If you do some searching online for “best places to hide precious metals,” you will find dozens of articles that offer advice on the smartest places to hide precious metals in your residence.

“Dollar in Danger of Weakening for Six Years,” an article that appeared on Bloomberg.com on November 16, sounds these alarms that all investors should heed . . .

Yes, the deadline for filing your 2015 tax return has come and gone. But before you take a deep breath and move on, why not take stock of tax lessons you learned last month, talk about them with your tax preparer or attorney, and make some decisions right now about how you are going to deal with your precious metals holdings when next April rolls around?

Frankly, we are not going to answer that question on today’s post, because it is a question that only your financial advisor or tax preparer can answer for you. There are many variables to consider – your tax bracket, your other investment gains or losses – and we are not in a position to offer that kind of advice. What we can do, however, is answer the following question . . . 

The end of calendar year 2015 is coming up fast, and that means it’s time to think ahead about your IRA and other accounts that will figure when you file your taxes next April. Some people are wondering about putting gold and other precious metals into their IRA accounts. On first thought, that makes sense. Gold prices are low right now, after all, so you’re probably not going to sell gold soon. Why not roll your gold into your IRA and not even think about selling it now?

We don’t have a crystal ball that lets us see what precious metals you now own – either in bullion, in materials that you haven’t yet recycled or elsewhere - but we’re willing to guess that most of your metals investments fall into the mid-term category that FINRA defines: you’re going to have them for between three and 10 years, so they should be investments that offer stable long-term growth.