SDIRA vs. Traditional Custodian for Gold - My Thoughts

• •For anyone with a decent chunk of change, say eight figures, obviously the direct approach with physical allocated gold is king.
• •The SDIRA allowed me to actually acquire physical gold and silver, stored independently, which was the whole point.
• •The setup was a bit more involved than rolling over to Vanguard, obviously, but nothing a good admin assistant couldn't handle.

Been seeing a few posts lately about self-directed IRAs versus just sticking with a traditional custodian for gold, and thought I'd throw in my two cents from Greenwich. For anyone with a decent chunk of change, say eight figures, obviously the direct approach with physical allocated gold is king. But for my personal allocation, which is a seven-figure portion of my total retirement pot, the SDIRA for physical metals really stood out as a no-brainer for diversification and control.

My firm's mandates mean I can't directly buy commodities for myself outside of specific approved channels without a ton of red tape, so a traditional brokerage managing a gold ETF or some paper derivative is a non-starter. The SDIRA allowed me to actually acquire physical gold and silver, stored independently, which was the whole point. I looked at a few options, interviewed a couple of custodians that specialized in physical metals, and ultimately went with one that had a solid track record and clear fee structure. The setup was a bit more involved than rolling over to Vanguard, obviously, but nothing a good admin assistant couldn't handle.

The control factor is huge for me. I wanted to know exactly what I owned and where it was. With a traditional custodian, even if they say it's gold, it often feels a little too abstract, like another line item on a consolidated statement. The self-directed route, especially with segregated storage, offers that tangible peace of mind. Plus, I don't trust a big bank to hold anything I truly value beyond a certain point given the current market shenanigans and political climate. My metals are for wealth preservation, not chasing alpha.

For those of you nearing retirement or hitting RMD age, have you found any particular advantages or disadvantages to using an SDIRA for physical metals when calculating those required distributions? I'm playing around with this RMD Calculator I found to model out future distributions, and trying to figure out the smoothest way to potentially liquidate a portion of the gold without hitting a liquidity trap or getting gouged on spreads. Any tips on that front would be appreciated.