What is IRA eligible silver? This is one common question that you’ll come across when dealing with people who are interested in adding some silver into their precious metal IRAs. As much as silver is not the most popular precious metal in the precious metal IRA investment industry, it does have its unique benefits. Just like gold, not every type of silver is eligible for use for the purpose of investment in an IRA, which is why we shall be discussing IRA eligible silver in today’s article. Read on to find out more.
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The benefits of adding silver to your retirement investment portfolio
What are some of the main reasons why you should consider adding silver to your retirement investment portfolio? Look at the ones highlighted below:
- Silver is a tangible asset. It differs from paper assets such as stocks, bonds, as well as mutual funds.
- Like gold, silver has a long and well-documented history. Silver coins have for many years been used in transactions. In fact, Romans minted their very first coins as early as 300 BC
- Silver coins are more affordable than gold coins. Depending on how much money you have with you, silver might be more within your reach than gold. Historically, silver metal has been more affordable than gold, and other precious metals such as platinum and palladium.
- This precious metal has a lot of growth potential as a long-term investment asset. In the two decades lasting between 2001 and 2020, for instance, the price of silver went up by about 473%.
What types of silver can you include in an IRA?
You can invest in silver through what is known as a Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA). An SDIRA is usually similar to a regular IRA, with the only difference being that it is not usually limited to the traditional paper assets. This means that in addition to stocks, bonds, ETFs, and other types of funds, that you can hold other alternative assets, including real estate and precious metals in a bid to diversify your retirement investment portfolio.
Coins, Bars, and rounds that are used for investment purposes through SDIRAs need to be sourced from government mints, or any accredited refiner or assayer and must meet the minimum fineness for silver (0.999).
So far, some of the common IRA-approved silver coins you can use for the purpose of investment include:
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The American Eagle bullion coins (1oz.)
This is definitely one of the classic American coins. A glance at the 1 oz. and 5 oz. coins will leave you impressed by their beauty. This coin happens to be one of the world’s only silver coins that is backed by the U.S. government. I think this has to do with its silver content, weight, as well as purity.
The design of the Kookaburra coins changes every year. This also happens for the Australian Gold Kangaroo nugget coins. You will find the silver Kookaburras in the following weight denominations:
- 1 oz.
- 2 oz.
- 10 oz.
- 1 kg.
All of these denominations meet the IRS requirements, hence are suitable for use in precious metal IRAs.
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American Eagle Proof Coins
These are unique silver coins that are also IRA-approved by the IRS and are known for offering benefits that go beyond their silver content and weight (such as lower mintage compared to its counterparts).
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Canadian Maple Leaf Coins
These are made of 0.999 pure silver, making them some of the purest silver coins in the entire world. You can, as such, use them for investment through a silver IRA, with the confidence that you will resell them in the future without having to worry about any price decline that would result from their fineness being put into question.
These are unique silver coins that are produced by the Mexican government. They’re minted as a series of coins in La Casa de Moneda de Mexico, which is one of the oldest known mints.
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Austrian Philharmonic Coins
These coins hit the market in 2008. They were introduced to serve as a silver version of the already existing Gold Philharmonic coins. Most people who own the gold coins also end up purchasing silver coins. The good thing is that their fineness is of the approved standards, hence are worthy of looking into, for those who are opening Silver IRAs.
What type of silver can you not include in an IRA?
As we have already discussed, not all silver products are approved for use in SDIRAs. You, therefore, have to be very careful when making your purchase, so that you do not end up with coins, or other types of bullion that are not approved by the IRS. The following silver products cannot be accepted for use in an IRA:
- Pre-owned silver
- Certified silver sourced from third-party grading services
- Jewelry
Most of the silver products that are not allowed for use in IRAs do not usually qualify due to the failure to meet the set purity standards.
Note: Once you have purchased the IRA-eligible silver, you cannot place it at home. All silver products meant for use in IRA investments must be held at a depository that is approved by the IRS. As the owner of the silver, you can take a trip to the depository to touch and hold your assets, but you cannot head home with them until you’re authorized to start taking IRA distributions.
If you are still to figure out how to add silver to your retirement investment portfolio, then I’d recommend that you start by looking at the recommended precious metal IRA service providers below:
See Gold Retired’s Top-5 List of Gold and Silver IRA Solutions
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That will be all for this article in which we have tackled the question, “What is IRA eligible silver?” I hope that you found what you were looking for, and you can now take a step towards opening selecting the right silver products for use in your silver IRA. If you still have more questions with regards to silver IRAs and silver IRA investment products, feel free to ask them – drop them in the comments section below.
I wish you well,
Eric, Investor and Team Member at Gold Retired!
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