Decline of the US dollar and benefits of rolling over part of an IRA to gold and silver bullion

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gold is perhaps the only worldwide standard for comparing the value of other currencies. Unlike any other type of monetary system, gold has withstood the test of time and it continues to defy market collapse, economic downturn, and unpredictable, catastrophic occurrences. In fact, all other currencies are based on some type of gold or silver bullion, and the currency itself is just a synthetic representation of the tangible metal.

Gold is seen as a safe-haven asset, one that investors pursue when there is trouble in the financial markets. As tensions between Russia and Ukraine over Crimea rose in the last weeks, gold price has increased. This happens over and over again in turbulent times.

Currencies, especially the US dollar, are at a higher risk for experiencing inflation because there is never a strict limitation put on the amount in circulation. Mints and other currency printing agencies around the world can essentially create more paper and coin currency than there is gold to back it up. Of course the systems do not usually intend to create a disproportionate amount of currency, but in a day’s time, currency is lost, destroyed, recollected by the mints, or put away in a collector’s safe. There really isn’t a very efficient way to maintain an accurate circulation of currency that is truly indicative of the gold reserve. In other words, there is no way to keep a running database of what currencies are actually floating around for future spending versus the currency that has been lost or destroyed.

Individual Retirement Accounts, or IRAs, are a great way to invest your savings to tap into the opportunity for interest growth. Although there are a myriad of different types of investment accounts, an IRA is either controlled by an administrator or the individual.

One way to guarantee a baseline of investment value is by transitioning your funds into the purchase of gold. Perhaps you’re curious on how to achieve a gold IRA rollover? Basically, you have to first consider whether your IRA contributions are self directed or controlled by a trustee. If they are self directed, you can make the decision, without gaining permission from anyone else, to make adjustments to your investment account. An overseer would have to approve and facilitate the rollover transaction if your account is traditional.

There are several different companies that specialize in gold transactions, and the most realistic suggestion is for individuals to research and pick a company that appears to have the assets and reputation that efficiently meet your needs. After all, this particular company that actually buys the gold will physically store it for you as well. If you were to have the gold directly disbursed to you personally, be expected to pay a hefty penalty for early withdrawal. The facilitating company is known as a gold custodian.

In order to rollover your IRA funds into gold, the gold itself must meet quality standards. There are also limitations on the time span of the process and the total amount that one can invest annually. Once you start the IRA rollover process, it should be complete in no more than 60 days. If the transaction is not expedited accordingly, the investor, or yours truly, risks having to pay a withdrawal penalty. IRA investments are limited to no more than $5000 each year, but rollovers do not have a cap. In order to buy a significant amount of gold, you must start out with a reasonably valuable IRA account.

Why should you consider investing in gold? Despite mild variations and small fluctuations in the stock value, gold tends to be one of the most stable entities that exists. Any financial expert will advise their clients to diversify their portfolio, and don’t put too many eggs in one basket. Gold is a very secure basket that maintains its value over time. Gold is an especially smart choice when the overall market itself has had a significantly varied performance. Gold is a great way to maintain your investment values over short term fluctuations. 

Top 5 Best Investment Ideas and Tips for Beginners

New to investing? Learn about various investment tools here and find out how to start investing your money.

As a beginner investor, navigating through the many different investment options available out there can be very difficult and a scary experience. Different types of investments carry with them varying amounts of risk and reward. There are a large number of potential investment pitfalls that can befall the unwary, first-time investor. To make things easier for you, here is a list of the top 5 best investment ideas for beginners. 

Top 5 Best Investment Ideas and Tips for Beginners: 

Real Estate

Despite the recent falls in property prices, real estate remains a good investment. It’s actually one of the well-protected investment options that keep on thriving and flourishing, even in developing nations. Real estate lets you combine the huge benefits of leverage with property value appreciation over the long term. 

The value of property typically increases over time, resulting in increased equity and creation of wealth. Also, the growth in value your investment experiences is sheltered from tax until you liquidate the property. Additional tax benefits can be realized through value-added tax deductions such as ability to deduct operating costs and cost of financing. 

Gold

As a beginner investor, it’s wise to invest in gold. This is simply because it provides an excellent hedge against inflation. In times of economic crisis, the government typically prints more currency. This results in increased money supply, which in turn causes inflation and ultimately decreased value of currency. Investing in gold provides a great way to secure your investments, as when the true value of currency decreases, the value of gold invariably rises. 

