Rolling over a 401k to an IRA is a common practice. People are always leaving their jobs or life changes and therefore your retirement account needs to change, this is normal, but it’s good to know how to do this correctly so you don’t pay any extra taxes.

Another reason that rollovers are used is to diversify the assets in your portfolio. If you want to add some precious metals to balance your portfolio with something that is not correlated to traditional stocks and bonds, you’ll have to set up a special type of IRA that allows this.

This is why it’s a good idea to consider a 401k to gold IRA rollover.

What is a Gold IRA?

That’s a great question. In 1997 Congress passed the Taxpayer Relief Act. Among other things this allowed savers to hold precious metals in a special IRA account that is handled by a custodian. This is commonly known as a gold IRA, but you are not limited to holding just gold. You are also allowed to hold silver, platinum, and palladium.

A feature of Gold IRAs is that they are self-directed. You are allowed to have gold (and other precious metals) in the form of bullion, bars, and coins, as long as the coins meet a strict purity standard.

These accounts are similar to other accounts in that there are contribution limits, and required minimum disbursements, just like traditional IRAs.

Are All Precious Metals Allowed in a Gold IRA?

No, there are strict requirements you must follow, otherwise, you can be hit with onerous tax penalties. The IRS mandates purity standards that must be met. Here are the purity requirements for eligible metals:

• Gold has to be .9950 pure
• Silver hast to be .9990 pure
• Both Platinum and Palladium must be .9995

You are not allowed to hold collectible coins in your account, and the coins you do hold must meet the purity standards above because the IRS wants the metals to be as close in value to the spot price of the metal as possible. This is because it is easier to assign a market value and also assign proper tax value as well.

How To Create A Gold IRA

First off, we will outline the steps to set up a gold IRA and the rollover process, but it is important to know, you are best off if you partner with a reputable precious metals company that has expertise with these types of accounts.

Onward.

First, you need to create a self-directed IRA. A self-directed IRA is an individual retirement account that gives you more control over what assets you invest in. This is why you can invest in precious metals with a self-directed account.

Next, you will need to find a custodian for your IRA. If you have partnered with a reputable gold company to create your account they will be able to recommend custodians that they have worked within the past, and are known to be safe and secure.

The reason you need a custodian is that you, as the investor, are not allowed to hold or take custody, of your precious metals. That is why there are companies designed specifically to do this.

Now that you have a self-directed account, and a proper custodian, now you’ll need to collaborate with a reputable precious metals dealer. Ideally, you start this process by connecting with a reputable precious metals dealer, because they can walk you through this process making it much easier.

Next, you instruct your precious metals dealer as to which metals you want to purchase. Once the purchases have been made the metals are transferred to your custodian.

When you reach your retirement, or by the time you turn 72 years old, whichever comes first, per IRS regulations, you have to start taking your required minimum distributions. You can either sell the metals on the open market, or you can take physical possession of them. In either case, the IRS treats both as a distribution and therefore a taxable event.

Why Should You Rollover a 401k to a Gold IRA?

When Congress first created these tax-advantaged individual retirement accounts, they thought they had done what the constituents wanted. While IRAs were a step in the right direction, they were incomplete.

The IRS would not allow you to hold physical precious metals. This was a huge mistake because the precious metals markets are some of the oldest markets in the world.

People have been using gold and other precious metals as a store of value for as long as we have recorded history. There needed to be a way to invest in physical gold in an IRA account because so many savers and investors demanded it.

Congress fixed this error in 1997 by allowing investors to add physical gold to specialized IRA accounts.

While traditional investments like stocks are popular to fill a 401k with, they are very volatile and a 401k does have a significant amount of risk that comes with it.

You flatten out your risk exposure, creating an IRA that can hold gold. Gold does not have the violent moves that equities do, and gold never goes to zero, it always has value.

