In these days of financial turbulence, many wise investors are protecting their retirement assets by opening a gold-backed IRA account. There are many reasons why having a gold IRA makes sense, especially now, but let’s try to put it in the simplest terms. When it comes to investing (and that’s what an IRA is an investment), there are two bits of wisdom that financial advisors commonly tell you: Diversify. That is, don’t have all your eggs in one basket.