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Gold IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) are investment options that help investors who want to diversify their investment portfolios to save for their retirement years. These investors use precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium to hedge their funds against stock market volatility and inflation. A gold IRA will allow you to hold these precious metals in your IRA. Precious metals IRAs will give you the same tax benefits as stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in your IRA.
Adding gold or other alternative assets to your portfolio will reduce the volatility risk through diversification. However, financial advisors advise investors to allocate at most 5% of their entire retirement portfolio to gold IRAs because gold's profits will only be substantial after a more extended holding period. We feel this approach is correct, although we do feel 5% is a little conservative and would suggest if you are creating an excellent diversified precious metals IRA, then you could push this figure up to about 15%
The best gold IRA companies in the industry offer unbiased educational materials to inform their customers about the nitty-gritty of gold and gold IRA investments. In addition, they provide top-notch customer care services to their investors.
Hence, before you choose or decide to invest in a gold IRA through a gold IRA company, ensure that they are very transparent and that their customer feedback says positive things about them. In addition, ensure that they offer competitive pricing, and setting up their IRA accounts is easy.
Bear Lake Gold is an independent review company that evaluates precious metals organizations. We have, through the years, reviewed hundreds of gold IRA companies in the industry using our standard gold dealer review methodology to provide our readers with accurate and unbiased information about these companies.
We intend for our readers to use these details to compare companies and make the best investment decisions based on their investment needs and goals.
We extend our research to various key stakeholders in these companies and ask them interrogative questions. These stakeholders include owners, founders, management board members, staff, and clients who have bought or sold to these companies.
The results from our interactions with these stakeholders help us determine the more ethical, suitable, and competitive companies we suggest you do business with in the gold investment industry.
After interacting with and reviewing hundreds of companies, we carefully selected five companies we deem the best for gold IRA investors.
However, before we look at their reviews, let us see what a gold IRA company is and how you can choose the best one to work with.
A gold IRA company is primarily a broker that sells gold and other precious metal coins and bars approved by the IRS. These metals are the ones you can put in your gold IRA. However, you can also purchase non-IRA-eligible precious metals, coins and bars, and collectibles from these companies.
The truth is that some gold IRA companies pose as advisory firms. Nevertheless, you should not forget that the sales and customer service reps speaking to you are not registered investment and expert financial advisors. Most of them assume this role for sales commissions. The more sales they make, the more their payments.
Since you are holding your precious metals in your pre-taxed dollars IRA, you will get taxed when you start taking distributions. If you do not have money to pay the taxes when taking your RMD (Required Minimum Distributions), you can sell part of your precious metals to pay the taxes. You may experience some losses if the prices of the metals have dropped.
Choosing a gold IRA company depends on a lot of factors. You might like to consider such things as what type of precious metals you wish to purchase, what ratings have the companies previously received, what storage offering the companies provide, and at what costs. Do the companies provide other alternative investment options? How good is their customer service offering? What is the physical location of the company, and what track record the management team has had previously?
We will look at these factors more in the next section. However, when you have listed the criteria that matter to you, make a shortlist of the companies that meet your selection criteria and request their free gold IRA investing guides. These guides will help you to broaden your understanding of these companies and their products.
If you are ready to request your free guide packs at this stage, click the link or links below, and you will get instant access.
Before choosing the best gold IRA company to work with, you should contact two or three of the companies we will mention in the next section. While doing that, please download their free gold IRA guides and go through them. You will get more insight into them, including their costs and fees and details of the investment strategies and tools they offer.
As an investor, your first step is to select your preferred gold IRA company and contact them. We recommend you look for the following elements when discussing with various companies.
Companies that have positive reviews from their clients are the better companies. In addition, the company you choose must have ratings from authority bureaus, for instance, BCA (Business Consumer Alliance), BBB (Better Business Bureau), Trustpilot, and Trustlink.
Complaint Board and Yelp feedback also show the company's professionalism and service level. The truth is that reputable gold IRA providers have at least 4.5-star ratings on these various review sites.
You must work with a company that shows it cares about you through caring for your investments. Do not invest in gold through a company that is pushy about sales and uses dubious sales tactics. Remember that you are diversifying your portfolio to protect your retirement savings. Hence, you must do your due diligence in selecting the best firm to invest through. Please refrain from giving in to salespeople hungry for sales commissions who want to push investors into buying precious metal investments by all means.
