Can I move my 403(b) into gold?

The honest answer to “is my 403(b) any good?”

FACT. Many 403(b) plans, particularly in K–12 districts, are sold through insurance agents and held in annuity contracts whose costs are layered — a contract charge, a mortality and expense charge, and the underlying fund expense. Others hold ordinary mutual funds in a custodial account and are inexpensive. Yours could be either, and the plan document tells you which. UNKNOWN: nobody can tell you your costs without seeing your statement, and any firm that names a figure before reading it is guessing.

• Annuity-based 403(b): layered charges, and often a surrender schedule
• Custodial (mutual fund) 403(b): usually simpler and cheaper
• The plan document and your statement settle it in ten minutes

When the money is allowed to move

FACT. The clean path is separation from service — leaving or retiring from the employer sponsoring the plan. Most 403(b) plans do not permit in-service rollovers before 59½; many allow them after. A 403(b) left behind at a former district, hospital or charity is almost always fully eligible today, and those are the accounts people most often forget they own.

• Separated or retired: eligible, in full
• Still employed and 59½ or older: often eligible — ask specifically
• Still employed and younger: usually not, but an old plan elsewhere may be

The surrender charge that catches people

FACT. If your 403(b) is an annuity, exiting early can trigger a surrender charge — commonly a percentage that steps down over several contract years. It is a real cost and it is avoidable: ask your provider for the surrender schedule in writing before starting anything. Sometimes waiting for one contract anniversary saves more than the entire first year of a metals account costs. We will read the schedule with you rather than rushing past it.

Doing it without tax or penalty

FACT. A direct trustee-to-trustee rollover is not a distribution, so there is no income tax and no early-withdrawal penalty at any age. Pre-tax balances go to a traditional IRA; Roth 403(b) balances go to a Roth IRA with their tax-free treatment intact. If instead the plan pays you personally, withholding applies and a 60-day clock starts — that is the route that creates the penalty people fear.

• Open the self-directed IRA first, so a receiving account exists
• Request the rollover in writing, naming the new custodian as payee
• Select IRS-eligible bullion once funds settle; the depository stores it

What it costs, stated plainly

There is a custodian account fee, an annual depository storage fee, and a premium over the spot price on the metal itself. Capstone works with Preferred Trust Company and GoldStar Trust Company — independent custodians that hold the account, not us. Every figure is quoted in writing before you commit, and no card is charged at any point.

Whether you should, not just whether you can

Public-sector and nonprofit workers often have a pension alongside the 403(b), which changes the picture entirely — a guaranteed income stream is itself a form of ballast. Because Capstone has licensed financial advisors on staff, the conversation can weigh the pension, the 403(b), any spouse's plan and your income needs together. If the sensible answer is to leave it alone, we would rather say so.

Reaching us

Capstone Metals is operated by TB Alternative Assets LLC, a California-registered company, working with families across the United States by phone and text: (800) 200-9553, Monday to Friday, 7am to 4pm Pacific. Bring your statement to the call and we will go through it line by line — including the parts that argue against moving.