A Gold IRA custodian is an IRS-approved institution required by federal law to hold your retirement account. The custodian files Form 5498 each year, processes your transactions, and keeps the account in line with the code. That's the whole of the job.

They don't tell you what to buy. They don't tell you when. They follow your written instructions, handle the paperwork, and keep the ledger. You pick the custodian. You direct the investments. They keep the record.

You pick the custodian. You direct the investments. They keep the record. Three jobs. Three hands. No one hand holds all of it.

Some radio and television gold outfits create their own “custodians” — affiliated entities under the same roof. When the dealer and the custodian share a letterhead, the independence that shields your account is gone. No one is checking anyone’s work.

The custodians on this page are independent, regulated institutions. They have no money tie to Liberty Gold Silver. If we disappear tomorrow, your account is still there, still in your name, still on the depository ledger. That is the point of the separation.

A direct trustee-to-trustee transfer moves your money from your current 401(k), 403(b), TSP, or IRA into a new Self-Directed account. The whole arc runs two to four weeks under normal conditions. No tax. No penalty. Your hands never touch the money.

One. Open the account with an IRS-approved custodian. The application is usually a page or two.

Two. Fund the account by trustee-to-trustee transfer or rollover from your existing plan.

Three. Pick the metal in writing. Written price, written product list, written delivery instructions.

Four. The custodian wires the funds. We lock the price and ship to the depository in your IRA’s name.

Five. The depository receives the shipment, titles the weight to your account, and sends you written confirmation.

See also the full rule sheet for what can and can’t sit inside the account.