What You Will Find On This Page
We have compiled an extensive list of information for you to use as support for your investigating the best option of a gold IRA company for you to deal with. We do make a recommendation at the end, however, it is simply a recommendation and we advise you to carry out your own research before making your final decision.
This is what we will be outlining on this page.
- What To Look For In An Gold IRA Company
- Additional Questions To Ask Your Chosen Gold IRA Provider Before Signing Up
- What Precious Metals Are Allowed & Not Allowed In An IRA?
- Who We Recommend As The Number 1 Provider And Why
What To Look For When Choosing A Gold IRA Company –
Whether you are an investor or not, it is always a fact that gold is an attractive investment tool, primarily because it is the only asset that can hold its value even when the economy is looking bleak. However, gold IRA investing is not for everyone. Although there are a lot of reasons and options to opt for Gold IRA investment, there are also a few caveats that you need to think about. One of the most important is to make sure you pick the best company to handle your IRA for you.
IRAs are individual retirement accounts that provide tax benefits for savings on retirement. There are also two types of IRAs – Roth IRA and traditional IRA. Gold IRA investment is all about giving you the options that allows asset protection, good investment returns, as well as portfolio diversification and these, are probably the reasons why a lot of people are enticed to switch to gold IRA.
It is true that this is one of the safe and smartest investment moves that you can make, but you should be well-equipped, experienced and knowledgeable about this before you decide to go for it.
What To Know
Before you start investing gold in to your retirement account, or look at putting any other precious metals in your ira for that matter, such silver platinum or palladium, one of the first thing that you need to know are the benefits and pitfalls. There is now such a broad range of companies within the industry that offer precious metals IRA’s that you can decide to work with, that it will help to know which one is best-placed to help you develop an investment strategy that is optimized for your particular circumstances?
You should not consider any investment method without knowing the benefits and disadvantages that it can offer, and you need to work with an ira company that will help you understand the many benefits that would suggest this is an excellent addition to your financial options and armory in 2018 and also the reasons why it might not be one of the best options for you.
Before anything else, let’s begin with the benefits of a Gold IRA. Your chosen company should make you are aware of these and assess their relevance to your situation:
Benefits of A Gold IRA
1.A gold IRA is self-directed. It means that any eligible retirement plan like a current IRA plan or a 401k can be rolled over into a precious metals IRA. This is pretty straight forward because if you have an eligible retirement plan, you can directly transfer it to a gold IRA account.
2. Simple Setup Process. The process won’t take too long, and all of the relevant formalities and procedures can be completed in just a couple of business days. Time is precious, so this is perfect for the people who don’t want to spend a lot of time setting up their gold IRA account.
3. Gold IRA companies offer customer support. One of the reasons why it is better to look for a good gold IRA company is that they provide customer support that would guide you through the whole process of rolling over your retirement plan or 401k.
4. More Security. There is greater safety with precious metal IRAs since the money will be allocated to physical assets.
5. Gold IRA can be used to avoid stock value fluctuations, inflation, and plummeting currency values. This is one of the major benefits of a gold IRA investment.
6. The price of gold can go up during financial scenarios like foreclosures, stock market failures, unemployment and more and the price of gold is expected to increase in the coming years, as it has done consistently over the passage of time.
7.you don’t have to just invest in gold. Silver platinum and palladium are also resources you can invest in to diversify your self-directed ira, to help diversify your portfolio and potentially reduce the risk.
These are only some of the benefits that your chosen company should make you aware of, but there are also a few disadvantages, as we have mentioned, that you need to look out for. Here are some that a reputable company would consider and discuss with you:
What The Providers Should Tell You To Avoid Pitfalls
1. There are only specific types of coins and bars that you can use for gold IRA schemes. Before 1997, American Eagle gold coins were the only approved coins, but after 1997, the IRS decided to widen its coverage rule, and they are now permitting other accepted coins and bullion as long as they are of sufficient purity. Your chosen company should ensure that any assets considered are approved for Gold IRA investment. (Check out our full list of the precious metals that are and are not allowed in your IRA further down the page)
2. Costs for Holding Gold. Investors cannot have physical possession of the gold because it needs to be stored in a special depository box. It means that there is a certain fee that you need to pay to the custodian firm that would hold the gold. These fees should be discussed with you and factored in when recommendations are made, and you should also think about insurance costs.
3. Account funding may take weeks. This is done through a contribution, transfer or rollover. Some people may not be bothered by this, but some are not fond of waiting for several weeks. Again . You can find IRA companies where you will sign up, and you will have to wait for up to 2 months before the metals will be transferred to your account. It is the duty of your IRA company to inform you of the funding period and answer any questions that you may have. It is best to ask them about this before you invest so you will have an idea on the amount of time that you will have to wait. It would be better to do your research and ask their existing clients about this. If you want to avoid any unnecessary delay, you should invest in a company that can provide an efficient and fast delivery time.
