About Gold IRA Rollover Guide

Gold IRA Rollover Guide exists because rollover content on the internet is written backwards: it starts with the sale and works backwards to the rules. The rules are the part that costs you money when someone gets them wrong — the 60-day window, the 20% withholding, the once-per-year limit, the plan-specific forms. We start from the documents and work forward to the decision.

What we do

We publish deadline-first guides for every plan type — 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), TSP and IRA-to-IRA moves — covering the exact forms, realistic timelines, and the penalties that trigger when a step goes wrong. Where companies are involved, we rate them on a published, weighted methodology built around what actually breaks in a rollover: plan-type expertise, fee transparency, transfer speed.

Editorial standards

• Every deadline and threshold cites an IRS publication or an official plan document; every guide shows its check date.
• Plan-specific claims (TSP forms, 457(b) penalty exceptions, 403(b) contracts) are verified against the source, not another blog.
• Ratings follow the methodology before anything else. Nothing is bought, nothing is smoothed.
• Guides are re-verified at least quarterly — IRS thresholds move.
• No individualized tax or investment advice. If a rule depends on your situation, we say so and point to the source.

Who writes this

Ethan Caldwell is a retirement-plan research editor who specializes in the paperwork and deadlines of moving money between employer plans, IRAs, and gold IRAs. The desk is led by Ethan Caldwell, senior editor, retirement plan rollovers, based in Raleigh, NC.

His background is document work, not sales. From 2014 to 2019 he was a research editor at a consumer-finance newsroom, fact-checking retirement and insurance coverage. From 2019 to 2024 he worked as an independent plan-documents analyst: reading 401(k) and 403(b) summary plan descriptions, fee disclosures, and withdrawal paperwork, then explaining them in plain language for plan participants. Since 2024 that work has been the core of this site.

What he covers, specifically:

• Direct vs indirect rollovers & the 60-day rule
• 20% withholding and penalty traps
• TSP withdrawal forms and federal-employee rules
• 403(b) annuity contracts and surrender schedules
• 457(b) governmental vs nongovernmental plans

The method — every guide on this site starts from a primary document: the IRS publication, the summary plan description, the form instructions on tsp.gov. Deadlines are quoted from the source, fee tables are compiled by hand with a check date, and anything that cannot be verified is marked as unverified rather than smoothed over. One honest boundary: Ethan is not a CPA, CFP, or attorney — nothing here is individualized tax, legal, or investment advice, and where a question truly needs a licensed professional, the guides say so and point to the document that decides it.

How we're funded

The site may earn commissions when readers open accounts with companies we cover. That money never touches ratings — the details, including what we'd refuse, are in our affiliate disclosure.

Facts across the site were last checked October 2026. Questions or corrections: contact page.