Investing Over $100,000? 11 Tricks Guaranteed to Get the Best From Your Precious Metals
With a global financial meltdown a near-certainty in 2022, we look at 11 ways to turbocharge Gold's wealth-preservation superpowers and get the best opportunities for tax-advantaged profit in your rich retirement.
By Alice Walker
Investor Relations Manager at BullionDirectory.com
Alice is a specialist in tax-advantaged portfolio diversification, working directly with a select group of High Net Worth clients.
These Are Strange and Dangerous Times
I’ve never seen anything like it. Neither have my colleagues. In fact everyone I know who regularly works with High Net Worth Investors is experiencing the same thing – and I can only call it an exodus.
I know their advisors and wealth managers, I know their bankers – and I know many of these HNWIs myself and what’s happening right now is extraordinary.
Much as sea turtles somehow all hatch at the same time on the same beach under the same moon – the rich and super-rich seem to be acting on some shared primal instinct.
So what are they doing? And do they know something we don’t?
I can tell you the first part easily because my job is to help facilitate it.
They're buying Gold.
Not paper gold, not derivatives, not futures nor miner stocks – but the physical metals themselves.
And they’re buying gold in 6, 7 and 8 figure dollar quantities. They're moving 20%, 40% even 50% of their assets into the yellow metal and they're doing it so quickly that global mints and refineries can barely keep up.
As for the why, I can only describe it as a calculated flight to safety from what is the biggest all-market bubble in human history.
Gold performed strongly in the aftermath of the 2008 crash and again reached record highs as the pandemic’s effects began to be felt in the markets. The wealthy know this and are taking steps to come in heavy on gold.
While regular investors continue piling into overvalued assets, the smart can see what's coming. Market expert Jeremy Grantham puts it in plain English:
This bubble is the real thing, and everyone can see it. It's as obvious as the nose on your face. There will be an enormous negative wealth effect, broader than it has ever been, compared to any other previous bubble breaking.
It's the first time we have bubbled in so many different areas – interest rates, stocks, housing, non-energy commodities. On the way up, it gave us all a positive wealth effect, and on the way down it will retract, painfully.
What pricks the bubble could be a virus problem, it could be an inflation problem, or it could be the most important category of all, which is everything else that is unexpected.
Jeremy Grantham, Co-founder and Chief Investment Strategist of GMO
Richly Retired asked me to provide a simple step-by-step guide to help anyone looking to follow the super-rich's lead into precious metals - and so I'm going to lay out the 11 most important pieces of advice I share with any of my clients
Now obviously none of this should be considered as a personal recommendation, because I don't know your situation, appetite risk or investment strategies - but - the following 11 points should help readers get into a good position to make intelligent informed decisions and tax-advantaged choices.
Please note that some of the links provided below may pay Bullion Directory a small fee if any purchase is made, but this in no way influences our company ranking or rating scores, nor does it affect the price you pay.
#1 Knowledge is Power (and Money)
When it comes to investing in gold having the best available information at hand will make the single biggest difference to your success or failure.
In precious metals having a little of the right knowledge can be the difference between beating a crashing market (while making a tidy tax-advantaged profit) and losing money. And in some cases a lack of knowledge can see you swindled out of your life savings...
Sadly I witness the latter with alarming regularity (see #3).
The thing is for all it’s fantastic wealth-protecting powers, physical precious metals is an unregulated market in most parts of the world, the U.S. included – which can lead to unscrupulous dealers taking advantage of new investor naivete.
But even when you’re not victim to a con artist, it still helps to know at least some of the basics of precious metals investment to take best advantage of opportunities for diversification and growth.
By buying the right gold, in the right way through the right process, you can see a vast improvement in your financial situation, reduce your tax bill (read #2), limit your risks and even help with succession planning.
When it comes to gaining knowledge the internet is a blessing, but it’s unfortunately also a curse as I will explain further in tip #5.
Much of what I read online about gold investment is either out of date, not applicable to the U.S or just plain wrong – and this is where I always recommend clients take a less-is-more approach.
Rather than reading lots of potentially misleading, contradictory or confusing information online which can see investors make an expensive mistake or simply give up on information overload – I will point them to a few trusted sources of easy to follow and 100% accurate guidance.
Bullion Directory’s 2021 Bullion Dealer of the Year Goldco Precious Metals produces one of my favorite investor guides “Protecting Wealth” focused as you’d expect on wealth preservation and asset protection. It’s available at no cost and comes as a physical kit, with added audio and video guides written by some of the best experts in the industry.
