This is a general comment rather than a question specific to this post that may be of interest to other subscribers.
When I first subscribed last year I took serious note of your repeated emphasis of the importance of ensuring we have "legal title" to our precious metals assets in order to avoid counterparty risk. However, in the USA, regulations require all retirement accounts (IRA's -Individual Retirement Accounts) to be held and administrated by a Custodian, and mandates Custodians to hold legal title over all assets in these accounts. So it seems that even if one gets out of credit into real money (gold and silver), in a financial meltdown we could still lose it all to counterparty risk. Bankruptcy courts will assign priority to the claims of the entity holding legal title above all others (including account "owner"). It seems to me that there is not much one can do about this (other than taking distributions). Any thoughts?
A custodian having legal title is a contradiction in terms, placing your assets on his balance sheet. Are you sure? But as a general comment I would only consider two options: either store gold in your possession, or in an insured vault under bailment.
re "contradiction in terms" I sincerely hope I am wrong!!!- but here is where I got the idea. SDIRA= Self Directed IRA - a specific IRA needed to hold precious metals.
...."There are several requirements a custodian must meet, since in this role, the entity not only holds title to the assets/investments within the retirement plan;....
Thank you Alasdair.
Is gold beginning to go mainstream?
Today's sermon by the most famous pastor in Germany:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6drrjoq-5c
Gott im himmel .......ausgezeichnet - wurdest du nicht sagen ..??
Thanks Alasdair. I'll look forward to listening to this tomorrow morning 👍
excellent as expected ( and as always )
Hi Alasdair,
This is a general comment rather than a question specific to this post that may be of interest to other subscribers.
When I first subscribed last year I took serious note of your repeated emphasis of the importance of ensuring we have "legal title" to our precious metals assets in order to avoid counterparty risk. However, in the USA, regulations require all retirement accounts (IRA's -Individual Retirement Accounts) to be held and administrated by a Custodian, and mandates Custodians to hold legal title over all assets in these accounts. So it seems that even if one gets out of credit into real money (gold and silver), in a financial meltdown we could still lose it all to counterparty risk. Bankruptcy courts will assign priority to the claims of the entity holding legal title above all others (including account "owner"). It seems to me that there is not much one can do about this (other than taking distributions). Any thoughts?
A custodian having legal title is a contradiction in terms, placing your assets on his balance sheet. Are you sure? But as a general comment I would only consider two options: either store gold in your possession, or in an insured vault under bailment.
Hi,
re "contradiction in terms" I sincerely hope I am wrong!!!- but here is where I got the idea. SDIRA= Self Directed IRA - a specific IRA needed to hold precious metals.
https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesfinancecouncil/2021/08/31/administrator-vs-custodian-who-does-what-for-self-directed-retirement-plans/
...."There are several requirements a custodian must meet, since in this role, the entity not only holds title to the assets/investments within the retirement plan;....
.... and a class action lawsuit filed 10/30/23 over millions stolen from SDIRA's https://www.classaction.org/news/new-direction-facing-class-action-lawsuit-over-110m-in-precious-metals-stolen-from-retirement-accounts
"An SDIRA custodian holds the title to the precious metals in the SDIRA and is tasked with executing all asset movements...."
I am a lay-person - so maybe there are additional regulations that I am unaware of but this set off warning bells....!!
Thanks for your incredible site as it is the best tool I have found to navigate the credit minefield.
Regards
Colleen