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Wells Fargo was founded in 1852 and is among the first financial establishments in America. With more than 13,000 ATMs and 5,200 branches throughout the United States, it has earned the status as one of the biggest national banks in the country.
The bank offers many options in savings and checking products plus a full range of banking services for individual, business, and corporate clients.
1852 was in a time when the world was going through rapid changes. On March 18, businessmen and financiers Henry Wells and William G. Fargo launched their banking business to help people start businesses and manage their money. Thus, the first Wells Fargo bank was founded.
But the question that smart investors who want to protect their savings from the destruction of inflation want know is, does Wells Fargo offer an IRA that can hold physical gold, silver, and other precious metals?
Keep reading to find out and by the end of this article, you will know whether or not it's the right solution for your needs and how they compare to some of the other options available.
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About Wells Fargo
During the first years, Wells and Fargo used their expertise in shipping via stagecoach and steamboat to deliver money and valuables to a growing network of coast-to-coast banking offices and locations around the world.
The economy was evolving at a fast pace, and this banking network allowed customers to enjoy support and consistency with their banking needs.
Clients who had to conduct business with partners located far away felt more reassured that they could rely on their local Wells Fargo office to conduct transactions on their behalf as the intermediary.
Over the past 170+ years, the economy has gone through life-changing revolutions. Today's technology enables financial transactions to execute fast and seamlessly.
Wells Fargo focuses on mainstream financial products that benefit Wall Street and unfortunately does not offer a IRA that can hold physical gold and silver.
But don't worry, if you are an investor that wants to lower your risk, diversify, and protect against the ravages of inflation with a physical gold IRA, we recommend you speak with Goldco, our top gold investing company recommendation.
Or you can read our comparison list of the Top Gold IRA Companies.
Why Place Gold in Your IRA?
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) protect your retirement as well as your family's financial security.
These special accounts allow you to set aside tax protected savings that you can use in the future.
With these long term accounts it's important to allocate a significant portion to assets that are solid and reliable, so you have a secure and worry-free retirement.
You can have cash in an IRA, but that is devaluing at a rapid pace and inflation is out of control.
You need an asset that's dependable, retains it's value, and even increases in value over time, and there is no better asset for this than gold.
With the world's economy struggling through lockdowns, shortages, wars, and inflation, uncertainty has never been higher and investors are protecting themselves by placing physical gold in IRA's.
A gold IRA investment prospers from these crisis that negatively affect most other assets.
Risk is knowing the economic dangers and doing nothing to protect yourself and your family.
Safety is knowing the economic dangers and taking action to protect your financial future, and this easy is to do with a gold IRA.
Gold IRA Explained
A precious metal IRA, commonly referred to as a gold IRA, is a type of self-directed IRA. A self-directed IRA lets you invest in non-traditional assets such as real estate, cryptocurrency, and precious metals.
Conventional IRAs do not allow you to invest in these assets. Self-directed IRAs are administered under the same kind of rules that regulate traditional IRAs like how much you can contribute in a year and what happens when you withdraw.
Because precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum have historically increased in value over the decades, a lot of people like to add that to their retirement portfolio.
Doing so has several benefits. One is to reduce risk and volatility in your portfolio so the value can be stabilized. Another benefit is that it can act as a hedge against a downturn in the economy. It can also serve as a shelter against taxes on your gains.
What Is A Self-Directed Individual Retirement Account?
A self-directed IRA, also known as a SDIRA, is an IRA that allows you to hold investments that conventional IRAs do not allow you to hold.
The SDIRA is administered by a trustee or custodian, but the account holder can directly manage it. This is the reason why they are referred to as self-directed IRAs.
A self-directed IRA can be a traditional IRA that takes pre-tax contributions or a Roth IRA that takes post-tax contributions which you can withdraw tax-free.
They are ideal for investors who have experience with other types of investments and want to hold them in a retirement account.
The rules around an IRA and a SDIRA are similar in many ways. The major difference is what assets you are allowed to hold in each one. Regular IRAs usually hold paper assets such as stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds, or exchange-traded funds.
However, SDIRAs let you invest in many other types of assets. These include commodities, real estate, precious metals, tax lien certificates, limited partnerships, private placements, and other kinds of alternative investments.
Steps to Opening a Gold IRA
The funds that you hold in your traditional IRA or 401(k) are allowed to be invested in precious metals, but you cannot make these investments within the confines of your regular IRA or 401(k).
A loophole in the IRS regulations provides an opportunity to get around that. By opening a self-directed IRA, you can roll over part of your retirement funds without incurring any taxes or fees, and use these funds to purchase silver and gold.
IRA specialists can explain to you all the details about holding precious metals in an SDIRA and walk you through the procedures of opening one.
Once you open your precious metal IRA, you have numerous investment opportunities. You can now look beyond the traditional paper investments like stocks, mutual funds, and bonds and invest in gold and silver.
You will have a hedge against a weak economy and enjoy better wealth preservation.
When your new account is opened, you can initiate a fund transfer from your existing retirement account. This can be a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Thrift Savings Plan, annuity, 401(k), 401(a), 403(b), and 457.
