important to remember that this limit applies across all your IRA accounts, not to each account.
These limits don’t apply when you’re funding an IRA by transferring or rolling over assets from another tax-advantaged retirement account into an IRA.
One popular method to fund a silver IRA is through a 401(k) rollover. Sometimes this may involve assets held in a previous employer’s 401(k) plan that are languishing, or assets in a 401(k) plan that doesn’t offer a wide variety of asset options.
A 401(k) to silver IRA rollover can be an effective way of putting existing retirement savings to better use. You can also roll over assets from accounts that are similar to a 401(k), such as a 403(b), 457, or TSP account.
If you have existing IRA accounts, you can transfer assets from those accounts into a silver IRA. With all rollovers and transfers you’ll want to make sure that these transactions occur in a timely manner, otherwise you could potentially expose yourself to taxes and penalties.
Before making a rollover or transfer you may want to meet with your financial advisor and tax advisor to run over all the rules and regulations, particularly with respect to the timing of these transactions and the depositing of funds into your silver IRA.
You also need to know that you can’t perform an unlimited amount of rollovers and transfers either. This is where the assistance of your financial advisor can be helpful.
Once you have decided how to fund your silver IRA, the third step to start a silver IRA is to choose which precious metals you want to buy. A silver IRA is a precious metals IRA, and you’re not limited to purchasing silver.
You can purchase gold coins or gold bars, silver coins or silver bars, and even platinum and palladium coins or bars.
Once again, you’ll need to know the rules regarding IRA assets, as not every precious metals coin is eligible for purchase by a silver IRA.
If you try to purchase coins that are not IRA-eligible, it could be treated as a distribution and subject you to taxes and potential penalties.
The US tax code prohibits IRA accounts from owning collectibles, including coins. But certain coins are exempt from the prohibition on owning collectibles.
These include Gold American Eagle and Silver American Eagle coins, as well as any gold coin with a fineness of at least .995 or silver coin with a fineness of at least .999.
Numerous mints around the world produce these bullion coins so that people can purchase them through a precious metals IRA. Goldco works with many of these mints to bring you these IRA-eligible coins and ensure a steady supply of bullion for you to hold in your silver IRA.
One question many precious metals buyers may have is, is the silver I’m buying authentic? That can especially be true if you’re a first-time precious metals buyer.
Purchasing precious metals coins through a trusted silver IRA partner could help lessen the risk of purchasing counterfeit coins. Goldco, for instance, partners with mints around the world to purchase gold and silver coins directly from their producers, ensuring that the gold and silver coins you buy from us are 100% authentic.
If you were to buy coins from online marketplaces or from sellers with unknown reputations, you could be taking a gamble on whether or not you’re getting genuine coins. And if your retirement savings are on the line, are you willing to take the chance of buying anything less than guaranteed authentic gold and silver coins?
You’ll also want to make sure that the coins you want are available. Because Goldco has established relationships with mints, we are able to cut out middlemen, thus helping you get your hands on gold and silver quicker.
By working with numerous mints, we are also able to diversify our supply, thus helping mitigate the impact of potential supply shortages that could occur if demand for gold or silver coins increases significantly.
With over $3 billion in precious metals placements and thousands of satisfied customers, Goldco has established itself as one of the best and most trusted silver IRA companies in the country. Our track record and the reviews from our customers speak for themselves when it comes to our commitment to customer service and satisfaction.
We’re so certain that you’ll be happy with the silver you buy from Goldco that we even offer our customers a buyback program if you aren’t happy with your purchase. Please contact your Goldco representative for details regarding Goldco’s buyback program.
Now that you’ve read about the three easy steps to starting a silver IRA, the next step is up to you. You can continue learning more about precious metals IRAs with Goldco’s numerous online resources.
Or you can give one of our precious metals specialists a call to learn more about the various gold and silver options Goldco offers.
By setting up a self-directed silver IRA, you can rest easy knowing your assets are held in physical silver. Diversifying your portfolio with silver can be a great way to protect your hard-earned retirement savings from market fluctuations and economic crises.
There’s no better time than today to start thinking about buying silver. With the economy facing its fair share of difficulties, a silver IRA may be just what you need to help protect your assets.
Setting up a self-directed silver IRA can be done easily, especially when you work with Goldco’s precious metals specialists.
Whether you want to learn more about precious metals IRAs, start the silver IRA rollover process, or just buy silver coins, Goldco can help you protect your retirement savings with silver.
No matter your age or stage in life, Goldco has precious metals options for everyone.
We’re ready to help you facilitate the diversification of your retirement portfolio so you can feel more in control of your financial future. Contact Goldco today to take the first step toward helping safeguard your savings with precious metals.
This article was originally published in April 2019 and was updated in September 2025.
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