Today’s interconnected world economy means the economies of major countries are intrinsically linked. When the economy of one major country suffers, there is a knock on effect and major stock markets suffer as well. When stocks and shares fall, majority of investors usually choose to buy gold, which causes its prices to rise.

Forex

Forex investing offers the best return on investment. But the risks are higher compared to other forms of investments. Conventional investments, such as stocks, mutual funds and bonds, provide a good way to earn money from one’s savings. However, forex trading is more profitable compared to these investments. It’s also much less complicated and demanding but as profitable, if not more. 

With forex trading, you don’t have to monitor hundreds of stocks or wait for months to realize profits. You can make money huge amounts of money from trading in just a few currency pairs within a very short period of time. This is because the Forex market trading hours are a 24-hour, commission-free market that has no short-selling restrictions. 

Insurance

Investing in insurance products is a great way to ensure that you’re well taken care of in times of emergency as well as during retirement. Insurance policies that come with an investment feature offer significant tax benefits, as the earnings on the plan are not usually taxed. These policies also provide a wide range of investment options, such as stocks, mutual funds, bonds and money market accounts. 

Additionally, they offer unmatched flexibility, where the plan may be increased with a lump-sum payment or borrowed in the event of a medical emergency or any other pressing financial need.

Your Employer’s 401k

Majority of employers offer a 401k plan through which employees can make their contributions toward their retirement savings. However, many employees don’t take full advantage of their 401k plan. Don’t be like them, as there are many benefits that you can accrue from investing in your company’s 401k. 

Contributing part of your salary to your employer’s 401k plan will allow you to enjoy a number of benefits, such as a tax break, tax-deferred growth, and a possibility of a matching contribution from your employer. To get maximum benefits, consider contributing approximately 20% of your income to your 401k, and avoid tapping into your 401k to meet your immediate cash-flow needs.

Conclusion
Lastly, it’s important to note that there is no guarantee that you’ll make money using any of these ideas. To succeed, you need to take the time to learn about the fundamental principles of each of these investment options as well as the right strategies that can help you make money. Also, remember you don’t have to invest in all of them to succeed. Just choose one or two options that you are most comfortable with and stick with it.

Hard Asset Investment – A Great Way to Make Money

Shipping Container Investments are quite Profitable 

Investors always try to make more money through their investments. The traditional investment options like stocks have shown poor performance in the past. This has inspired investors to look for alternative ways of investing. Hard asset investments have gained have popularity in the present times. These assets show good performance even under difficult economic conditions. They have lower risks associated with them and yield better returns.

Overview of Hard Assets:

A hard asset refers to something you own which is tangible. It can be a type of physical asset like land, machines, inventory or building. It can also be financial like cash, credit or a financial instrument like a bill of exchange, draft, share, bond or a check. Hard assets are considered as very valuable since they can be used for producing or purchasing other goods or services.

The physical properties of a hard asset determine its value. Sometimes, its value depends on the fact that whether the hard asset can be reproduces or has been reproduced earlier. This rule applies to assets like paintings. Certain machinery types and buildings can also be included in this category. 

Hard Asset Investment Examples:

Hard asset investments are of various types. Some choices can turn out to be good while others can be bad, on the basis of the economy. Some popular hard asset investments are energy, forest products, renewable energy and water, base metals, precious metals and agriculture. Another hard asset which has gained immense popularity is shipping container. Shipping container investments have proved to be very profitable. Asset management companies like Pacific Tycoon deal with shipping container investments and can guide you to proceed right when investing in shipping containers.

High Demand

Hard assets have a high demand in the world today. The demand is extremely high in case of hard assets like metals and precious gems, luxury goods, food and energy. Metals with a high demand from consumers are steel, iron ore, aluminum and copper. Owing to the high level of demand, investing in these hard assets can turn out to be a good idea. 

Investing in Hard and Tangible Assets:

You can find numerous good reasons to invest in hard and tangible assets. These assets offer benefits that are usually not offered by other investment options. If your investor portfolio is full of bonds and stocks, you can easily diversify your portfolio by adding some investments in hard assets. You can expect very competitive returns to be yielded by such investments. Investing in such assets is also a great way of evading inflation. These investments also have the ability to improve your portfolio’s risk/reward profile. These investments are very lowly correlated to traditional investment types.