You have full management control in your SDIRA. The gold dealer has no control over your precious metals or your funds. They cannot conduct any activity in your account without your written approval.
These kinds of accounts came on the market more than 20 years ago. There is a handful of companies that are experts in the process and can make sure that the transactions proceed smoothly.
If you want to be assured that your rollover or transfer will not encounter any problems, you should consult with a gold IRA expert.
The gold experts have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and they can support you at each step of the process. Keep in mind that this is a way to add diversification to your portfolio, not to entirely replace all of your current investments with gold and silver.
When the funds are in your new account, you will just have to find the right type of precious metal products to buy. Your gold IRA agent will guide you in your selection of precious metal products that are IRA-approved.
They will help you choose products that add portfolio diversity and maximize your returns. You will have complete control over what you buy.
When you add precious metals to your retirement portfolio, you get more financial security. You shield your savings from economic uncertainty. You preserve your portfolio's value against inflation and a weak economy.
As the owner of a precious metal IRA, you own the physical gold, not just a piece of paper saying that you have ownership of an interest in gold. You also don't have to pay fees like what gold ETFs come with.
The paper products are just as tied to economic fluctuations as stocks, bonds, etc., but physical gold is a hedge against that.
Benefits of Investing in Physical Gold
As with any investment, a savvy investor will weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the investment choices. Gold is no exception.
When investors hear the word "inflation," their first concern is how that will affect the value of their money. Inflation erodes the purchasing power of the dollar.
You can see examples of that if you open up an old magazine from years ago and look at the old advertisements. You will see how much fewer things cost back then. Even the cover price of the magazine is cheaper.
One of the main reasons why so many investors gravitate to gold is that they know the price of gold will go up over the long term. That is not to say that gold prices won't dip at all, but prices always trend back up.
If you look at the historical price data of gold over the past decades, you can see that gold prices have steadily risen over the years, and they continue to do so.
The performance of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds depends on the health of the industry. If the industry is doing well, companies do well and their stocks do well.
However, when you own gold, you don't have to check how the industry is doing. Gold prices are not 100% immune to the effects of the economy, but when the economy takes a downturn, gold prices do not necessarily go down.
The opposite effect can happen. When the economy is weak, more investors put their money in gold, which drives up gold prices.
Portfolio diversification is probably the most important advantage. As described above, during times of economic instability, gold can outperform other types of investments. So, to reduce volatility in your portfolio, add gold to the mix.
In particular, owning gold protects your retirement funds from getting completely wiped out during times of a stock market crash.
It is natural for investors to have fears about their retirement funds during bad times, but if the mix includes gold, the fear becomes less.
For instance, if the economy is hit with another stock market crash like the one in 2008, the value of the stocks, bonds, and mutual funds can erode drastically, but that is unlikely to happen to gold.
People who invested heavily in gold, would not be as worried. Gold prices will not be significantly affected by a meltdown of the global markets.
Gold prices might even go up during a financial crisis because people want more stability and would rather hold on to wealth in physical form instead of a piece of paper.
Unique Features of Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo offers online banking and in-person support in the branches. Customers have more flexibility in banking when it is convenient for them.
The bank has more than 5,200 branches across 38 states. It has over 13,000 ATMs. So, people can bank whenever and wherever at their convenience.
The bank's mobile app also offers customers the ability to do banking while they are on the go. They can pay bills, transfer money, get account alerts, and more.
Checking Accounts
Wells Fargo provides several options:
Savings Accounts
The Way2Save savings account is the most popular. You only need $25 to open the account. You can fund it with a link from another checking account.
Certificates of Deposit
Compared to the CD offerings of other banks, Wells Fargo's selections are quite limited.
12-month CDs offer a fixed rate of up to 0.02% APY. There is no maintenance fee. The minimum deposit is $2,500.
Wells Fargo is Best For
Wells Fargo's product and service offerings fit the needs of most customers. For people who want to have their banking and investment needs serviced under one roof, this would be a good fit.
Investors who prefer to see a financial advisor in person to discuss their needs will like what Wells Fargo offers as well.
Conclusion
Wells Fargo fits the needs of a bank client who likes to conduct banking the traditional way. They have a physical presence in many parts of the country, so customers like that their range of services and product offerings are consistent and readily available.
An online bank might offer a slightly higher interest rate, but you can conveniently walk into any Wells Fargo branch to take care of your banking needs.
You can get almost any type of financial service needs met except if you want a gold IRA.
Many, but not all, of your other investment needs, like savings accounts, checking accounts, mortgages, investment accounts, auto loans, and more can be served by Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo is not an option for investors looking to protect their wealth with a physical Gold IRA, there are much better companies to work with that we have researched extensively on this website.
Our #1 Recommended Gold IRA Company is: Goldco
We also encourage you to read our comparison list of the top gold IRA companies.
You can get a Free Gold Investors Guide from our top gold and precious metals company recommendation by clicking the link above or you can read our article of the top companies we reviewed this year:
>> CLICK HERE to read our list of the Top Gold IRA companies. <<
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