Humans throughout history have admired and valued when they have held a gold bar or coin that is at least .9950 pure in their hands. The same cannot be said for holding a stock certificate or a bond from a company that no longer exists.

The 401k to Gold IRA Rollover Process

Now that you created a gold IRA it is time to fund it by rolling overall or a portion of your existing 401k. There are two steps to choose from when rolling over your 401k, an indirect rollover, or a direct rollover.

Indirect Rollover:

For an indirect rollover, you are responsible for removing the funds from your 401k account and then depositing them into your new IRA account. Indirect rollovers are more complicated. You also have a time constraint.

Once you receive your funds the clock starts ticking, you only have 60 days to get your money into the possession of either your IRA company or your custodian. If you do not move the money in the 60 days, the IRS considers the funds you withdrew to be a taxable event.

To make matter worse, if you are under the age of 59.5 years old, the IRS will add a 10% early withdrawal fee. The IRS is also notoriously unforgiving to errors or accidents or really anything that falls outside of these strict rules.

Direct Rollover:

With a direct rollover, you instruct your 401k to send the money directly to your new IRA account. In a direct rollover, you do not handle your funds at all.

Which is better Indirect or Direct Rollover:

For most investors, the most popular choice is a direct rollover. There are fewer moving parts and fewer things that can go wrong. With indirect rollovers, the chance of the investor making an error that causes the IRS to hand out a penalty is much greater.

Unless you have talked with a tax professional and have very specific well-defined reasons for doing an indirect rollover, avoid it and go with the nearly fool-proof direct method. If you are unsure which method is best for your situation, consult a tax specialist, or just don’t risk it and use the direct rollover.

Is a 401k to Gold IRA Rollover Right For You?

How diversified is your current portfolio? If it’s not diversified, would you like to fix that problem? Do you want to add some assets that are non-correlated, meaning their prices don’t move up and down in tandem with traditional investments like stocks and bonds? If you answered Yes, to one or both of these questions, then you should consider converting a 401k to gold IRA rollover.  

If you speak to a smart investment advisor, they will tell you that the advantage of precious metals is that they behave differently than all other asset classes. When stocks and bonds are shooting up in price because of low interests rates, precious metals often do not rise. Conversely, when the financial world is collapsing, precious metals often do not fall as far as stocks, bonds, and real estate.

You want a retirement portfolio to be well balanced. If everything in your portfolio goes up at the same time, then it is likely to all drop at the same time. This is not the way to have a relaxing retirement. By the time you have earned your retirement, you want your portfolio to be in the “Goldilocks zone”, not too hot, not too cold, but just right. Precious metals are great for providing this balance.

Of course, the price of gold and other precious metals does rise and fall like every other asset. Gold in particular just does not seem to fall as far once it has gone on a bull run. As of this writing, the all-time high gold price is $1,930 an ounce. For it to fall to $800 an ounce, and 50 percent decline, would be highly unlikely. Also, no matter what, the price of an ounce of gold will never go to $0 an ounce. There are many stocks and bonds that go to zero.

This is the power of precious metals, they are not exciting until the financial markets go haywire, then investors love them for their non-excitement and stability.

Making Your Rollover Decision

If you have decided that you would like more control over your investment options, and are tired of those same old high fee mutual funds that you are restricted to putting the money in your 401k into, then your next step is to find a reputable precious metals company to work with to get your 401k to gold IRA rollover process started.

We have researched nearly all the companies in the precious metals investing business and there are two that stand far above all the others.

Our top recommendation to help you with your rollover is Augusta Precious Metals. Some features of Augusta Precious Metals that make them our top recommendation are:

– $50,000 Minimum Investment

– Complimentary portfolio reviews for all clients

– Unique, free one-on-one educational web conference

– No management fees; up to 10 years of custodial/storage fees paid by Augusta for you

– Admits gold and silver are not for everyone and performance cannot be guaranteed

Our #2 recommendation to help you with your rollover is Goldco. Some benefits of choosing Goldco that make them our second highest recommendation are:

– Low minimum starting investment of just $25,000

– Full transparency

– Low transaction fees

– Great customer services

– Client reviews are the best in the business

Summary

There are many benefits of diversifying your retirement savings by rolling over all or a portion of your 401k into a Gold IRA. We recommend both Augusta Precious Metals and Goldco, both companies operate to the highest ethical standards and have the best reviews from their investors compared to all the other competitors.

