Saving for your retirement is one of the single most important things you can do for yourself. It is the ultimate form of self-care because you are ensuring that you are going to have stable finances when you no longer work. Give yourself the best retirement possible by taking the stress of money out of it completely. 

One of the greatest ways to save money is through an IRA or an individual retirement account. There are several different kinds of IRA accounts, but the main point is that you will have a tax-free account that will grow over time. It is one of the single best ways to save for retirement of which I can think. 

The great news about IRAs is that they are super easy to get. If you are employed with a company and receive benefits, most likely an IRA is one of those very benefits. If you do not receive benefits from your employer due to being part-time, freelance, or self-employed, then an IRA can still be opened at almost any bank or institution. 

While a regular IRA is fantastic in its own right, many people are interested in getting into something a bit different. For example, did you know that you can open an IRA account that allows you to invest in physical, real gold? 

Gold IRAs are an excellent alternative to conventional IRA accounts. Gold can help you save for retirement, diversify your investments or retirement portfolio, and hedge against inflation. Adding gold into an IRA account can give you the edge you need to retire with as little stress as possible. 

If you’re going to invest in gold, I always recommend going with the top gold investment companies out there. That way you can be sure that you are getting the most experienced seller and custodians out there to help you invest. Before you choose which gold investment company to go with, there are a few things you should consider first. 

Legitimacy

This is the case before you do business with any company, but it’s especially true for commodity investments such as gold. Since gold is a historically popular metal, it’s something that tends to attract unethical practices and potential scams. Do not give your money to someone who will take it and run. 

Always, always, always check the company’s legitimacy. Do they have certificates, licensing, and employees with experience? Check to make sure that they use the same phone number to contact you and run the phone number through a search to ensure that it comes up with a business. The more information you have, the better off you are going to be period. If the person trying to sell you gold cannot answer your questions respectfully, then they are not someone you should be investing in. 

If you need help checking the legitimacy of a company, check out this link here.

Experience level

Before dealing with the person or company, check to see how much experience they have in buying and selling gold. You want to work with someone who knows exactly what they are doing. Gold, specifically gold IRAs, can come with a lot of fees and tax penalties if you invest incorrectly. You want someone knowledgeable enough about gold investing that they can help you avoid these hidden fees and penalties. 

Ask how long the company’s been in business. If you are dealing with a person, ask them for their work experience too. They should not mind telling you where they worked and what they did if it would reassure you. 

Reputation

I always say, no matter what it is for, to check the reviews. It is a good rule of thumb to live by if you plan to work with someone else. This is probably one of the single most important parts of checking out a company to invest in gold with. 

Let us say the company you are looking at is a legitimate company with over ten years in the business. This company just ticked two checks off your list! Impressive! Now let us say you go online and see that they have hundreds of negative reviews online from unhappy customers. The legitimacy and experience of the company become irrelevant. 

If you are going to invest with a company, you have to make sure that you are going to be a happy customer at the end of the day. If you are seeing an overwhelming population of negative reviews or unhappy customers, then chances are you will be no different if you invest with them. That is why reviews are so important. They can give you feedback on which companies edge over the other. 

Follow the link for more information on checking a company’s reputation. https://legalbeagle.com/4447260-check-companys-business-reputation.html 

Knowledge of the IRS and taxes

A company can have all the experience in the world selling gold, but if it does not know about the fees, penalties, and IRS regulations regarding gold IRAs, then it is not going to make it very far. A part of the seller’s job is to make sure that the transaction remains legal in every way. It would be unethical of them to sell you gold knowing full well that you are about to accidentally break a law by putting the wrong kind of gold into the account. 

Customer service

This goes along with reputation, but I like to add this in separate from the others because it’s so important on its own. Customer service can tell you a lot about a business. If they have excellent customer service, then employees more than likely like working there and they value their customers. If they have terrible customer service, then most likely it is because they do not care about their customers at all, which is lousy for you. 

Gold IRAs can be a great investment opportunity for those who are trying to save for retirement while branching out of the typical investment opportunities available. There are a lot of things to consider before opening a gold IRA, but as long as you think things through carefully and do your research, you will be fine.