Bullion vs. numismatic silver - what did YOU go with for your IRA?

Carol Carter

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Bullion vs. numismatic silver - what did YOU go with for your IRA?

carol_carter💰Established (100-250k)

about 10 hours ago

Key Takeaways

•Diving into the whole bullion vs.
•numismatic coin debate for my Gold IRA.
•I’ve had about $150k tied up in a diversified portfolio for a while now, and a decent chunk of that is in precious metals.

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Diving into the whole bullion vs. numismatic coin debate for my Gold IRA. I’ve had about $150k tied up in a diversified portfolio for a while now, and a decent chunk of that is in precious metals. I'm an insurance agent here in Omaha, so I’m all about risk management and not putting all my eggs in one basket. My Gold IRA is definitely a part of that, and it's been performing pretty steadily over the last 5 years or so.

I originally went with just standard silver bullion for the most part – American Silver Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs, that kind of thing. My thinking was low premium, easy to value. But lately, I’ve been hearing more about numismatic coins and their potential for appreciation beyond just the metal value. I know they can be a lot more volatile and you pay a higher premium up front, which always makes me a little nervous. But if the right pieces really can grow in value significantly, it’s certainly tempting to consider for a portion of my holdings.

For those of you with Gold IRAs, did you lean heavily one way or the other? Or did you do a mix? What was your reasoning? I'm talking specifically for IRA-approved coins here, not just collecting generally. I'm also starting to think more about future distributions – definitely need to dig into an RMD Calculator soon to get a better handle on what those look like when I eventually hit 73. Any thoughts on how numismatic coins might impact RMD valuations compared to standard bullion?

Always appreciate hearing different perspectives on this stuff. It's a big decision and I want to make sure I'm making the most informed choices for my retirement.

3 comments

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Best Answer▲ 10 upvotes

nancy_hall💰Established (100-250k)

Interesting! You mentioned a lot of your portfolio is already in precious metals. What kind of precious metals did you go with for that existing chunk? Was it mostly bullion or more numismatic/collectible stuff there too?

Comments (3)

joseph_harris📊Growing (50-100k)•less than a minute ago

Totally get where you're coming from on this! I wrestled with the same decision when setting up my Gold IRA. For me, I ended up leaning heavily into bullion. The lower premiums and greater liquidity just felt right for my risk tolerance, even though the numismatics have that cool collector appeal. I've got a small portion in some older, more common numismatics that have a decent spread, just for a bit of diversification, but the bulk is definitely in your standard silver eagles and rounds.

nancy_hall💰Established (100-250k)Real Investor•less than a minute ago

Honestly, while the numismatic stuff *can* be cool, I kinda feel like for a retirement account, you're looking for stability and a hedge, not speculative value on collectibles. The premium on numismatics can eat into your actual metal exposure, which defeats the purpose for me. Stick to the lowest premium bullion you can find for an IRA, that's my take.

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