After looking at the benefits and potential pitfalls of a Gold IRA investment, The next step is to begin your research to find a good company to help you set up your new investment vehicle. It would be difficult to rollover your current IRA or 401k by yourself. This may at first seem a daunting task but if you know what to look for, finding a good one will not be too hard. Here are some tips on how to find a good provider.
Reputation
You need to look for a company that has a good track record and a business that can deliver results in spite of the volatility of the market. You have to remember that you are investing your money, so you need a company that has a good reputation. You need to research how long they have been in the business because this will be a good way to know if they are reliable and if their clients are satisfied with their services. Excellent customer service is also required because you want the company to guide you while you are considering major financial decisions. Quality business with have high ratings and recognition from the likes of The Better Business Bureau, along with the Business Consumer Alliance plus will have a high volume of quality positive customer reviews on sites like TrustLink.
Fees, Licences and Storage
if you are seriously considering converting your IRA or 401k into a gold account (investment options are more limited in a 401k account than within a precious metals one*) then there are a number of things to consider when talking to any of these companies.
Account Fees
If you are going to transfer your assets to a Gold IRA company, you must understand that these companies may charge a variety of fees. A flat annual fee that is in the several-hundred-dollar range is standard, while scaled costs change based on whether the actual account is in one of the several tiered account balance brackets. Let’s say you have invested $150,000 in a gold IRA company, it will be very beneficial for you if they will offer a flat-rate fee schedule where you will only pay $250 annually. As for the scaled fee system, you will end up paying more.
There are three areas of fees that need clarification from your provider so that you know what you are paying. The areas relate to the three sections of your account; Provider, Custodian, and Depository.
What You Will Need To Get Clarified With Your Chosen Provider Concerning Fees
- The fee for opening an account. A gold IRA is a tax deferring account which means it can only be opened by an IRS approved custodian. Each custodian charges differing fees, so if the provider you chose recommends a number of different custodians, you will need to check with each one. Normally you should expect to pay around $50 to open a new account.
- Fee for carrying out your transaction. When buying your metals to be added to your account, or if you invest in more gold at any time, you will need to pay a transaction fee. This fee will be applicable if you choose to sell any of your investment too. This also varies from custodian to custodian, but expect to pay in the region of $40 per transaction.
- Fee for maintaining your account. This is another varying fee depending on the custodian, but because of the importance of maintaining your account, a large number of custodians put this fee on their website. The range of the fee varies but can be from $50 to £250 plus a year, depending on the custodian.
- Fee for fund transfer. When you make your investment, the transfer into your account is done via wire transfer and this generates a fee. Each transfer is around $25.
- Fee For Storage. We mention below that when investing in precious metals, its storage is vital otherwise you will be liable to pay tax. Once your purchase is complete, you’ll want to store it in a depository. The fee for depository storage varies from depository to depository, also how you store your investment too can effect the yearly fee. You may want to have your metal segregated from others, this will, increase your fee. You should expect to pay between 0.5-1% of the value of your assets by way of a depository annual fee, plus any extras you choose, such as segregation.
Make Sure Your Company Uses A Quality Depository
When purchasing gold silver, or platinum for your account, checking that the correct storage is being used by the company you choose is vital. Because the government sees these investments as cash since they can be liquidated easily anywhere in the world, you will be liable for tax on your bullion or coins if you hold them at home. To appreciate the tax benefits the metal you purchase for your rollover /retirement account must be held by a private depository of your choice in the US. Not only that but any good depository will allow you to visit any time you please.
A depository as you know is a secure building that is managed and protected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are many depositories located all around the US, so when setting up your rollover, you should be allowed to pick the nearest one to where you live. Furthermore, you can determine the quality of the depository by the quality of their insurance and legal separation.
Depository Insurance & Legal Separation.
We mentioned in the section on fees that you can if you so choose have your metals segregated from others, but that is not what we mean by legal separation. You want to make sure that the depository you use is insured to a high value (not all are) but also that they DO NOT take ownership of your assets in any way while they are being stored. The reason why this is important is because should anyone take legal action against the depository, your assets will be protected and not levied against the claim if they have not taken ownership.
* = Any IRA whether a Traditional or ROTH is able to be rolled over successfully into a physical gold account. A 401(k) is a little more complicated and your eligibility to convert it into precious metals depends on a number of factors. If rolling over your 401k is something you want to consider, then your custodian will be able to advise accordingly.
Insurance and License
Insurance will protect your gold IRA account, so this is crucial. Most of the companies offering gold IRA services have FDIC insurance, but you should not assume so check the coverage provided by any companies you are considering. Licenses will also be paramount since they need to have a permit. You should ask to see a copy of the license of the company, and if they failed to provide proof that they are operating legally, you should look for another company.
