Pre-retirees between 55 and 64 often think about adding gold to their retirement accounts.
They see the headlines. They watch gold prices climb. They hear about economic uncertainty and wonder if now is the time to diversify.
But then something stops them.
The timing question.
“Gold just hit an all-time high. Maybe I should wait for a pullback.”
Or the opposite.
“Gold just dropped. What if it keeps falling?”
So they wait. They watch. They wait some more.
Months pass. Sometimes years.
And that retirement account stays 100% in paper assets. Fully exposed to whatever the stock market decides to do next.
Here’s the thing. There’s one fundamental truth that changes everything. Once pre-retirees understand it, the timing question starts to fade away.
No more guessing. No more paralysis. Just a clear path forward.
The Long View Changes Everything
There’s a popular book called “The Simple Path to Wealth” by JL Collins. It makes a powerful observation about the stock market.
Yes, the market crashes sometimes. Yes, there are scary dips. Yes, people panic and sell at the worst possible moment.
But zoom out and look at 100 years of stock market history. The line goes up. It always recovers. It always climbs higher eventually.
The people who built real wealth weren’t the ones timing every dip perfectly. They were the ones who got positioned and stayed positioned.
Here’s what most people don’t realize. Gold follows the same pattern.
Look at gold over the last century. There are dips. There are surges. There are stretches where not much happens.
But the long-term trend? Up.
In 1971, gold was $35 an ounce. Today it trades around $2,600. That’s not a typo.
The people who bought at $35 didn’t have perfect timing. They just bought.
The people who bought at $300 in 2000 felt like they were late to the party. Gold had already gone up so much. Today those same people have seen their holdings multiply several times over.
The people who bought at $800 in 2008 thought they were buying near the top. They’ve still seen significant gains.
The pattern is hard to ignore.
What Paper Assets Don’t Offer
Here’s where it gets interesting for anyone approaching retirement.
Stocks tend to go up over time. Gold tends to go up over time. But they don’t move together.
In fact, they often move in opposite directions.
When the stock market crashed in 2008, retirement accounts dropped 40% or more. People watched decades of savings evaporate in months.
During that same period, gold went up roughly 25%.
Think about what that means for someone five or ten years from retirement.
A portfolio with some gold allocation would have been cushioned during one of the worst market crashes in modern history. While stocks were falling, gold was rising.
Gold can serve two purposes at once. It’s an asset that has historically grown over long periods of time. And it can act as a counterbalance when paper assets struggle.
For pre-retirees who remember 2008, who remember watching their accounts drop and wondering if they’d ever recover, this matters.
The Real Risk Isn’t What Most People Think
Most people think the risk is buying gold at the “wrong” price.
What if I buy and it goes down?
But consider the other side.
What about the risk of staying 100% in paper assets while waiting for the “perfect” moment to diversify?
What about the risk of being fully exposed to the next market downturn with retirement just a few years away?
Younger people can wait out a crash. They have 20 or 30 years to recover. Time is on their side.
Pre-retirees between 55 and 64 don’t have that luxury. A major crash at the wrong moment can change everything.
The people who reach out to us often say the same thing.
“I wish I had done this sooner.”
“I kept waiting for the right time and now gold is so much higher.”
“I should have started years ago.”
The regret isn’t usually about buying. It’s about waiting.
A Different Approach
Smart pre-retirees often take a different approach than trying to time the market perfectly.
They focus on getting positioned rather than getting the perfect price.
Some choose to move a portion of their retirement savings into a Gold IRA all at once. Others prefer to dollar-cost average, adding smaller amounts over time.
Both approaches share something in common. They prioritize being in position over finding the perfect entry point.
Because if the last 100 years show anything, it’s that the exact price matters less than simply being positioned.
Someone who bought gold at $300, $500, $800, or even $1,200 is likely pleased with that decision today. The specific entry point fades in importance over time.
What matters more is whether someone took action or kept waiting.
The Path Forward
Pre-retirees between 55 and 64 are in a unique position.
Retirement is close enough to feel real. But there’s still time to make meaningful changes to how a portfolio is structured.
Adding precious metals to a retirement account isn’t complicated. A Gold IRA works much like a traditional IRA, just with physical gold or silver held in a secure depository instead of paper assets.
The process typically involves rolling over a portion of an existing 401(k) or IRA. There are no penalties when done correctly. And for many people, it takes less time than expected.
The question isn’t really about timing. It’s about whether to stay 100% exposed to paper assets or to build in some protection.
For anyone who’s been thinking about gold for months or years, the real question might be simpler than it seems.
What are you waiting for?
Talk to a Specialist
Every situation is different. A precious metals specialist can help determine if a Gold IRA makes sense based on individual circumstances, timeline, and goals.
No pressure. No obligation. Just a conversation about options.