I’d also steer my clients towards our Bullion Dealer of the Year runners up Birch Gold Group who produce an excellent ebook investor kit, also available completely free of charge.
Finally for those who prefer their precious metals education tailored to their unique financial situation, one of our top rated bullion dealers Augusta Precious Metals has offered Richly Retired readers complementary access to a premium live video webinar for 1-on-1 gold investment advice and practical guidance.
No matter which guide you choose I recommend the next tip to literally everyone I work with…
#2 Steal Your Money Back (Legally) From the IRS
There's little in life more fun than handing over half our earnings to the US Government. Despite this joy, it's surprisingly easy to claw some back when investing in gold!
If you’re a Richly Retired member then I’m going to assume you already know your way round some beneficial tax codes. The right deduction here, the right capital allowance there and you’ve saved a few dollars on your tax bill.
Chances are also high that you’ve got a good retirement plan in place and enjoy some of the tax advantages these afford either when you invest or when you eventually start making distributions.
But not so many of you will know of a recent IRS loophole where physical precious metals can be bought, held and sold inside of a qualifying retirement plan.
While not all retirement plans allow investments in physical precious metals, those that do can offer an extra layer of protection against financial crises where it matters most – quality of life in your golden years – and they offer the most tax-advantaged route to gold ownership available. Win-win.
In the 2008 crash when millions of retirement accounts were decimated by the stock market crash, gold reached an all-time high helping to maintain portfolio value for those fortunate enough to have used it’s market-hedging superpower.
Once again we saw gold reach a record top when it became clear that a certain virus was more than a flu. And looking into 2022 and the widely expected bursting of an all-market bubble I think it’s safe to suggest gold could once again reach all-time heights at a time when other assets will be crashing and burning.
But I’m going to ignore this exciting possibility for profit, despite it’s potential impact and instead look at tax.
When you buy gold inside of a self-directed IRA, you can either use pre-tax dollars in a regular IRA or post tax in a Roth. Either way you save tax, letting you buy more or distribute more with maximum tax advantage.
Being able to buy 40% more gold with your dollar in a regular IRA, or distribute profits and capital gains free of tax (in a Roth) is a benefit tha’s just too good to be ignored.
Add to this the massive tax-benefits for succession / inheritance planning available through a Roth and it’s hardly a surprise that millionaires and billionaires are putting as much as they can into Roth IRAs.
So how can a new investor take advantage of gold in their IRA? This can be a minefield and as always it pays to work with specialists in the field.
Working with experts becomes ever more important the more you have to invest (and more you have to lose).
BullionDirectory.com already lists 100s of gold IRA specialists each independently rated and reviewed but for those wishing to help speed up and simplify the search I always point clients towards the Gold IRA Specialist category in our annual Bullion Dealer of the Year awards. All 5 winners offer exceptional customer care and are experts at working with new investors.
Finally I will also recommend our ever popular (and 100% free) Gold IRA Buyer service. The advanced AI algorithm will prepare a custom shortlist of IRA specialists best suited to your needs - it's quick, easy and accurate!
For anyone serious about gold I would always choose tax advantaged routes over regular purchase
#3 Only Invest With Trusted Dealers
There's very little point in learning how to make market-hedging investments or special tax-advantaged profits if you risk losing them all to a bankrupt broker, or deceitful dealer.
As I touched upon in #1 and #2, I'd suggest it's essential to only ever work with trusted experts whenever investing in anything more than a few coins or small bars.
Due to a lack of any regulation in the physical precious metals market and the high sums usually involved, gold and silver seem to invite far more than their fair share of crooks, criminals and con artists to the table.
Outside of the more obvious crimes such as passing off fake gold products, theft and embezzlement there are ever growing ways in which new investors can be parted from their money.
From miss-selling to hard-selling, overly inflated prices, false scarcity, and false promises – or for many simply listening to terrible advice, there are a hundred paths by which well-meaning investors can lose money. Those losses may be immediate, at point of buying or selling - or they may come at a later date when the IRS comes knocking with fines and fees for easily preventable mistakes.
It’s not like buyers don’t have choice but this can be a double-edged sword. There are thousands of bullion and coin dealers in the U.S. – which can make it hard to know who to turn to when you’re starting out.
This is where services like Bullion Directory and Gold IRA Buyer can help. As the precious metals industry’s trusted ratings platform, our listing of over 1500 dealers alongside consumer ratings and reviews should make your choice that bit easier.
We list both general bullion dealers and specialists such as Gold IRA advisors and display a continuously updated top-5 brokers list in the site's sidebar. Of course there are also the results of our annual Bullion Dealer of the Year public vote.