Is Your Custodian Licensed by the IRS?
A custodian must be properly licensed by the Internal Revenue Service. There is a register of eligible custodians and whichever company you choose, they can confirm that the custodian they use is on that list.
What you also need to be aware of, if you are not already, is that a custodian is not allowed to offer actual financial advice nor can they sell you any investment products. Their role is to carry out the purchase and administration of your gold ira investment. In other words, they simply act on your behalf, they don’t advise you, that is the job of your provider or financial advisor.
5 Questions To Ask Your Provider
We have outlined above in the section on what to know, a few key aspects you should consider and talk to your potential provider about, before signing up with them. Here we suggest a few more important questions for you to ask, that will help you in your decision making when it come to your retirement account.
1. What price are you buying the gold at?
In the sidebar, you will see the price of gold as it is currently. When you come to buy your gold for your retirement fund, make sure to ask your provider for the price they are selling it to you, don’t assume that it will be at the current market price. It is always best to make sure that you are not being charged over-inflated prices so you want a full disclosure of the price before signing anything.
2. What is the process time frame?
Any quality company will not delay in processing your paperwork. In fact, you should expect a time frame of around 2-3 working days and no more for your gold ira rollover to be set up and in place for you.
3. What is the delivery time on the gold being added to my account?
Once all the paperwork has been completed and the ira rollover has been put in place, you should expect your gold in place within 7 business days. There are some companies that provide you with a date and time stamped DVD of your gold being delivered, as confirmation.
4. What is your buy-back policy?
In the event you want to sell your gold, you want to make sure the company you are buying your gold from will offer to buy it back at spot rate value. Spot rate value is based on the value of the gold at the moment of the quote.
5. How well will you be informed?
When investing in any commodity and with any company, communication is paramount. You will want to know if you will have a dedicated case handler/consultant who will keep you informed every step of the process, and who you can contact directly and without hassle if you have questions.
PRECIOUS METALS THAT ARE ALLOWED IN YOUR IRA
Although you can add different metals to your IRA rollover, you can’t add all metals nor can you add all coins or bullion. When purchasing your metals from your chosen company please check before purchase (preferably in writing) that the metals provided ARE eligible for your account.
There are strict guidelines as laid out by the Internal Revenue Service as to what precious metals can be used in an IRA and the purity level required for each metal. Below you will find a comprehensive list of what metals can be added to your IRA, along with the purity level required for such investment.
| GOLD ALLOWED | SILVER ALLOWED | PLATINUM & PALLADIUM ALLOWED |
|---|---|---|
| GOLD BULLION & COINS APPROVED BY IRS FOR INVESTMENT IN AN IRA | SILVER BULLION & COINS APPROVED BY IRS FOR INVESTMENT IN AN IRA | PLATINUM & PALLADIUM BULLION & COINS APPROVED BY IRS FOR INVESTMENT IN AN IRA |
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PRECIOUS METALS NOT ALLOWED IN AN IRA
Below we have listed the different bullion and coins that although popular are not eligible for your retirement account. If purchasing these coins, make sure you are doing so simply from a collectible view.
- Austrian Corona
- British Britannia coins
- Chilean 100 Peso
- Chinese Panda coins
- Dutch 10 Guilder
- Formula 1 Coins From Rosland Capital
- French 20 Franc
- French Napoleon coins
- Israel Tower of David coins
- Italian Lira coins
- Mexican 50 Peso
- Mexican Gold Peso coins
- Russia’s George the Victorious coins
- Somalia Elephant coins
- South African Krugerrand coins
- Swiss 20 Franc
- Switzerland Vreneli coins
- United Kingdom Sovereign coins
- U.S. Buffalo Proof coins
- U.S. Liberty coins
- USSR Chevronet coins.
IMPORTANT NOTE – This list is not exhaustive and therefore, when buying coins for your retirement account, only buy those listed at the top of this page in the section on coins that can be used.
Who We Recommend & Why
Information On The Leading Providers
There are a number of options when choosing the right provider offering gold ira facilities as well as enabling you to buy precious metals as collectibles . With so many to choose from and taking on board the information we shared with you above concerning what to look for in a ira company, how can you narrow the field down to help you find the right one for you?
We have carried out reviews on all the leading gold ira companies and have complied a list of the top ones for you which you will see below. You can check out the reviews of any of the companies, where we outline all the salient points concerning their background, history, and their credibility with previous customers.
