It's easy to lose patience with the stock market. You might think you're up one day to find that your investments are worth less the next. In time, you might even start to believe that the stock market isn't suitable for you and that you need something in place to provide a little stability while the market goes crazy.
For many, the best solution to the stock market's volatility is making use of a precious metals IRA. These products allow you to invest in gold and silver, feeling safe knowing that you can hedge at least some of your bets by directing part of your portfolio towards something other than volatile stocks.
Creating one of these accounts is a good idea for anyone who wants the tax advantages of an IRA but who also wants to have some of the stability that comes from investing in precious metals. These IRAs are a great middle-ground for those looking to build a safer retirement.
If you're looking to start or roll over your own IRA, you'll want to work with a company specializing in precious metals IRAs. There are more of these companies out there than you might think, but not all of them are worth your time.
Unfortunately, some of the precious metals IRA companies out there aren't great with customers. Some don't offer all the products you might want, and others just aren't equipped to help investors. The good news, though, is that a handful of companies out there are more than ready to help you get your IRA set up, who are capable, reputable, and professional.
Our researchers reviewed over a thousand companies and came up with the best five to see how they stack up against one another. Their findings are detailed below in the reviews of each company. With a bit of reading, you should be able to find the company that best suits your needs.
Don't make any investment decisions lightly. You need to know as much as possible about these companies, especially if you trust them with your money. The reviews below can help you discover a little more about each of these companies to see if they suit you.
Precious Metals IRA Company Reviews
"Best Overall"
Goldco is the first company on our list, and it's generally the company that our researchers have come to consider the gold standard in investing. Founded over a decade ago, this company has put in the work to show investors exactly what they should expect from a PM IRA company.
One of the best reasons to work with Goldco is the company's reputation. It not only has excellent ratings from organizations like the Better Business Bureau, but its customers love talking about their experiences with Goldco. You can find thousands of 5-star, positive reviews of this company online.
As you might expect, Goldco specializes in gold IRAs. Of course, the company's IRAs follow all pertinent IRS regulations, but they're also designed with consumers in mind. The company starts the investing process by getting their clients up to speed on how the accounts work, and from there, they handle every aspect of the account setup process.
If you already have an IRA, Goldco will also help you with the rollover process if it is available. The company will take care of the entire transfer process, allowing you to rest easy knowing that your retirement funds are safe.
Goldco also ensures that your investments will be in the right metals. The company has an excellent catalog of gold and silver items that meet all IRS rules while still making safe and solid investments.
Goldco even works with its customers to make the liquidation process easy. Goldco's liquidation process allows you to cash out your account or have your items shipped to you. The company even packs and insures your items to arrive safely at your home.
If you're looking for items to add to your collection, Goldco even has some tremendous non-IRA metal items available. Once again, Goldco will handle shipping and insurance so that you can feel safe having these items sent wherever you like.
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Augusta Precious Metals has been in the business of precious metals investments for almost a decade, with enough positive reviews from customers and watchdog agencies to earn it the number two spot on this list.
Augusta Precious Metals is a unique company that believes in following seven specific criteria to succeed. They believe that the company must embrace the values of accessibility, coordination, commitment, respect, selection, transparency, and knowledge to grow.
One of the best parts of working with this company is how hard they work for their customers. Your personal sales representative will set up your account quickly, walking you through your paperwork and answering questions as you go. After that, they'll help you ensure that you fund your account correctly and that you choose the suitable metals for your account.
Once you have your metals, Augusta will ensure they are insured for transportation and taken to IRS-approved storage facilities. The companies with which Augusta works are some of the best in the business.
If you're looking for non-IRA investments, Augusta Precious Metals still has you covered. The company has a solid selection of gold and silver coins, which they will pay to have insured and shipped directly to your home.
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Birch Gold Group is another great precious metals IRA firm. In business since 2003, the company has a solid ethical foundation that focuses on customer education and transparency in their business dealings. The company has solid ratings from the BBB and BCA and excellent word-of-mouth from its customers.