If you want control over your investment options, protection from stock market volatility, and a trusted partner to help you reach your retirement goals, contact Augusta Precious Metals or Goldco today.

Located in the heart of Los Angeles, California, Oxford Gold Group is a gold and precious metals firm that assists its customers in purchasing and also selling gold and various other precious metals. They also offer other services like setting up gold and silver individual retirement accounts (IRAs), which allow their customers to invest in a variety of precious metals in a tax-sheltered account.

If you are considering spending money with Oxford Gold Group, keep reading this review to find out if they are a good fit for your particular investment goals.

Oxford Gold Group Products & Services

Oxford Gold has a lot of resources on their website from educational to “how-to” articles. Their primary services are physical precious metals, specialized individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and educational materials.

Gold, Silver, and Precious Metals IRAs

IRAs are a special type of account designed by the IRS to encourage folks to save and invest for retirement on their own. To encourage this behavior the money deposited into these accounts is not taxed until the money is required to be removed when the investor reaches retirement age.

While most investors are familiar with these types of savings accounts, the IRS puts certain restrictions on these, especially on precious metals IRAs that investors need to be aware of. Oxford Gold Group can create and manage these specialized IRAs for their clients, as well as offer IRA-approved physical precious metals to fill the account with.

They make the process simple enough. To open an IRA with them all you need to do is fund the account then direct Oxford as to which precious metals you want to be placed in your account. When it eventually becomes time to take your Required Minimum Disbursements (RMD), all you have to do is tell Oxford how much you want and they will mail your precious metals directly to you.

Physical Precious Metals

You don’t have to have an IRA to buy from Oxford Gold Group, they are happy to sell bullion, coins, etc. to investors that want to immediately take possession.

Oxford Gold Group has for sale in both bars and coin form:

Gold

Silver

Platinum

Palladium

These bars and coins come from mints all over the world such as Austria, Canada, the U.K., Australia, and the United States. If you want to purchase these products for home delivery, it is a bit complicated. You can not simply click to purchase like you would with an Amazon product.

You have to fill out a form and list the products you want to buy with your contact information and an Oxford Gold Group representative will reach out to you with the price and the shipping details.

How to Buy Precious Metals from Oxford Gold Group

As we mentioned above, it all starts with seeing something that interests you, maybe it’s a 10 oz. gold bar, or maybe it’s a 1 oz American Gold Eagle coin, and then filling out the contact form.

An Oxford Gold employee will reach out to you and inform you of the different classes of products they offer. During this discovery call, they will which products best match your desires based on your budget and your investment goals. Once you have settled on which products you want, the employee will lock in the prices on the call.

The next step will be for you to fund your account with Oxford Gold Group. Once your account is funded, if you choose to take delivery of your metals, the process of packaging and shipping your products begins. This is the slowest part of the entire process. Your metals are shipped via a carrier with sufficient insurance to cover losses, and you must physically sign for your package. It will not be left sitting on your front door.

If you want to set up a retirement account with Oxford Gold, the process is a bit different. If you want to transfer or rollover an existing account, your representative will walk you through creating a self-directed IRA. It is an easy three-step process.

Once Oxford receives your completed application and your account statement, they will reach out to your current custodian and ask them to wire the funds to your new self-directed account for the amount you specify. Once the funds hit your account, you simply choose which metals you want, and that is all you have to do.

