A standard IRA at most brokerages can only hold paper assets – stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs. Physical gold requires a specific structure called a self-directed IRA, commonly marketed as a Gold IRA, which is a real and legal IRA type, just with different mechanics than a typical brokerage account.

The metal itself has to meet IRS purity standards under IRC Section 408(m) – 99.5% for gold bullion, with American Gold Eagle coins carved out as a statutory exception despite being slightly below that threshold. The gold must be held by an IRS-approved custodian in an approved depository; the account owner can’t store it personally while it’s inside the IRA.

Opening one means choosing a self-directed IRA custodian that handles precious metals, funding the account (via a new contribution, subject to annual IRA limits, or a rollover/transfer from an existing retirement account), and directing the custodian to purchase IRS-eligible metal that gets shipped straight to the depository – it never passes through the account owner’s hands.