There are many websites that provide information on how to invest in hard assets. You can find many companies that deal with investments in tangible assets like platinum, silver, gold, certified coins, gemstones and diamonds. Such hard assets are meant for enjoying, holding on and then selling. They can result in significant profits.

Conclusion:

Hard asset investments offer many benefits over investments in conventional assets like stocks. These investments are less risky and provide high returns. They can also diversify your investor portfolio.

Summary: Hard asset investments have turned out to be more profitable than other investments. Investors are increasingly investing in hard and tangible assets nowadays.

Why Business Is Booming In The Gold Industry

You are probably wondering how any industry is going to do well with the current economic hardship that we, the United Kingdom, and many other countries all other the world are facing at the moment.However, there is one industry that is booming in this time of economic crisis, and that is the gold industry, especially many metal commodity specialists that are providing their customers with tax free gold, such as Physical Gold.

What is tax free gold?

The clue is in the name, you do not pay tax when investing in this type of gold.
There are also a large amount of benefits that come attached with investing in tax free gold, for example, these gold coins are low gold price with a high buyback price. The small coins also allow for easy, cheap and secure storage. This is a main concern of many gold investors, as there are storage options available but they do some at a price.

Uncertain times

In this climate, no one knows what is coming around the corner. This is where gold comes in as a sensible option for many who are looking to keep their money safe and secure. This is why gold is often referred to as an insurance policy in terms of money as well as protection for your wealth.

This uncertainty refers to governmental uncertainty, financial uncertainty and foreign issues / war uncertainty. When your money is invested in tax free gold, it is essentially locked and therefore no one a part from you can touch it.

Future proof

Gold is seen as a future proof investment. This is because the demand for gold is always going to be there. Gold is so widely used within many industries at this current time, including technology, space exploration, medicine and dentistry.

With growing technological and medical advances, the need and demand for gold will only go up and will not diminish.

This is why gold is doing so well in terms of an investment choice, as the demand will always be there and so it will be hard to lose any more, providing you do everything correctly of course.

Great for pension security

Pension gold is doing great at the moment. This is mainly due to the fact that prices are so low for pension gold at the moment that many people are choosing to put their money into gold to secure it for the future.

Coupled with the fact that gold is now considered a SIPP (Self Invested Pension Plan), many are now turning to this means of making sure they can enjoy retirement with no worry about financial hardship.
Altogether, the gold industry is doing so well at the moment due to a number of factors which make gold a desirable investment choice for many. The fact that tax free gold has a high buyback rate, it is future proof and it is great for pension schemes makes it a favourite commodity to invest in.

Diversifying Your Precious Metal Portfolio

Investors have been diversifying their investment portfolios with precious metals like gold, silver, platinum and palladium for some time now, but how many are aware that it’s actually beneficial to also diversify their precious metal portfolios? Too many eggs in the one basket is what investors are trying to avoid when they diversify their precious metal portfolios, which is exactly what diversification is all about. 

Investing in precious metals

Precious metals, particularly gold, have proven to be an excellent investment choice historically and will always continue to be, as is the consensus amongst industry experts. However, gold isn’t the only precious metal investors have been adding to their investment portfolios and when experienced investors show investment trends like this it pays to sit up and pay attention.

Gold is used in a variety of industrial applications in addition to the production of jewellery, and that’s also the case with the other precious metals investors are increasing opting for – silver, platinum and palladium. Gold is, however, still the most popular precious metal investment at the present point in time and will likely always be – hence it’s known as ‘the king of metals’ – plus its long term correlation with the price of crude oil will always make it a popular investment amongst savvy investors. 

Silver

After gold, silver is the next most commonly invested in precious metal and it’s commonly invested in by shrewd investors to offset risks in other investments. At the moment, investment experts are advocating investing in silver in order to offset such risks. Historically, the correlation between gold and silver is somewhat skewed, though it averages out at about 1:15 – 1:20. At the moment it’s at 1:50, which means silver has the potential to surge higher and back to the historical average without representing abnormal market behaviour. Silver therefore boasts a much higher growth potential than gold. 

Platinum

Platinum hasn’t had the lengthy history that gold and silver have because in comparison it’s a rather recent addition to the list of precious metals. Often known as ‘rich man’s gold’, it’s a relatively scarce metal and at this point in time it’s in high demand due to supply problems in South Africa, one of the most prominent sources of platinum, plus it has, in recent times, further endeared itself to investors because of rising demand amongst the automotive sector. 

