Household Wealth Tops $100 Trillion for First Time

Recently released data from the Federal Reserve shows that the wealth of American households has surpassed $100 trillion for the first time. But are American households really better off?

Much of the wealth of American households isn’t immediately liquid, being held in the form of financial assets such as stocks, or tied up in the value of housing. As such, those assets aren’t really worth anything until they’re sold. But if everyone tries to sell their assets at the same time, obviously the value of those assets would plummet.

The wealth increase, therefore, is just a wealth increase on paper, and many people won’t be able to take advantage of it. By the time they get to retirement and sell their stock holdings, another financial crisis may have occurred, driving down the value of their retirement accounts. Or another housing bubble may burst, causing the value of their house to plummet before they’re able to sell it and realize any gains.

While it certainly feels nice to be rich on paper, that pales in comparison to actually holding wealth, owning tangible assets that will maintain their value through both bull and bear markets. That’s the benefit of investing in gold, which maintains its value over time, acting as a hedge against inflation and a protector of assets against financial crisis.

With a gold IRA, investors can even roll over existing retirement assets tax-free and continue benefiting from the same tax advantages enjoyed by traditional retirement accounts. Even better, the investor who owns gold will always have tangible wealth to fall back on, as distributions from a gold IRA can be taken in the form of either physical gold or cash. Gold held in an IRA isn’t ephemeral wealth that will vanish during a stock correction or housing crash, it’s real wealth that will protect retirement investments not only today but decades into the future.