The current crisis in the US economy has produced a feeling among many Americans that they should consider their retirement more seriously. Many have become too secured in the past because they were depending on their employment-based retirement account as well as their Social Security to provide for their retirement. Their retirement account would most likely have been severely affected by the dive that the stock exchange made in the crisis years of 1987 and 2010 and even the SSI can no longer be depended upon. And in view of this, many have rolled over the remaining funds in their retirement accounts into self directed IRA.

A self directed IRA allows the account owner to decide, in behalf of the account, the types of investments to venture into. This account, as flexible as it is, can choose from a wide range of permissible investments. However, the IRS rules and regulations pertaining to the prohibition of certain assets that may not be invested in such as artwork, antiques, some metals, coin and stamp collections and many more. The IRS rules likewise prohibits disqualified transactions such as self-dealing or the availing of the account's assets for the personal use or gain of disqualified persons. The IRS also mandates that a self directed IRA should have a qualified custodian to provide advice to the account owner on the types of investments he may make as well as transactions that the owner may carry out.

Non traditional types of investments are getting to be more popular among self directed IRA accounts because of its capacity to provide higher income returns compared with the traditional investment types. The additional control and flexibility that is afforded owners of the self directed retirement accounts have enhanced their ability to speculate on the non traditional real estate and gold in IRA.

Just like real estate, gold has proven its worth as a suitable investment in terms of tangibility, income potential and relative stability. In a self directed IRA, gold becomes even more attractive economically speaking because of the tax benefits you can enjoy over its income returns. Perhaps because of the increasing popularity of gold as a lucrative IRA investment, the IRS approved gold and silver bullions as IRA qualified investments in 1997. The rule however required that in order for these precious metals to be eligible as investment, they must be must be at least 99.5% pure. This opened the gates for even more self directed IRA account owners to invest in gold.

The attraction of gold is age old and it is no surprise at all that, until now, its lure stays as strong even among investors. The recent years have seen a continuous growth of gold in IRA account portfolios. And alike any profitable undertaking but mainly because of its transportability, investing in gold does not come without risks. Hence, IRS mandates the storage of self directed IRA gold investments in accredited repository facilities that provide both insurance and security. The IRS expressly prohibits the account owner's physical possession of the gold in IRA or he will face sanctions.

The acquisition of the gold investment itself poses a large amount of risk. Stories regarding the activities of unscrupulous individuals victimizing gold investors out of their hard-earned cash have been publicized. It is therefore wise to transact business only with reputable gold dealers who have built their unsullied reputation over the years.