Best Gold & Silver IRAs of 2024
- 200+Hours of research
- 20+Sources used
- 20Companies vetted
- 4Features reviewed
- 5Top
Picks
- Gold IRAs are a type of self-directed individual retirement account
- The four precious metals allowed by the IRS are gold, silver, platinum and palladium
- Precious metal IRAs can be traditional or Roth IRAs
- Gold IRAs can be beneficial to investors looking to diversify their portfolio
How we analyzed the best Gold IRAs
Our Top Picks: Gold IRAs Reviews
Goldco review
About Goldco:
Goldco, established in 2006, specializes in helping individuals set up Gold IRAs, offering a range of IRS-approved gold and silver products. They are known for providing personalized service, secure storage options, and helping investors diversify their retirement portfolios.
Precious Metals IRA:
Goldco offers Precious Metals IRAs, giving you the option to invest in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. You can select from a variety of IRS-approved coins and bars, including American Gold Eagles, Canadian Gold Maple Leafs, silver bullion, as well as platinum and palladium products.
Storage & Security:
Goldco partners with IRS-approved depositories, such as Delaware Depository and Brinks, for secure storage of precious metals in IRAs. These facilities offer segregated or non-segregated storage options, 24/7 monitoring, advanced security systems, and full insurance coverage to protect clients' assets.
How To Open an Account:
To set up a Goldco account, contact their team to open a self-directed IRA. You'll transfer or roll over funds from an existing retirement account, select approved gold or silver products, and Goldco will arrange secure storage at an IRS-approved depository.
Lear Capital review
About Lear Capital:
Lear Capital, founded in 1997, is a trusted name in the precious metals industry, and a leading provider of gold and silver IRAs. With over $3 billion in transactions, they focus on helping investors diversify their retirement portfolios with gold, offering a wealth of educational resources and personalized guidance. Lear Capital offers a price match and 24-hour risk-free purchase guarantee.
Precious Metals IRA:
Lear Capital sells IRA-eligible gold and silver in both bars and coins for investors looking to transfer or rollover their IRA or 401k into a self-directed retirement account. The rollover is tax-free and taken care of by a Lear Capital team member and your current IRA custodian. The entire process is detailed in Lear Capital’s Price Advantage Guarantee, which includes a phone confirmation and a written confirmation, as well as a written account agreement.
Storage & Security:
Gold IRAs with Lear Capital are stored in IRS-approved depositories, with a choice of segregated (individual) or commingled (shared) storage.
How To Open an Account:
Setting up a Gold IRA with Lear Capital is simple and guided by experienced professionals. The process is streamlined, with clear instructions and support for rollovers from existing retirement accounts, making it accessible for both new and seasoned investors.
Patriot Gold Group review
About Patriot Gold Group:
Patriot Gold Group is a top-rated dealer specializing in Precious Metals IRAs, aiming to help customers protect and grow their retirement savings with gold and silver. They offer direct access to experienced owners, ensuring transparency and personalized service.
Precious Metals IRA:
Patriot Gold offers a Precious Metals IRA with no fees for life on qualifying accounts. Customers can roll over their retirement funds into gold or silver. Patriot Gold Group offers a variety of precious metals for IRAs, including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. These metals must meet specific purity standards set by the IRS, with gold being at least 99.5% pure, silver at 99.9%, and platinum and palladium at 99.95%.
Storage & Security:
Patriot Gold Group provides secure storage options for customers investing in a Precious Metals IRA. All gold and silver investments are held in IRS-approved depositories, ensuring compliance and safety.
How To Open an Account:
Opening a Precious Metals IRA with Patriot Gold involves three steps: consultation with their team, completing the paperwork, and transferring funds. They provide a quick 24-hour account setup to simplify the process.
American Hartford Gold Group review
About American Hartford Gold:
American Hartford Gold, established in 2015, is a family-owned precious metals company specializing in Gold IRAs. They are known for their transparent pricing, excellent customer service, and educational resources, making them a popular choice among investors.
Precious Metals IRA:
With American Hartford Gold, you can diversify your retirement savings by adding physical gold, silver, and platinum through a Precious Metals IRA. This option allows you to hold tangible assets like IRS-approved gold and silver coins, bars, and bullion in your portfolio. Popular choices include American Gold Eagles and Canadian Gold Maple Leafs.
Storage & Security:
American Hartford Gold partners with IRS-approved depositories like Delaware Depository and Brinks for secure storage of IRA metals. These facilities offer 24/7 monitoring, advanced security, and insurance. Clients can choose segregated or non-segregated storage and select domestic or international locations.