Most investors are primarily interested in gold bullion because of its purity level. Other investors are interested in proof coins (rare or premium coins) because of their superior craftsmanship and rarity levels. Those who invest in bullion get popular coins like the Canadian Maple Leaf, the American Eagle, and other popular gold and silver coins. Generally, you will pay a lower premium over the gold spot price for these coins.
Premium silver and gold coins are minted under high-quality standards, making them more visually attractive. However, you will pay a higher premium for investing in them because of their rarity (usually in limited editions) and superior craftsmanship (these coins have higher detail levels and are struck twice). Based on the company you contact, they will likely advise you to invest in any of these classes of coins. However, remember that the best gold IRA companies will not be pushy about sales.
New gold IRA companies come and go in this industry. It is normal. Hence, you must consider how long the company has stayed on the scene before investing. We highly recommend considering a company's longevity because of buyback services. When you want to liquidate your precious metal investments, selling them to the gold IRA company you bought from originally is easier. You will likely buy them at better prices than other dealers in the industry. If you are buying limited edition and proof coins for your account, please take these considerations seriously.
A reputable gold IRA company will have exclusive precious metal products manufactured by national mints, including the Royal Canadian Mint and US Mints. It means that these companies have exclusive rights to sell specific proof gold and silver coins (including setting the price). Hence, if you have these coins and want to liquidate them later in life, the companies you bought initially from are more likely to repurchase them.
If the company no longer exists, you will have to look for other dealers to sell to, pawn them off, or sell them on eBay.
We advise our readers to choose companies with flat annual fee structures. Selecting a company with a scaled fee model will not favor you if you have huge investments or a large account size. If your account fees are scaled, and your account grows very large, the costs will rise and affect your gains. Hence, we advise our readers to avoid companies that use the scaled fee model.
Do not do business with a company that uses a scaled fee model because you may pay thousands of dollars annually if your account size grows large. Scaled fee models will cause your gold IRA fees to grow with your account size, affecting your gains. Hence, stick to the companies with flat fee models.
Setting up gold IRA accounts with some companies is very slow. Others also delay their precious metals delivery. One of the companies we evaluated had customers who complained that sometimes it took 90 days before they received their precious metals.
This practice is not ethical in the current gold investment world, considering the fast-paced economic landscape we have today. With the current technology and the internet today, setting up gold IRAs should not take more than 7 days.
We know that the materialization of gold and silver investments does not happen suddenly, but the best gold IRA companies should be able to set up your IRA account in less than 24 hours. After you finish your account setup, funding your account should take at most 7 business days. After this step, you can now begin buying or selling gold and other precious metals in your account whenever you want.
The best way to fund your account fast is to perform a gold IRA rollover. A gold IRA rollover means transferring funds from your retirement account (Traditional or Roth) or 401(k) into your newly set up IRA account. Typically, the representatives of the gold IRA company you choose to work with should be able to handle your IRA funds rollover. However, they will require some details from your end.
Some of the gold IRA company agents will try to push or force you to invest in numismatic and collectible precious metal coins because, usually, these coins will yield more profits for them. Bear Lake Gold advises our readers to steer clear of the paths of these companies because of these dubious practices. As an expert review company in the gold IRA industry, we do NOT RECOMMEND that our readers invest in collectibles. In addition, they are not IRA-eligible precious metals because the IRS does not approve them as precious metals that you should add to your gold IRA account.
Please, ensure you ask as many questions as possible and get clear answers when speaking to any representative of these gold IRA companies. Their answers to your questions will help you ascertain how helpful and knowledgeable their sales teams are. If you feel they are rushing or pushing you to buy collectibles, please do not invest in precious metals through them.
The IRS only approves physical gold and silver bullion and some proof coins manufactured by the US Mint. These products are called IRA-eligible precious metals. The IRS does not allow the inclusion of any other product outside these recommended ones in your gold IRA.
Always look out for gold IRA service providers who are transparent about their staff and management teams. You should not do business with a firm built around secrecy and not open about their locations, staff, or headquarters. We do not advise our readers to invest in a company whose founder or CEO's name is not mentioned on its website.
As a rule, if the founder is not named on the company's website, move along and find another service provider that is fearless in showing the face of their owner and management boards. We know that in this gold investment space, trust is an asset. When trust is mutual, then a financial partnership will work.
The main reason you need to know the faces of the company's leadership team is so you can evaluate the past track record of the team in this industry sector. To find out the company’s leadership team details, you can search for the company on LinkedIn and Crunchbase. If you did not find any detail about their leadership team, they may not be a reputable gold IRA company.
