A Self-Directed IRA is a retirement account under the ordinary rules — Internal Revenue Code Section 408, the same code your brokerage IRA sits under. Tax-deferred growth for a Traditional, tax-free growth for a Roth, the same contribution caps, the same distribution schedule when the years come around. None of that changes.

What changes is what the account is permitted to hold. A brokerage IRA at Fidelity or Schwab holds shares of funds. A self-directed account can hold physical gold, silver, platinum, palladium, real estate, and other hard assets that the IRS allows. You direct every decision. The custodian follows your written instructions.

The container is the same. The weight you put in the container is the decision worth making — on paper, in writing, before a single dollar moves.

The account is not the point. The metal inside it is the point. And the metal only makes sense if you have already decided a physical holding belongs in your retirement plan at all.

Before any conversation about metal or custodian, there’s a simpler question: does your existing retirement account qualify for a rollover at all? Most do. Some have rules that hold the money in place until a job ends or a birthday passes. The thirty seconds below will tell you where you stand.

The order matters, and none of it needs to happen fast. The whole arc from first phone call to metal on the depository ledger runs two to four weeks under normal conditions.

One. Open a Self-Directed IRA with an IRS-approved custodian. We can walk you through the handful of firms we have worked with for years.

Two. Fund the account. A direct trustee-to-trustee transfer from your existing 401(k), 403(b), TSP, or IRA moves the money without tax or penalty. Your hands never touch it.

Three. Pick the metal. Written price. Written product list. Written delivery instructions to the depository. Everything on paper before a single dollar moves.

Four. The depository receives the shipment, titles the weight to your account, and sends you a written confirmation. You can track the holding through the custodian’s portal whenever you like.

We also work with custodians we trust and can send the full rule sheet on request.