Age-specific advice about gold for seniors should account for a real, well-documented planning consideration: required minimum distributions (RMDs). Traditional IRAs, including Gold and Silver IRAs, require the account holder to begin taking RMDs starting at age 73 (per SECURE 2.0’s updated age threshold), calculated as a percentage of the account’s total value each year — which means a retiree needs enough liquidity within the account, or a plan to sell metal periodically, to satisfy that requirement without being forced into a bad-timing sale.

This is a genuinely different consideration than for a younger investor with decades before any withdrawal requirement, and it’s the specific reason age-based allocation advice exists at all — not because gold works differently for older investors, but because the IRS’s own RMD timeline changes the practical liquidity needs of the account. Anyone over 60 considering a metals IRA should ask their custodian directly how in-kind or cash RMD distributions are actually handled for bullion holdings before committing.