Is there a way to pull a 401K and invest it in gold?
Question:
Is there a way to pull a 401K and invest it in the gold market without paying all the fees?
How do I do that
Answer:
The better question is why would you do that.
But...if you really want to, you could roll it into a rollover IRA and then invest it in GLD, the ETF that tracks gold prices.
If you have already left the job, you could roll over your 401k to an IRA with a discount broker like TradeKing and then buy shares of the GLD ETF, an ETF which tracks the price of gold bullion. If you're still in the same job then you're stuck with your current employer's fund choices.
Honestly though I would not recommend gold as a long term investment. The statistics that I've seen show it barely beating inflation over the long term. As always, equity funds are your best bet, like a Vanguard Index fund.
have you changed jobs since you got the 401 K in question if so you can put it into a roll over IRA. I have thought about Gold but instead have just gotten mutual funds that have 80% minimum in European countries. These will work the same as gold and weather the stormy collapse of the US economy better than anything. They have the most isolationist economy around. Asian markets are dependant too much on the NYSE. True they have energy issues but they are actually working to solve them!!
You want to do a Rollover IRA.
I recently did this. I opened a rollover IRA at Scottrade and moved my 401k to it. Scottrade handled all the paperwork for me.
The best way to invest in Gold is through a gold ETF. There are some Gold investing strategies in the resource below.
Gold's run up. Bad investment. Why would you concentrate in one commodity in one sector? Diversify.
If someone came to you and said: "I think you should put ALL of your cash into GOOGLE" You'd say "You're crazy! What if they tank?" Same idea here...
roll it over to IRA then buy IAU, the etf that hold physical gold. Would not go over 5% of your investments in gold but...
Your best bet is to roll it over into a "self directed" IRA. Make certain that it is a self directed account and you will have full control over your investment choices. And you will have all of the same tax advantages of your 401K.
Remember you will incur penalties if you withdraw the money before you are 59 1/2. Also you will be forced to take distributions when you are 70 1/2 whether you want to or not. The government wants to make certain to get their share before you croak.
Paul
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