Finally I’m always more than happy to advise clients who are using Bullion Directory’s completely free Investor Concierge Service and can even offer pointers as to any company’s suitability (or otherwise) in regard to your plans.
Due diligence is key when it comes to investing in precious metals, however ignore tip #4 at your peril...
#4 Don't Believe Everything You Read
See those glowing 5-star reviews? Are they really all they appear to be? Our in-depth study would suggest this may not be the case...
Unfortunately trust issues don’t end with bad brokers and unscrupulous gold dealers. In an age where we now do almost all of our research online, the once trusted user review has become the latest victim of greed and avarice.
In a recent PowerReviews survey, 97% of consumers reported that the customer reviews they read influence their purchasing decisions. I know there's very little I buy where I don't first turn to online reviews.
If we’re buying a pair of shoes or a $100 gadget, it’s unlikely that a few fake reviews would end up being too big an issue but what happens if we’re spending $100,000 or $500,000 on gold for our retirement plan?
In this case being swayed by fake reviews could have a catastrophic result on your future financial wellbeing!
But it gets worse. What if I told you that almost every review you’ll read for gold companies is bought and paid for?
And what exactly do I mean when I say bought and paid for?
The precious metals market is filled with high-paying “affiliate programs”. This is where bullion dealers will pay website owners referral fees and commissions for sending web visitors their way. Sites can earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars for every paying customer they introduce.
This means websites are incentivized to rank higher-paying companies ahead of companies who pay nothing.
So far it's clear the incentive is there, but how likely is this going to happen in practice?
In an in-depth survey we conducted in November 2020, we took a deep dive into 106 precious metals investment search terms. Terms included “best gold IRA” and searches for gold IRA company names followed by “review”. We found that in 97% of cases EVERY SINGLE ONE of the top 10 organic search results featured sites being monetized by affiliate links.
And of these 1060 different search results, a staggering 1013 of the resulting web pages featured reviews recommending using a 'top' company that was paying the site owner a substantial commission.
This means that 95.6% of these results contained content that was effectively little more than an advertisement.
Can these results really be relied on for trust and transparency?
So how does an investor avoid this kind of issue? By taking much of what you read on smaller review websites with a pinch of salt and only using trusted services like Bullion Directory or other big name consumer protection sites.
While Bullion Directory may use some referral fees from advertising partners to help pay for our significant running costs, we have strict company policies in place where referral fees can never influence our ratings.
In fact over 99.8% of Bullion Directory listings pay us no referral fees at all. Ever.
#5 Diversify Diversify Diversify
Oranges are not the only fruit. And when it comes to precious metals gold is not always first choice...
Precious metals will always play an important role in any diversified portfolio, but sometimes it pays to go further and diversify the diversifier!
When we think of gold, most people go straight to picturing gold bars stacked high in a vault – but there can be so much more to precious metals investments than gold bars.
While chunky gold bars are indeed a low-premium route to getting the most metal for your money, sometimes owning coins can provide a more flexible portfolio. After all you can sell a single gold coin if you need to divest of a few thousand dollars but it’s inadvisable to go sawing a slice from a far larger bar.
There are also premium coins (or numismatics) which are coins that thanks to scarcity or a special high luster minting (proof coins) offer a more concentrated form of investment than straight bullion.
Then of course there’s silver.
Silver is typically far more volatile than gold, and this can offer greater returns if buys and sells are timed right. Plus dollar for dollar you can buy far more silver than gold, which for new investors cannot be underestimated as an attractive draw.
Finally there are the other precious metals – Platinum being the better known and palladium, both of which can be bought as bars and coins.
Each of these metals has different profit potentials and behaves differently in times of financial crisis meaning that depending on what you’re looking to achieve you may wish to go bigger on silver and platinum than gold due to their being considered by many as undervalued.
A popular mix of 40% Gold, 60% silver allows for a combination of safety and profit potential.
Bear in mind that your choice will also depend on if you’re investing in metals inside or outside of an IRA as not all products are allowable in a tax-advantaged retirement account.
Goldco's Free Metals Investor Guide contains particularly useful information on both numismatic coins and different metals inside and outside of a retirement plan, as does the 2022 Investor Kit from Birch Gold Group.
Recommended Reading
★★★★★
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#6 Prepare for the Worst, Profit from the Best
While nobody can predict the future we can hedge our investments to work well for a range of possible outcomes...
Gold is an excellent market hedge and when we enter periods of severe market risk (as we're seeing right now) there’s a rush towards gold’s safe harbor as a form of insurance. But gold and other metals can offer so much more.
