Are Banks Beginning to Keep Their Customers’ Gold?

There are concerning new reports emanating from Europe that customers looking to withdraw large amounts of cash or gold from their banks are being denied. And while that is understandably frustrating for the depositors involved, it’s a worrying sign for all depositors everywhere. When the time comes to request your cash or your gold, do you know that you’ll be able to access it? If it’s stored in a bank, you can’t know that answer with any certainty, which is why there are far better options for storing cash or gold than a bank account or safe deposit box.

While most bank depositors in the United States aren’t customers with a bank that specifically offers precious metals safekeeping, it’s much more common overseas. American customers are more familiar with safe deposit boxes which they rent through a local bank branch. It gives many people peace of mind that their assets are supposedly being held safe, but it’s still less than ideal. Not only are the contents not insured, but if your bank suffers a bank run then you may end up waiting a long time before you can access your safe deposit box again. So if you’re looking to invest in gold, there are better ways to do so than by buying gold and storing it with a bank.

If you invest in gold through a gold IRA, your gold is held with a custodian, a business that is experienced with holding gold securely for investor clients and that won’t loan out or otherwise encumber the gold it stores. When it comes time to take a distribution from your gold IRA, you can choose whether to take the distribution in cash or to take possession of the physical gold in your IRA. Once again, that’s your choice, and you don’t have some bank deciding that you can’t have the gold you’ve paid them to store for so many years.

Even better, investing in a gold IRA allows you to roll over existing retirement assets into gold and then continue accumulating gains tax-free until you have to or choose to take a distribution. You don’t have that same advantage when you store your gold with a bank or in a safe deposit box. When you’ve made the decision to invest in gold, take the right steps to set up a gold IRA so that you don’t have to worry that your investment assets are safe and available when you need them.

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