The company has an excellent team of specialists that help customers set up new accounts and roll over existing counts quickly and easily. Birch's experts are great about ensuring that all of their products meet IRS standards and that customers never have to worry about a legal issue when investing.
Another great thing about working with Birch is that the company is affiliated with Brink's Global Services and the Delaware Depository, two of the best-known IRA depositories on the planet. The company will handle the shipping and insurance when you're ready to send your items to your vault.
Like several other companies on this list, Birch offers some non-IRA items for personal collections. Birch has a very extensive collection of these items, any of which can be pretty valuable for non-IRA investment.
Finally, Birch stands out because of its free online information guide. This guide lets would-be investors learn more about IRAs and how they work before contacting Birch.
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If you've heard of Regal Assets, it might be because you encountered the company at the twentieth position on the INC 500 list. Truly an up-and-comer in the industry, it easily secures the fifth spot on our list.
Regal Assets has quickly become one of the more trusted businesses in the world of precious metals IRAs, with a reputation for treating their clients well. Regal Assets eschews high-pressure sales tactics while offering competitive fee structures and great prices on their metals.
If you want to know more about the company's reputation, you can simply look online. Excellent client reviews are available in many places, most of which point to the company's customer service as the main selling point.
It should also be noted that Regal is one of the few companies that also allow their clients to invest in cryptocurrency. While this investment isn't as stable as precious metals, it's still a nice option for many.
Regal Assets also has several different investment packages for non-IRA investors that range in price from five thousand dollars to a quarter of a million dollars. The wide range of prices makes them ideal for many investors.
Regal also allows clients access to many storage facilities around the world, all of which charge flat yearly fees for storage.
Finally, Regal is unique because it sells wristwatches that include precious metals in their construction and double as bitcoin wallets. This might not be in the purview of the average IRA investor, but it's still another nice option for those looking for unique ways to diversify their portfolios.
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Noble Gold is among the most established names in the precious metals industry. With over twenty years in the business, it has managed to create a team that's not only very helpful but that goes a long way towards educating its clients.
As with all other businesses on this list, Noble Gold has excellent reviews from its customers and strong ratings from the BCA and BBB. This means that the company has established its trustworthiness in the eyes of its customers and those who carefully monitor the industry.
One of the great things about working with the group is that you can start setting up your IRA online. Once you fill out the initial paperwork, someone from the company will contact you so that you can get your account fully set up.
Noble Gold has an excellent selection of coins and bars approved by the IRS. The company also has several different products meant for personal investments, which cannot be added to an IRA but can still become an essential cornerstone of their customers' overall investment strategies.
If you choose to purchase metals for an IRA, you'll get access to Noble Gold's segregated security storage. Not only will all of your items be kept separate from those of other investors, but you can come in and visit your metals any time you like.
One of unique things about Noble Gold is that it sells precious metals "survival packs" that are priced between five thousand and five hundred thousand dollars. If you feel like you need to have a substantial amount of precious metals on-hand, Noble Gold has you covered.
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Key Considerations
As you prepare to choose your company, you'll want to start thinking about the qualities a company needs to have before you feel comfortable working with them. All the companies we have listed are great, but each has unique features that make them stand out more for some consumers than others.
Every consumer has different sticking points regarding how a company operates. Some need a company with plenty of experience, while others are about customer support. For some, the main thing is whether the company offers a wide range of products; for others, the biggest issue is fees.
Each of the criteria listed below is important to many groups of consumers. Which one matters the most is up to you, but it's good to at least have an idea of these criteria before you start the investment process.
1. Experience
Most people who invest in precious metal IRAs put significant money into these accounts. As such, they want to be sure that the company they work with actually knows what it is doing. For many, that comes down to knowing that the company has experience.
Experience matters because experienced companies can often give their customers better advice to help them in the future. The longer the company has been around, the more it is able to see and the deeper the well of knowledge from which its employees can pull when advising customers.
Working with an experienced company can also help you to feel comfortable knowing that the company understands what it is doing with your money. For many, knowing that the company has been competent for many years is enough to let them sleep more easily at night.
