The evidence has never been clearer. The US dollar is losing value day after day because of the economic turmoil created by the coronavirus. Once strong and mighty, the dollar is now fragile and weak. You need more money to pay for day-to-day expenses. Yet companies are laying off their employees left and right.
You’ve concluded that it’s time to invest in a gold IRA account. You’re sick and tired of losing value on your retirement portfolio while you remain handcuffed. A precious metals IRA makes it possible to work with the top gold IRA companies. You can connect with the best and brightest in this space to invest in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.
But how do you find them? And what makes a company stand out in the crowd? What makes a company the best of the best?
I’ve used specific criteria called the seven critical factors to determine which companies meet my incredibly high standards. I also used the same criteria to determine which companies failed to live up to my expectations.
I’ll cover the seven critical factors in greater detail below and briefly describe my favorite gold IRA company doing business today. But before I get into the specific details, please consider reviewing the top 10 gold IRA companies by clicking here.
Determining the Top Gold IRA Companies Using 7 Critical Factors
The seven critical factors are easy to understand. And they are an absolute necessity to determine which gold IRA companies are the best in the business. The tried-and-true critical factors include the following:
- Online peer-reviewed ratings
- Types of precious metals
- Precious metals buyback program
- Stockpiling
- IRA fees
- Account setup & delivery
- Customer support & salesmanship
By discovering where each company stands using these critical factors, I can determine where they fit in the overall hierarchy. It’s a simple and easy way to discover which precious metals IRA companies are the best and brightest.
I’ll now look closer at each of these critical factors. And I will tell you how I used them to judge the top 10 gold IRA companies on our list.
Online Peer-Reviewed Ratings
Personally, I used trustworthy online peer-reviewed ratings to determine if a broker belongs on the top 10 gold IRA companies list. Why? Websites like the Business Consumer Alliance, Trustlink, and the Better Business Bureau take the time to evaluate these businesses. These dependable organizations have a great reputation, so you know they provide information that you can trust.
Even more important, they provide a platform for disgruntled customers. They allow their readers to make complaints about gold IRA companies and many other businesses for that matter.
Why is this valuable information? Simply put, it allows us to learn about these businesses from a user perspective. If a gold company initiates heavy sales pressure you might want to avoid them. What if they make a claim but fail to live up to their end of the bargain? Wouldn’t you want to know this information ahead of time? Of course you would! And I like to know this information too, which is why I find these peer-reviewed websites so valuable.
Types of Precious Metals
As you’ll soon learn, not all precious metals are created equally. Some metals aren’t allowed in a gold IRA. Why? The Federal Reserve makes the rules and they determine which precious metals is an acceptable investment. And their rules are strict, which eliminates many potential investments from your precious metals IRA.
From a personal standpoint, I prefer choosing companies that focus on gold IRA investing. These precious metals brokers only sell IRA approved gold, platinum, palladium, and silver. It’s fine to choose a broker that sells unacceptable investments as well, but you must be careful. You do not want to unintentionally buy precious metals that aren’t eligible as a self-directed IRA approved investment.
The mandatory purity levels for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium include:
- Gold purity level = 0.995
- Silver purity level = 0.999
- Platinum purity level =.9995
- Palladium purity level = .9995
This means that acceptable gold items must be 99.50% pure. Silver investments must be 99.90% pure. And platinum and palladium investments must be 99.95% pure. Otherwise they do not qualify for this investment vehicle. Only choose to work with the top 10 gold IRA companies on our approved list.
Precious Metals Buyback Program
All the best precious metals companies have a buyback program in place. It’s important and an absolute must as well. You need the option to quickly sell your precious metals back to the company you purchased them from.
The best companies will not only buy back your precious metals at market price, they’ll pay you within 24 hours. Other precious metals brokers fail to pay their customers quickly. This is a problem for those who need access to their cash fast.
Think about it…
Why would you ever sell your precious metals investment? The obvious answer is you need money in a hurry for one reason or another.
So, when choosing a broker, please consider the following:
- Will your gold IRA broker buy back your precious metals?
- Will your gold company pay you full market value?
- And will you receive the sales proceeds within 24 hours?
You’re in great shape if you can answer yes to all of these questions. If you’re considering a broker that doesn’t meet these specific requirements, you should think about choosing a different company.
Stockpiling
Stockpiling is also a critical consideration when choosing a precious metals broker. Why? Not all stockpiling is created equally either. There are two different styles of precious metal stockpiling that you must consider. They include:
- Co-mingled stockpiling – with this type of stockpiling, your precious metals are stored in a vault shared with other investors. While this might not seem like a big deal on the surface, it’s not necessarily the best option. What happens if your precious metals get lost? Or if they get confused for someone else’s investment? This seems like the least safe way to stockpile your retirement investments.
- Segregated stockpiling – this is my personal favorite method of stockpiling and my #1 recommendation. It’s a no-brainer because you buy precious metals, store them with an IRA approved company housed in a dedicated vault. In this scenario, your metals are safe, secure, and separated from everyone else’s investments.