Now here's where your investment choices will depend on just how bad you think things will be.
Personally I believe we’re going to see a major cross-market correction and much like my wealthy clients I’ve made plans appropriately. For me, that means reducing my holdings of record-high priced stocks and selling any assets I consider at imminent risk of collapse. Risky overheated real estate is gone. And I'm in a strong liquid position to buy assets post-crash.
But I’ve also got to make allowances for being wrong.
Somehow – no matter how unlikely – the US Government might actually fix the hundred-trillion dollar debt issue, deal with rising inflation and escape the bubble of all bubbles looming over us all.
The markets may not crash and might keep rising for ever and ever. Unlikely I know but as I said at the start these are strange times.
While it’s always good to have buildings and home insurance you probably don’t want your home to actually fall down.
So don’t just think of precious metals as a doomsday investment.
Think of the fact that gold has risen an average of 8% year on year since the 1970s – in good times and bad.
Think of the capital gains we can make thanks to precious metal’s ever growing industrial uses – such as the rapidly accelerating use of silver and platinum in modern electronics and green technology from solar panels to electrical and hydrogen-fueled vehicles.
Industrial precious metals play an important role in both a booming economy and a green economy.
While I still 100% think it’s impossible for the current bubble to hold air too far into 2022 - let alone indefinitely - I'd not choose to bet against the move towards green.
Luckily precious metals work whichever way this goes down.
#7 A Bar in Hand is Worth Two in the Vault
For security I advocate keeping the bulk of your precious metals in a vault. But in the same way as gold can be seen as an insurance policy, having some of that insurance close to hand could get you out of a sticky situation.
When the next crash comes I can’t say how bad it’s going to be, or how long the worst of it is going to last – but many very smart people who get paid a lot of money to look after other people’s money think what’s coming is going to be unprecedented in both it’s damage and duration.
Now I’ve never been a zombie Armageddon type of girl despite having been in precious metals for more years than I care to mention but I think the next crisis when it hits will hit hard. Maybe at it’s hardest for only for a few days to weeks, but the initial impact is guaranteed to have a serious effect on how our banking and modern logistics operate.
I think it’s a safe bet to say access to banks and bank accounts will be restricted for a time. This happened in 2007/2008 and I’ve seen the same thing play out in crises across the globe since.
There’s also a high chance there will be distribution issues and temporary market closures. Again, I’d say it’s almost a given.
And it’s during these initial shock and awe stages when nothing works and panic is at it’s highest point, where having your gold in some distant vault will seem to have been a mistake. Yes it’s safe, yes it’s secure and if this crisis is anything like any crisis before it’s also going up in value.
But if you can’t access your money and can’t access your gold then what was the point?
It’s for THOSE few days to weeks when things are at their very worst that I think having some metals at hand will be worth many more times that which is out of reach.
What do I suggest?
Think of what you’d need to keep the lights on for a couple months. Translate that dollar value into silver coins or smaller gold bars and you’ll have yourself some real ‘SHTF’ insurance.
They say you can’t eat gold and silver, but having gold and silver close to hand may just help you eat.
Several of the larger Gold IRA companies have seen this 'Vaulted Only' issue as being a deterrent to new customers and have started offering something similar to a cash-back program where complimentary home-delivered metals are shipped as part of their main Gold IRA services.
As an example both Goldco and Birch Gold now offer a bonus 5% in silver delivered direct to any qualifying account holder's home address.
This bonus silver carries no additional charge for any customers wishing to take advantage and is available free of charge thanks to their economies of scale and enhanced buying power.
#8 Privacy is the Best Policy
When it comes to home-stored gold, an investment shared can quickly become an investment gone.
If you ARE holding some of your precious metals at home, it’s never a good idea to tell anyone.
Seriously. Tell nobody. Ever.
No matter how exciting it may be showing your bars off to Frank from the country club or letting Joan marvel at your coin collection next games night - it just takes one person telling one person...
When word gets out you’ve got a nice metals stack (and word WILL get out) you’re suddenly at a real risk.
The more metals you have the greater that risk.
Even if you have a good quality, insurance-rated home safe and even if your safe is in a great hiding place, a determined thief who knows it’s there - somewhere - is unlikely to stop until they find it.
Worse yet if you or your loved ones happen to be in the home, you're unlikely to be asked it's location nicely.
You see for a criminal, physical gold is like a jackpot.
This is because what makes gold and silver great to own – that compact concentrated store of value – also makes them easy to steal and easy to re-sell. Even if your bars have serial numbers, precious metals can be melted down with a $10 propane torch in minutes and still retain their near full value.