2. Reputation
Reputation matters when you do business with any company. You wouldn't buy a car from a dealership with a bad reputation, after all, and you would never want to work with an investment company that isn't well-regarded. Fortunately, finding information about a company's reputation is often as easy as checking out review sites.
You shouldn't just look at consumer reviews, though. It's always a good idea to look at industry review sites like the Better Business Bureau and the Business Consumer Alliance to see how various companies are viewed. Both organizations post consumer complaints and resolve those complaints for public consumption.
Don't be afraid of a company just because you see a couple of negative comments. Almost every business has one or two customers that it just can't satisfy, after all. It's a trend that you should look for, not the outliers.
Your fundamental goal should be to see how the company resolves complaints. If the company goes out of its way to keep other customers happy, you can be relatively sure that it will do the same for you.
3. Support and Service
Most investors need a little help getting their accounts set up. Suppose you can work with a company that has great customer representatives. In that case, you'll be able to get your paperwork filled out correctly, get guided towards the suitable metals for your account, and feel more secure that your metals will end up in the kind of IRS-approved facilities in which they need to be stored.
Simply put, excellent customer service can make you feel more comfortable investing substantial money with a company you might never see in person.
It's important to remember that IRAs are long-term types of savings, so you'll be dealing with your IRA company for many years to come. If you cannot get along with them at first, you're setting yourself up for what might be potential decades of frustrating customer experiences.
If you want your experience with a company to go well, make sure you find one with great customer service. The more you enjoy working with them, the more you'll get out of your investments.
4. Fees
Every financial transaction comes with fees. It doesn't matter if you are paying your utilities online or investing in precious metals; you should expect to pay fees at some point. While you can't avoid fees entirely, it's important to ensure that the fees you pay are fair.
The fees that you might incur on an IRA can be substantial over time, so looking at saving money on fees is always a good idea. It's more important, though, that the fees make sense.
Think about management fees as an example. Every company charges them, but the management fees for all companies are not the same. Some charge less but do less with that money, while others might charge higher fees but include more in that annual fee. You should always do your best to determine where your money is going and how it will impact your investments.
The only way to figure out most fee information is to contact the company directly. Make sure to ask the rep to whom you speak about annual fees, storage fees, set-up fees, and any other costs that might be associated with an IRA. The more information you get up-front, you will be better prepared when you get your billing statements.
5. Product Selection
Many investors also want to know much about the metals they invest in. If investing in something like palladium or platinum is important to you, you'll want to ask specifically about those metals before you open an account. Likewise, asking about other products like cryptocurrency can help determine if a company can meet your investing needs.
Even if you're not worried about specific products, you should still see what the companies you like offer. Some have extensive catalogs of products, while others might have a more limited selection. What's important isn't necessarily that a company offers absolutely everything to their clients, but rather that the company provides the various products you wish to invest in.
Final Verdict
So, which company gets the top billing?
As far as our research team is concerned, it has to be Goldco. Not only does the company work well for a wide range of investors, but it also does an excellent job of providing a more extraordinary customer experience and investment products.
This is one of the few companies that work well for everyone. Whether you are rolling over an account or setting up something new, Goldco is a good fit for most investors.
With a decade and a half of industry experience and a team that specializes in working with real customers, Goldco is simply a standout in the field of precious metals. This company does a fantastic job of meeting customers where they are.
Even apart from customer service, Goldco still stands out. Goldco has a great selection of metal coins and bars approved for investment by the IRS. The company even works to help ensure they match their customers with the products that will do the most for them.
If you're not looking forward to the setup process, Goldco also has you covered. The company handles the initial setup process and helps ensure that your metals get shipped to the proper vault. It's a great service from beginning to end.
Goldco even has those who are investing in non-IRA gold and silver covered. The company sells a great selection of non-IRA metals that are perfect for keeping at home or using as another investment type.
With all this in mind, it's not too surprising that our researchers have grown to love Goldco and that the company is at the top of our list of companies. What stands out the most is the thousands of five-star customer reviews, with more coming in every day.
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