Oxford Gold Group Fees

Due to the nature of precious metals, there are some fees that you should be aware of. If you roll over your 401k into a precious metals IRA, then Oxford Gold will waive some of the standard fees that they charge if you just start an IRA from scratch. Regardless, they also charge annual fees and “administrative charges”.

For setting up an IRA from scratch they charge an initial fee of $325 and then that price is lowered to an annual fee of $180 per year after that.

There are also substantial fees for purchasing physical gold and silver and having them delivered to your home. This is understandable because of the nature of the contents that are being shipped. Gold, silver, and other precious metals that Oxford Gold Group sells have substantial value, because of this, they have to take out insurance on every package shipped.

They also have special instructions with all the shippers to ensure the safe handling of your package. One of these extra measures is to never leave a package sitting on your doorstep. They make sure that it is the person living at the residence before leaving a package. These added safety measures for shipping are nice and there is a cost with this service.

Customer Ratings

Before investing with a company it’s always a good idea to do some research first. Online review sites are a great place to look and see what customers are saying, and these opinions can not be influenced, negatively or positively, by the company.

Trustpilot

On the review site Trustpilot, Oxford Gold Group has 155 reviews with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5.0. The chief complaints seem to be about lack of communication and slowness in delivering products.

“Was told I would receive a notification when my check arrived at Oxford. I was viewing my checking account online and noticed my check had cleared without any notification from Oxford.” – Jack D.

“I gave them 4 stars and not 5 was due to the exceptionally long delivery time.” – Salvatore S.

Overall, the reviews, when looked at as a whole on Trustpilot are not bad.

Better Business Bureau

Oxford Gold Group has only 43 reviews on the BBB, but the good news is the reviews are mostly positive, although there were a few more people that mentioned it took many months for them to receive their metals.

Where does Oxford Gold Group Store Your Precious Metals?

When you have a precious metals IRA, the IRS requires you to have them stored with a custodian, you cannot keep them at your home. Because of this, your gold and silver must be stored in a safe and secure location, and with reputable people.

Oxford uses the services of only two depositories, on opposite sides of the country. The first is the Delaware Depository which resides in Wilmington, Delaware. This depository services the needs of Oxford Gold’s East Coast customers.

The second depository they use is the Brinks Depository which resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Brinks Depository services the West Coast clients of Oxford Gold.

Having a depository on each side of the country also helps to keeps costs down when shipping metals to clients for distributions. Also, there is no need to worry about Oxford sending products to and from these locations. They use insured security carriers that discreetly move your precious metals.

Precious Metals Portfolio Performance Reports

Gold and precious metals investing are like any other type of investment in that over a short period, the prices and therefore the value of your investments will fluctuate significantly. So investing for short periods is usually not a good idea. But it is still important to track performance.

Oxford Gold Group has a portal on its website that lets you do this. Simply ask your self-directed IRA custodian to give you access to your account. This will let you see how your portfolio is performing at any time.

Even if you decide not to check on your account regularly, you will still have quarterly performance statements delivered electronically by your custodian. If you want to have paper quarterly statements mailed to you, this option is available, but unfortunately, there is an additional fee for this service.

Pros

-They have a wide variety of products

-Oxford Gold Group has been in business for 20 years

-Good at educating their customers

Cons

-While the fee structure is simple enough, the fees are high for the industry

-If you want paper account statements, there is an extra fee for that

-They only work with two depositories

Summary

Through our research, we did not find anything that was exceptionally troubling about the Oxford Gold Group. They are among the more reputable companies in the gold business. They seem to treat their customers fairly and have reviews that are generally positive.

New customers seem to like Oxford Gold’s no-hassle approach to selling. This is reflected in the company’s reviews which are more or less positive.

Oxford Gold Group also does a decent job of educating their customers on the precious metals market and how to invest in it. There “How To Buy” precious metals section is particularly helpful, the main knock against it being that the text on the website is frustratingly small and hard to read.

Overall, this is an ok company.

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