How To Open an Account:
To set up a Gold IRA with American Hartford Gold, contact their team to open a self-directed IRA. Once the account is established, you can transfer or roll over existing retirement funds. Next, you'll select IRS-approved precious metals like gold, silver, or platinum to include in your IRA. The company then arranges secure storage for your metals in an IRS-approved depository, ensuring compliance with all regulations. Their specialists guide you through each step of the process.
Blackstone Commodities Group review
Reputation
We searched high and low and we couldn't find any consumer reviews of Blackstone Commodity Group nor the company that operates its website, Lennox and Main. The companies don't appear in the Better Business Bureau companies list and they are not reviewed on Trustpilot. Neither has a LinkedIn company page. That's pretty unusual and does make us a little bit wary. No matter how much you're investing, choosing a reputable company with a track record of delivering for its customers is very important. In Blackstone Commodity's case, we could not assess its reputation. The company does have a Facebook page, where the newest post is from 2018.
Flexibility
Blackstone Commodity Group offers gold IRAs. We couldn't learn much else directly from its website, however, it appears that the company works with one IRA custodian who stores customers' precious metals in secured IRS-approved facilities. Assets are protected by insurance from Lloyd's of London. It's unclear whether Blackstone offers metals other than gold or what form the metals take (coins or bullion). It's also not possible to open an account or purchase precious metals directly from the company's website. All communications go through their customer service representatives. Some customers may prefer the ease and speed of an online account-opening process.
Screenshot from Blackstonecommodity.com 3/12/2021
Fees, Promotional Offers and Transparency
Blackstone Commodity Group does not provide any information on its website about gold prices or the fees associated with open a gold IRA through the company. That makes it tough for consumers to compare the company's services to those of other precious metal IRA companies.
Customer Service and Education Resources
You can contact Blackstone Commodity Group by phone or online form. Like most precious metal sites, Blackstone Commodity offers a free investor's guide to precious metals. However, it's not a direct download from the company's website. We expected to be able to download the guide once we provided our contact information but were told, rather, that a company representative would be calling us. Blackstone does publish a blog, but its contents are pretty far afield from the subject of gold IRAs. we did find one article on the advantages of investing in precious metals, but other blog post titles included 6 Tips to Get in the Holiday Spirit and Lean Red Meat Recipes for Your Health. Needless to say, we were a little puzzled.
Priority Gold review
About Priority Gold:
Priority Gold is a trusted precious metals dealer, highly rated by the Better Business Bureau (A+) and Business Consumer Alliance (AAA). Their expertise helps clients diversify their portfolios with gold and silver, aiming to protect wealth against economic uncertainties.
Precious Metals IRA:
Priority Gold offers a Precious Metals IRA that allows you to roll over retirement funds into gold or silver. This rollover is tax-free and penalty-free, helping secure your future with tangible assets.
Storage & Security:
They provide insured shipping, secure storage for up to five years, and a guaranteed buyback program to ensure peace of mind.
How To Open an Account:
Opening a Priority Gold Precious Metals IRA involves four steps: consulting with their IRA experts, completing the necessary paperwork, transferring funds from an existing retirement account, and selecting the preferred precious metals to invest in.
ThorMetals review
About Thor Metals Group:
With 18 years in the industry, Thor Metals Group is a U.S.-based precious metals firm specializing in the sale of gold and silver investments, particularly through IRAs, aimed at helping customers hedge against economic uncertainties.
Precious Metals IRA:
Thor Metals offers Precious Metals IRAs, allowing individuals to hold physical gold and silver in a retirement account. Their service includes guidance on asset selection and setup, helping investors diversify and preserve wealth with minimal fees. Invest with your IRA (410k, TSP, 403B, 457) or Wire Funds to Thor Metals Group.
Storage & Security:
The company provides secure storage options for metals, either in IRS-approved depositories for IRAs or direct shipping to clients' homes. Insured shipping and partnerships with certified vaults help protect investments.
How To Open an Account:
To start an account, clients initiate by funding through IRAs or wire transfers. Thor Metals guides users through selecting metals and either storing them in a depository or arranging insured delivery for non-IRA clients.
Augusta Precious Metals review
Founded in 2012, Augusta Precious Metals is an online gold IRA provider. The company offers Americans seeking to diversify their retirement savings an opportunity to open a new precious metals IRA and/or roll over existing retirement savings into a precious metals IRA with confidence. The company focuses on delivering a streamlined and transparent purchasing process that helps investors customize their portfolios and diversify their retirement savings.
The company succeeds in making owning precious metals in an IRA very easy. When you contact the company, you're assigned a dedicated sales agent who walks you through the account opening and portfolio-building process. This representative will prepare much of the paperwork required to open a precious metals IRA for you. That's a great feature for customers who are unfamiliar with self-managed IRAs and the precious metals market.
Augusta Precious Metals maintains a helpful education department, through which it provides economic and product information to help retirement savers make informed decisionsThe company provides free support and education for as long as you have a precious metals account with them.