Palladium

Palladium is even rarer than gold or platinum, though like the better known precious metals it too has a wealth of applications including catalytic converters in vehicles, electronics, fine jewellery and medical instruments. Like platinum, investment interest in palladium is on the rise due to the number of applications it can be used for and its scarce supply.

Market volatility

Volatility in precious metal markets is one of the most prominent reasons for diversifying investment portfolios. For example, when the price of one precious metal drops, it can be buffered by another. This is the intention behind investment diversification, and not only diversification of precious metal investment portfolios either, but all investment portfolios. 

How to invest in precious metals

Investing in precious metals is very straightforward and you can take care of the entire process online. If you want to buy silver, platinum or palladium, you can do so through the same channels as you would when buying gold, since most gold brokers also deal in other precious metals and they can arrange the same secure storage options as would be used to store gold; essentially a secure vault in a country of your choosing overseen by one of the leading names in security, like Brink’s, Rhenus and G4S.

About the Author:
GoldMoney is a UK company offering solutions to those who are interested to buy silver, gold, palladium, and platinum. They also have services for the safe storage and delivery of such precious metals.

Top 4 Tips on Buying Gold Jewelry as an Investment

A couple of 14-carat gold wedding rings. Picture taken in Brazil, where 14-carat is the most common kind of gold used in jewelry. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While gold coins may look better on paper, for those who want an investment that they can actively enjoy, gold jewelry is an excellent choice. Many people choose gold for women’s and men’s wedding bands, but you don’t need to stop there; gold jewelry can easily supplant the bulk of your costume jewelry as well. Here are four tips on buying gold jewelry as an investment.

Choose a higher karat grade. Gold is a naturally soft metal, and as such it must be alloyed with a harder metal if its intended use is as jewelry that will be worn on a regular basis, such as wedding rings for men or women. Pure gold is 24K, but the most common karat purities seen in gold jewelry are 10K, 14K and 18K; the higher the karat grade, the more pure gold used. To quickly calculate how much pure gold is in a particular karat purity, simply divide the karat grade by 24. For example, 18K gold is 18/24, or 75% pure gold. Needless to say, higher karat grades are more expensive due to the presence of more pure gold.

For gold jewelry that you intend on wearing frequently, 18K is your best bet for both investment and durability purposes. While 10K and 14K gold jewelry may be harder and somewhat more durable due to the increased presence of alloying material, both of these karat purities are significantly less valuable. If purchasing gold jewelry that you intend to wear less frequently, or jewelry that is less likely to acquire any damage through wear (such as earrings or a necklace), you might also consider 22K gold, which is fairly soft but very valuable.

Be discriminating when it comes to alloying material. Not all alloying materials are created equal when it comes to gold jewelry. Higher karat purities of gold like 18K and 22K tend to use higher quality alloys, but you will still want to find out exactly which alloy or alloys was used prior to making a gold jewelry purchase. Alloying material will to some degree depend on the color of gold that you are purchasing; gold is naturally yellow, but other common colors found in gold jewelry include white gold and rose gold. For white gold in particular, the quality of alloying material can vary greatly, from less expensive nickel to high quality precious platinum group metals (PGMs) like platinum and palladium. The quality of the alloying material should ultimately factor into the price that you pay for your gold jewelry.

Buy wholesale. When purchasing gold jewelry as an investment, the last thing you’ll want to do is to pay full price at a high end jewelry store. While some designer brands like Tiffany or Cartier are considered to hold a certain value that is completely independent from the material used, the higher cost of these items may start to detract from the overall investment value.

To get a sense of how much you’re paying for a particular piece of jewelry versus the actual value of the gold that it contains, use the weight of the item and current gold prices to calculate worth versus cost, taking into account that lower karat purities will not have the same value as pure gold. If you are buying an item that you have no immediate intention of selling (such as women’s or men’s wedding bands), do some comparison shopping online to make sure that you are getting the best price for your desired item. 

Watch the market. Part of what makes gold jewelry such a good investment is its consistency in the market, especially when compared to more volatile precious metal commodities like platinum. Nonetheless, gold prices still experience normal market fluctuations, so try to buy gold jewelry whenever there is a dip in gold prices. On the flip side, if you are thinking of selling your gold jewelry, make sure the market favors you before unloading it. In an ideal world, you will be buying wholesale during a dip in the market, and selling retail when the market is high.

Tanya Naouri writes articles on gold men’s wedding rings for men for JustMensRings.com.