Diversify Your Retirement with a Silver IRA Account

Why a Silver IRA?

Many Americans are depending on silver for their Individual Retirement Accounts. Working men and women in the United States value their retirement and want to protect their funds from any potential economic crisis. IRA accounts are traditionally reliant upon select stocks, bond and/or mutual funds. Since these funds are closely linked to the economy, the worth of many IRA accounts can begin to plummet if the economy is in crisis. With silver, industrial demand and factors beyond banks and governments can drive value and performance—even in a struggling economy. In fact, silver is poised to rise in worth, regardless of which way the economy heads.

For centuries, investors and collectors have owned silver for a variety of reasons. The many benefits include:

• Diversification - We can't stress this enough: diversification is crucial to every person's portfolio, especially when it comes to retirement savings. Gold and silver Individual Retirement Accounts allow you to hold assets that are rarely found in employer-sponsored 401(k)s and conventional IRAs.
• Tax benefits - Precious Metals IRAs comes with the same tax benefits as a conventional Individual Retirement Accounts. The biggest difference is that you can maintain those tax benefits while experiencing all the other benefits of purchasing precious metals.
• Growth Potential -Aside from the security, many people purchase precious metals specifically for their growth potential, which isn't affected by the same forces as those in the stock market. As finite resources, silver has inherent value and an ever-increasing global demand.
• Protection against the volatile stock market - When the stock market tumbles, retirement accounts can suffer greatly. If it happens to you right before retirement, you could be forced to continue working for many years to come. Diversifying your portfolio with precious metals helps protect your retirement money by shielding it from the volatility associated with stocks and other paper assets.
• Safeguard against the declining dollar - Many people who buy gold and silver do so as a hedge against inflation and the declining U.S. dollar. As the dollar loses value, Americans essentially lose wealth and purchasing power. If the value continues to shrink, paper-heavy portfolios could be worth a lot less in retirement. On the other hand, the value of precious metals tends to increase as the dollar drops. By placing precious metals in your IRA, you can thus preserve your buying power and safeguard your money from the effects of inflation.

How to Start?

For over a decade, the professionals at Lear Capital have been helping clients diversify their savings with silver. More Americans are turning to Silver IRAs because they combine a physical, tangible asset with the modern tax-advantaged features of an IRA. IRA silver helps hedge the volatility and risk of your retirement portfolio. Silver can help to preserve wealth and safeguard IRA dollars by increasing the store of value of physical metals to your retirement. Lear Capital has streamlined the process into 3 Easy Steps!

The Self-Directed IRA

Having a self-directed, silver-backed IRA has many benefits, including allowing you to maintain control over the investment decisions to your account. A Self-Directed Silver IRA offers a more active role in determining your asset mix as well as giving you the ability to develop your retirement account holdings beyond traditional stocks, bonds and municipal funds. Rather than being locked into a set asset group chosen by your fund custodian, you can make changes to your account, ultimately giving you more control over gains, losses and risk. A Lear Capital Silver IRA permits you to hold all or a percentage of your retirement dollars in silver to diversify your traditional IRA holdings, which also could make your portfolio less vulnerable to market shifts.

Moving an Existing IRA Account to Metals

Any portion of an existing retirement account can be used to fund your new Precious Metals IRA. There are two simple methods to transfer money from your current retirement account into a new Precious Metals IRA:

Tax-free Transfers:

You can transfer funds tax-free and penalty-free from one IRA to another, at any time. By performing a Direct Transfer, the money flows from one IRA account directly into another, via bank wire or check. You can perform an unlimited amount of Direct Transfers each year and Lear has a dedicated team of IRA Specialists who have facilitated thousands of these types of transfers for our customers.

Our self-directed IRA custodian partners are not only able to help set up new Individual Retirement Accounts, but can also help you with a 401(k) rollover or transfer of existing assets. Make sure to be very careful when performing a transfer, as if these transactions are not performed properly they can actually trigger a major tax event on your savings. Our custodians are more than happy to help you with a transfer or rollover in the seamless and correct manner.

You can transfer an existing Individual Retirement Account into a precious metal account at any time as long as the assets go "from custodian to custodian." In a direct transfer, the money flows directly from one custodian to another. This means the distribution check from the old custodian must be made out in the name of the trustee or custodian of the new IRA account that receives the funds. Transfers may be made as often as you like, and Lear has organized hundreds of these types of transfers for our customers.