Company Reviews
Our Scoring out of 5 | Company Info | Better Business Bureau | Business Consumer Alliance | TrustLink Reviews | Total Fees | Our Full Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.8/5 | Regal Assets | Annual fee: $250 a year Flat Fee 1st Year FREE | ||||
| 3.2/5 | Rosland Capital | Not Clear | ||||
| 4.4/5 | Cornerstone Bullion | Annual Fee:$260 a year Varies | ||||
| 3.4/5 | CMI Gold & Silver | Various depending on product bought | ||||
| 2.6/5 | USAGOLD | BCA rating Zero No Listing | Various depending on product bought | |||
| 4.0/5 | Monex | Starts at $360 per year & increases on investment | ||||
| 4.1/5 | GoldSilver.com | $300 per year plus 5% depending on payment type | ||||
| 4.3/5 | Lexi Capital | $60 per year plus various other fees | ||||
| 3.9/5 | Apmex | Various depending on spend | ||||
| 3.0/5 | Colorado Gold | BCA rating Zero Not Registered | Varies Depending on Order | |||
| 3.3/5 | American Precious Metals | BCA rating ZERO Not Registered | Varies Depending on Order | |||
| 3.4/5 | Blanchard & Company | Varies Depending on Order | ||||
| 3.1/5 | MJPM | BCA rating ZERO Not Registered | Trustlink rating No Rating - No Reviews | Varies Depending on Order | ||
| 3.4/5 | DBS Coins | Varies Depending on Order | ||||
| 2.9/5 | Modern Coin Mart | BCA rating ZERO Not Registered | Varies Depending on Order |
Our Number 1 Choice
In the table above you will see that we have recommended Regal Assets as our number one choice for a gold IRA. They come out top with regards to the fees they charge in comparison to the other companies. They, like some other companies, have the top ratings with the BBB and BCA with no complaints. They have the highest number of positive reviews on TrustLink, in fact, we could not find any legitimate complaints about Regal Assets online.
So having outlined the key components to look for in a company to provide you precious metals, here is a summary as to why they Regal Assets are our number one choice as the leading gold IRA company.
BBB Rating – The top rating you can get from the Better Business Bureau is A+. In addition to that any company that has had no complaints over the previous sequential 3 years, receives extra credibility. Of the companies we have reviewed, 15 of them have A+rating, Regal being one of them.
BCA Rating – Business Consumer Alliance give their top companies a triple A rating. This is given to companies that have an exemplary performance. Six of the 22 companies we reviewed have a AAA rating of which Regal is one of them.
TrustLink Rating – One of the key factors of Trustlink is that the rating found on their site for a company is not given by them, but by previous customers. Whether the feedback is good or bad, it all goes to generating the overall rating of a company. Regal Assets are not only one of the few companies to have hundreds of positive reviews, it is the only company to now have over one thousand reviews, all positive. d
Inc 500 -Ranked 20th for financial services in the top 500 US companies. This was among six million corporations. (you can read about it here)
In addition to this, we recommend Regal Assets due to the following features and benefits they offer:
Further Reasons Why Regal Are Our Recommended Provider
They are an official precious metals retailer listed with the United States Mint
Their ira fees are among the lowest on the market
They have extensive experience as they have dealt in over $280 million in retirement account transfers
Regal was the 1st precious metals provider to provide a live recording of when your metals arriving at the depository
They provide segregated storage ensuring your metals are separate and not mixed with other investors investments
They provide retirement accounts the option to be stored overseas without taxes or penalties
Regal offer a 7-day guarantee on shipping for retirement accounts and direct purchases
Regal have a buy back policy where funds will be in your account with 24 hours of sale
What To Expect From Regal Assets Customer Service
One of the key factors for a business to be successful is the standard of their customer service. You will find when you call that Regal Assets representatives are always polite. When you call for the first time, you will find that they lead you through the regulatory requirements and give a full orientation of the company and the services that are available to you if you wish to do business with them. They do follow up all of their phone conversations with you with an email to ensure you are happy with the information they have given you and to answer any additional questions you may have subsequently thought of. One key factor we like about the way Regal Assets interact with you on your call, is they never pressure you into buying from them. This is an undervalued benefit because there is nothing worse than being pressured into buying something you are not fully committed to.
Another key benefit of dealing with Regal is that you are in control of the process. They do have standards in delivering their service to you within a fast time frame, but if you wanted to take longer than the standard 7 days, you can take as long as you want, as we said, you are in control.
What Is The Next Step?
If you agree with us, that Regal Assets is a good choice as a gold ira rollover provider, then why not request a complimentary gold kit, with no obligation whatsoever. Then once you have this information, and have checked the company out further, if you are satisfied and happy, you can proceed with them if you choose.
ORDER YOUR COMPLIMENTARY GOLD IRA ROLLOVER KIT BY CLICKING ON THE IMAGE BELOW
Regal Assets provide a complimentary gold kit, full of valuable information concerning this investment:
- A DVD copy of the award-winning documentary on the secrets of the Federal Reserve;
- Forbes magazine investment guide;
- Guide on how to rollover your IRA & 401(k)
- And a special report on the performance of gold since 2008.
Simply click on the image above to order your FREE complimentary kit today, or visit their website direct to learn more by clicking here.