IRAs can accommodate some extra alternative investments in the future if need be because they are self-directed. Hence, you may want to look out for a company that allows additional alternative investment options like real estate and cryptocurrencies. You can find a gold IRA company that will enable you to expand your investment horizon and invest in other assets.
You can read our third-party reviews on our top five gold IRA companies to know the gold companies that suit your investment needs.
Gold IRA Company |  |  |  |  |  |
Address | 5830 East 2nd Street, Casper, WY, US 82609 | 24025 Park Sorrento, Suite 210 Calabasas, CA 91302 | 11755 Wilshire Blvd. 11th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90025, United States | 3500 W Olive Ave #730, Burbank, CA 91505, United States. | 16830 Ventura Blvd Ste 326, Encino, CA 91436, USA |
Bear Lake Gold Rating | |||||
BBB Rating | A+ (4.9 out of 5 stars) based on 111 reviews. Zero complaints | A+ (4.8 out of 5 stars) based on 441 reviews 21 total complaints in the last 3 years. 7 complaints closed in the last 12 months. | A+ (4.9 out of 5 stars) based on 361 reviews. 20 complaints in last 3 years. | A+ (4.8 out of 5 Stars) based on 72 reviews 8 complaints in last 3 years. | BBB: A+ (4.8 out of 5 Stars) based on 44 reviews. 3 complaints in last 3 years. |
BCA Rating | AAA (5 out of 5 stars) based on 96 reviews, Zero Complaints | AAA (4.8 out of 5 stars) based on 1 review 1 complaint in last 3 years. | AA (4.5 out of 5 stars) based on 8 reviews 3 complaints. | AA (4.5 out of 5 stars) based on 8 reviews. 1 complaint | A (4.5 out of 5 stars) based on 4 reviews 1 complaint |
Trustpilot Rating | Not rated | 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 1,105 review | 4.9 out of 5 stars, based on 1126 reviews | 4.9 out of 5 stars, based on 126 reviews. | 2.9 out of 5 stars based on 1 review |
Facebook Rating | 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 124 reviews | Not Rated | Not Rated | Not Rated | 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 16 votes |
Google Rating | 4.9 out of 5 stars, based on 301 reviews | 4.9 out of 5 stars, based on 1,394 reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars, based on 231 reviews. | 4.8 out of 5 stars, based on 231 reviews. | 4.9 out of 5 stars, based on 308 reviews. |
Promotions Offered | FREE 1/10 oz. gold to learn about gold IRAs—(no purchase necessary). Get ZERO fees for up to 10 years—everyone qualifies | Free silver worth up to $10,000 when you open a gold IRA and qualify for a rollover | Free Silver worth up to $10,000 on qualifying purchases. 3 Years of IRA Fees Waived for $100 and above purchases. Waived IRA fees for the first year for $50,000 and above purchases | You will get waived first-year custodial fees when you make at least a $50,000 purchase | None Currently |
Years In Business Update March 2023 | 11 years | 17 years | 8 years | 20 years | 7 years |
Preferred Storage Depositories | Delaware Depository | Delaware Depository | Delaware Depository Brinks Depository International Depsoitory | Delaware Depository Brinks Depository International Depsoitory Texas Precious Metals Depositort | Delaware Depository International Depsoitory Texas Precious Metals Depositort |
Preferred IRA Custodians | Equity Trust Company | Equity Trust Company | Equity Trust Company | Equity Trust STRATA Trust Company | Equity Trust |
Fees | Accounts Setup Fees: $50 Storage Fees: $100 Shipping Fees: Free Custodian Fees: $250 for the first year and $100 afterward (But everyone qualifies for zero fees up to 10 years | Accounts Setup Fees: $50 Wire Transfer Fees: $30 Storage Fees:$100 (non-segregated storage) No storage fee for cash transaction above £25,000 $150 (segregated storage) Shipping Fees: Free | Account Setup Fees: $50 Storage Fees: Depends on your preferred or chosen custodian. Shipping Fees: Variable. You can ask for free shipping. Custodian Fees: $180 | Accounts Setup Fees: $50 Wire Transfer Fees: $30 Storage Fees:$100 Custodian Fees: $80 | Accounts Setup Fees: $50 Wire Transfer Fees: $30 Storage Fees:$150 Custodian Fees: $80 |
Minimum Investment | $50,000 | $25,000 | $10,000 (IRA investment purchase) $5,000 (Non-IRA investment purchase) | $10,000 |