For a criminal in no rush, gold can also be hidden or buried for years with no risk of damage from rot or rust.
In short, if your precious metals get taken you’re unlikely to ever see them again.
And if the insurer finds out (they WILL ask) that you told someone about your gold, your home vault or special hiding place? Good luck getting paid out!
So yes while I do recommend having a certain amount of precious metals near to hand, I ONLY recommend holding what you feel would be useful in an emergency.
Because (from experience) the temptation to show friends something as beautiful as gold bullion can be overwhelming.
#9 Have a Plan for Quick Liquidation
Any investor needs to be flexible and to move from asset to asset as plans evolve and markets change.
It pays to have some of your investment assets highly liquid for any number of reasons. After all emergencies can happen and sudden investor opportunities may present themselves where you need fast access to cash.
Gold and silver bullion are among the most liquid of all assets thanks to their universal appeal and easily checked global measure of value.
And of all precious metals, smaller bars and coins are by far the easiest to sell fast.
While selling other hard assets like real estate may take months for all paperwork to be signed off and monies released, or where artwork and other high value collectibles need to find the right buyer at the right time, gold can be sold quickly, easily and at full market value.
This is especially true if the bullion dealer you bought from has an excellent buy-back policy in place.
A few companies may even offer a greater than market value for their buy-back rates on products you’ve bought from and stored with them, thanks to their knowing the metal’s provenance and there being an unbroken chain of custody.
This offers the twin benefits of a better buy-sell ‘spread’ than if you were to sell to another dealer and a near instantaneous transaction, all of which makes your money go further and your life easier.
If liquidity is important to YOUR plans EVERY SINGLE company in my top-5 dealer list offers strong buy-back programs.
#10 Warning: It's Addictive...
Gold and silver bullion when held in a distant high security vault can appear to be an investment like any other. Just another asset gaining value on a balance sheet.
With no immediate physical contact, you’re able to avoid one of the biggest (and most pleasurable) 'risks' to any precious metals investor – that of addiction.
Think I’m joking? Make a small test purchase of a few silver bars and coins. If you’re feeling particularly brave and don’t consider yourself to have an addictive personality throw an American Gold Eagle into the mix.
When they’re delivered, unpack them, open them up and hold a few in your hand. Get a feel for the weight – feel that surprising heft. Next I want you to move them around in a bright light. Sunlight works best as it REALLY picks up the unique shine and shimmer.
Think of what you’re holding – the weight, the value and the process of how it’s got into your hand. The miner, the raw ore, the refinery, the molten gold – and then how the intricate designs of your coin have been applied in an ancient stamping process, mostly unchanged since money first became a thing.
Gather your coins or bars into a pile, one by one looking at the differences, the similarities…
If you’re anything like me, a seed may have already taken hold.
I started with a 'Chunky' silver Scottsdale bar and 5 Silver Eagles, but before I knew it I was collecting coins by year, then by mint mark, then bars by sets of sizes, then bars and coins in sets of all 4 precious metals.
I’ll admit things got a little out of hand when I moved into proof sets but, truth is, this addiction has helped me amass a useful nest egg that can easily see me through any number of financial calamities - and the big bonus is it's enjoyable!
My proof American Gold Eagles are the stars of my collection and best thing is I can add them inside my IRA at a massive tax advantage, both saving me a chunk of change and protecting my golden years. Can ANY other addiction offer that?
Go on buy some. I dare you.
#11 High Net Worth? Choose an HNW Specialist
Any gold dealer in America can sell a few gold coins - but High Net Worth clients like you will no doubt have quite different needs and expectations in comparison to a regular retail buyer.
The best gold dealers will have a specialist department set up specifically to deal with HNW and family office clients - typically focused on the wealth protection and tax advantaged aspects of precious metals.
They'll know and fully understand the needs of clients looking to protect scaled portfolios and internationalized footprints. They'll be aware of all IRS laws and regulations and know the loopholes best suited to dealing with the assets of wealthy individuals, smoothly and at maximum beneficial effect.
The white glove services offered by HNW specialists make creating a balanced and diversified portfolio that's protected from market downturns (or worse) an incredibly easy and stressless experience.
Best news is, these premium services are usually available at no extra charge where clients are spending over $100,000 in metals.
When you're spending six figures I say go specialist all the way!
Spread the Word: Save a Friend
While this final tip won't make your bottom line any thicker it may just help make the world a better place for a few of your nearest and dearest - and that can be priceless!
If you know anyone who may be impacted by the coming financial crash and who could benefit from gold's wealth protecting superpowers, share this article.
It only takes a second, but might just help someone out.