The 60-Day Rollover:

Most precious metals retirement plans at Lear Capital begin with a rollover. The current law allows for both transfers from Individual Retirement Accounts as well as rollovers from qualified retirement plans, such as 401(k), 401(a), 403(b), 457, Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and annuities. The team at Lear Capital has a great deal of experience with this process and can educate you on what you need to know. Typically, precious metals Individual Retirement Accounts are most economical when their value is higher, and that is where a rollover makes a great deal of sense. Someone just starting, even with maximum yearly contributions, would often need a few years to accumulate a large enough account to make it cost effective.

You can personally facilitate the transfer of funds from your retirement account into a new retirement account by requesting a check from your current IRA or 401k custodian. Upon request, your current custodian can cut a check from your retirement account and mail it to you directly. As long as you receive this check and forward it your new IRA provider for immediate deposit within 60 days, this transaction is completely tax-free and penalty-free.You may roll over the same money only once every 12 months to preserve the tax-deferred status of your retirement savings.

Individual retirement accounts offer a unique advantage to silver investors, as you can invest in physical bullion while gaining access to certain tax advantages. One drawback of an IRAs is that they require you to invest in IRA-eligible precious metal, which excludes a large percentage of bullion in circulation.

Other investments can help your realize the large financial gains that are sought after in the development of an Individual Retirement Account, but many of these other investment vehicles are backed by paper currency like the US Dollar. What the US Dollar does which silver does not is constantly decline in value. This incidence, known as inflation, is causing the purchasing power of most IRA investments to decline over time. This means that even though the nominal value of US Dollar-backed IRA investments may be high, its ability to purchase goods is not nearly as strong as a similar Individual Retirement Account funded by precious metals, including silver or gold.

What's more, having precious metal on your Individual Retirement Account is not nearly as volatile as US Dollar-backed IRA investments which can be incredibly valuable one week and then worth almost nothing a week later with little to no warning. More often than not, you can purchase precious metal with Lear Capital, let it sit, and over time it will accrue incredible value while the same cannot be said about other investment options, like stocks and bonds.

Silver is sure to continue growing in popularity. Unlike the traditional and mainstream investment options, the price of silver moves throughout the day according to supply and demand. There are several variables that affect the worth of precious metal:

• When traditional investments are performing inadequately, precious metal tends to offer a better investment.
• Gold is noted as a main force behind silver prices. When the market is strong, investors are generally interested in all major precious metals, which lead to an increased demand.
• Any news that negatively affects the global monetary system positively impacts precious metal prices.
• Silver, being an industrial demand, always faces industrial shortage. When there is a shortage, industrial users will rush to maximize their inventory, which increases the prices.

Precious metal has outperformed the Dow by over 300% over the past decade which begs the question ... why wouldn't you secure your accumulated savings by adding precious metal to your portfolio?

Most people, whether seasoned or new investors, do not have the time to dedicate hours every week trying to keep up with how their Individual Retirement Account investments are doing and because of this, investors are always looking for new and smart investment options that will make their lives easier. An investment in precious metal is great for any investor because minimal effort has to be put forth in order to maintain a profitable IRA.

Once you purchase your precious metal online, it is then sent to a third-party depository where it sits and hopefully accrues value over time. It is never too late or too early to act on a precious metal funded Individual Retirement Account, and thanks to the internet it has never been easier. Lear has coins and bullion for sale on our website, so you can purchase at your convenience.

If you are interested in furthering your education on precious metal investing, The Lear Capital Learning Center provides soon-to-be investors with the comprehensive knowledge needed to begin precious metal investing. We make investing plausible and profitable, even for those with little to no experience. Our program offers customizable options so individuals can further their knowledge based upon specific needs, including precious metal testing, how to successfully buy gold and silver and how to sell precious metal for profit. The Lear Capital Learning Center provides hands-on training with coins, bars and bullion. In addition to gold and silver, we work with platinum and palladium. We also pride ourselves in keeping you as informed as possible with the most up-to-date market intelligence. The Lear Capital Learning Center will provide ongoing support to ensure you have the knowledge needed to be successful in your precious metal investing endeavors.

Lear Capital can help with a Silver backed IRA! Diversifying a traditional Individual Retirement Account with precious metals may be a wise move in today's economy. Financial experts recommend that 5% to 20% of your portfolio be allocated to precious metals!

If you have an existing Individual Retirement Account, we'll help you transfer or roll it into silver, gold, or platinum. If you don't have an IRA, our reps and dedicated Individual Retirement Account department will walk you through how to set up a Self-Directed IRA with silver! Give us a call to discuss your current IRA status and explore your individual retirement needs. A Lear Representative is standing by to assist you at 1-800-576-9355 or simply complete our IRA Account Form.