Gold IRA vs Physical Gold

A Gold IRA owns qualifying physical metal inside a retirement account. Buying physical gold personally gives you direct possession but no IRA tax wrapper.

Gold IRA

• Retirement-account rules apply.
• Qualifying custody/storage is required.
• Potential tax-deferred or Roth treatment depends on the account type.

Personally owned physical gold

• You control storage and possession.
• No IRA contribution/rollover framework.
• Tax treatment differs from an IRA and depends on the transaction.

The better structure depends on why you want gold and whether retirement-account treatment is important.