When you choose the right broker you’ll save money too. On average, most brokers charge $325 per year as a stockpiling fee. Our top recommendation only charges $110 per year. Click here to learn about them and the other top 10 gold IRA companies that I wholeheartedly recommend.
IRA Fees
When you open a precious metals IRA you’re going to pay yearly fees. That’s the cost of doing business and it’s a worthy investment to protect your retirement income.
Just because the fees are worth paying, it doesn’t mean you should pay top dollar. In fact, the best and brightest precious metals companies charge minimal fees to their customers. They aren’t required to charge a small fortune because they provide excellent services and attract many people to their business.
Overall, when you choose an IRA custodian you should find one that charges a flat rate administration fee. Certain custodians actually have the nerve to charge fees that operate on a sliding scale. So the more money you have in your account, the more expensive the administration fees will get. This should never happen. You should always pay administration fees based on a flat rate and nothing more.
Account Setup & Delivery
On average, many of the lackluster gold companies take roughly 60 days to set up an IRA account. This is unacceptable because you need the option to start investing right away. Your retirement future is counting on it. You have to move some of your wealth away from the failing US dollar and you must do it fast.
One gold IRA broker stands out amongst the crowd in this regard. They’ll set up your account and have it fully operational within 24 hours. You can begin investing in precious metals the very next day. Even better, this top-flight gold broker also promises to deliver your gold to your depository within seven days. Other companies take weeks or months to accomplish the same task.
Customer Support & Salesmanship
Some gold brokers have pushy salesmen. Other companies have poor customer support. You should avoid these companies like the plague. You can find out about poor service and pushy salesmen by reading online reviews on Yelp, the BBB, the BCA, and other reputable websites.
Please visit this page to learn about the top 10 gold IRA companies that I recommend.
Regal Assets: A Precious Metals IRA Company in a Class by Itself
I am not ashamed to admit that I love Regal Assets. This company is by far the best gold broker in this industry. And they have the industry accolades and reputation to prove it. Some of their greatest hits include:
- A perfect A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and a perfect AAA rating with the Business Consumer Alliance. And they’ve received zero complaints on these websites.
- They provide their customers with a flat $80 per year administration fee and a flat $110 per year stockpiling fee. This is much better and less expensive than their competition. Plus, they’ll pay all of your first year’s fees on your behalf.
- Their account setup process is the fastest in the industry. They will set up your gold IRA account in 24 hours.
- Their CEO Tyler Gallagher was selected to the Forbes Finance Council. This is a prestigious honor that was never bestowed upon anyone in the precious metals industry until now.
Learn more about Regal Assets by visiting their website. While there, give them your name and email address to receive free gifts and a free gold investor’s kit.
I enjoy looking at different investment and invest in a lot of stock. I have thought of using bullion or precious metals for investment. But I have never seen this approach. I want to look closer and find out more. It is a shame it is IRA as this has a negative meaning in the UK as it is a terrorist organisation. When I saw this initially I took a step back. Then reading on I found out much more. Thanks for a great article.
Hello Castle! Yes, the IRA that is referred to in my article is different – it means “individual retirement account” as opposed to what constitutes a terrorist organization in the UK. I would recommend diversifying your portfolio to include more physical precious metals as well as the stocks you currently own. Thank you for your feedback and compliments, Castle!
hello there awesome article you have here. this is both creative and educative i barely know anything about this things but after taking my time to read your article i have just added to my knowledge and now i know a bit about Types of Precious Metals and the purity level of gold,silver,platinum e.t,c. thanks for sharing this very educative post with the public.
Hello Joy! I’m glad you have learned much from my article and thank you for sharing what you have learned! I’m glad you came by. Thank you for the feedback and the compliments!
Thank you for this review. i know a bit about ENTRUST. Entrust does not provide information on storage and shipping fees
because it does not have one dedicated storage or shipping company that
it works with. Many other companies conveniently include the cost of
storage and/or shipping in their administrative costs, so the fact that
this detail on account costs cannot be obtained online makes estimating
your total costs difficult.
Hello Lucas! I have never heard of the company that you mentioned but the best gold IRA companies make their storage costs transparent and they are different from company to company. It is best to go with a company that offers segregated storage as opposed to co-mingled storage. Administrative costs are usually separate. Thank you for your feedback, Lucas!
Help there, first of all I have to day how happy I am to be here, learning about such a wonderful thing and I have been really happy to see that metals are growing when it comes in investing and with the growth of this company people who are willing will go into it with full confidence and that is nice.
Hello Justin! Indeed, the prices of metals are rising because of the economy and now is the time to be investing in precious metals! I’m glad you learned much from my article. Thank you for the feedback, Justin!
Seriously this ai very insightful. For anyone not willing to invest in the right gold companies ajdloooing for where to get them on a free, I actually value all you have shared here and it makes a whole lot of sense seeing them here. Thank you so much for all you have shared here. Thank you so much for the information here too
Hello Nath! Thank you for the feedback and the compliments! I really appreciate it!