REPUTATION
Augusta Precious Metals is an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau, holding an A+ rating with 0 customer complaints. The company has no reviews on Trustpilot, but earns 5 stars from TrustLink. Your IRA deposits are insured by a LLoyd's of London all-risk policy up to a maximum of $1 billion. Augusta Precious Metals earns The Business Consumer Alliance awards highest (AAA) rating. If you research the company, you'll see that it has many favorable reviews from investment- and retiremen-oriented news sources.
FLEXIBILITY
Customers can purchase a gold or silver IRA through Augusta Precious Metals. The process is straightforward, with representatives guiding the customer through the required forms to open an account and fund the IRAs.
The first step is contacting an Augusta customer agent, either directly by phone or by filling out an online form to have one of them call you. The agent will act as your liaison and book an appointment with a representative from the company’s education department. During this meeting, customers learn about the current economic climate, how the gold and silver markets are doing, and how your investment or retirement needs fit into it.
The next step involves the IRA processing team, which helps in the application and funding of the IRA, including transfers and rollovers from existing retirement accounts. After that, the customer decides which products they wish to purchase and safely transfers them to the storage facility.
At any time during the process, Augusta representatives are available to answer any questions and help you build a well-designed precious metals portfolio.
In addition to facilitating retirement investing, Augusta Precious Metals can sell you gold and silver coins and bullion for self-storage outside of an IRA. These purchases do not come with the same tax advantages that saving in an IRA does, but may be of interest to some customers.
FEES, PROMOTIONAL OFFERS AND TRANSPARENCY
Augusta Precious metals he website does not offer details on product prices because the cost of precious metals varies from day to day with the market. Current prices are confirmed and recorded when you speak with one of Augusta’s representatives.
CUSTOMER SERVICE AND EDUCATION RESOURCES
The company website features the latest market news so customers can keep up with what’s happening in the finance world and get a better understanding of the context of their investments. The resource center has plentiful FAQs, videos, and charts that can provide valuable information to the customer. Theyoffer a highly-informative one-on-one web conference that covers the gold IRA process including fees; the economy, inflation and reasons to buy gold; and ways consumers can avoid falling for other gold companies' scams, gimmicks & high-pressure tactics, such as the “excessive silver scheme.” They also offer resources such as “10 Big Gold Dealer Lies” and “15 Bad Reasons to Buy Gold.” Furthermore, customers can request a free kit that serves as a guide to precious metal investing and gold IRAs.
Customers can contact customer service via email or by phone, available from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (PT). The Augusta Precious Metals website also offers live chat.
Preserve Gold review
About Preserve Gold:
Preserve Gold is a company specializing in precious metal IRAs and the selling of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium products, including coins and bars. The company offers both new and roll-over IRA account options that are approved by the IRS, as well as precious metal purchases for home storage. The company is based out of Woodland Hills, California and was founded in 2022.
Precious Metals IRA:
Preserve Gold offers Precious Metals IRAs, allowing investors to include gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in their retirement accounts. These IRAs comply with IRS guidelines, offering a range of approved coins and bars such as American Gold Eagles and Silver Eagles. Both traditional and Roth self-directed IRAs are available, and investors can roll over existing retirement funds into a Precious Metals IRA.
Storage & Security:
Preserve Gold offers secure, IRS-approved depository storage for Precious Metals IRAs, ensuring your assets are protected with full insurance and advanced security measures. They assist in selecting the appropriate depository.
How To Open an Account:
To open a Precious Metals IRA with Preserve Gold, you follow three steps: contact a specialist to help complete the necessary paperwork, fund your account through a transfer or rollover, and then choose your desired gold, silver, platinum, or palladium assets. Preserve Gold handles the secure transfer and storage of your metals in an IRS-approved depository.
More insight into our methodology
In order to find the best Gold IRAs, we looked at factors such as a company's reputation among customers and third parties, flexibility options, fees and promotional offers, and the overall quality of the provider's customer service.
Reputation
Whether you invest in stocks, bonds, real estate, or pork belly futures, all investments involve risk. Precious metals are no different. If you’re considering investing in them, choosing a reputable company to sell you precious metals and look after your investment is paramount. We looked to consumer ratings to check the reputations of all companies we reviewed to ensure all of them receive high marks for customer satisfaction and reliability.
Flexibility
There are a number of ways you can invest in precious metals, from purchasing and holding physical precious metals yourself to opening a self-directed IRA to hold your precious metal assets with the advantage of tax savings. We favored firms that give you multiple options on how to hold and manage your investment. We also noted which companies offered multiple metal choices for your investment.
Fees, Promotional Offers & Transparency
Like banks and investment firms, some precious metal companies charge fees for opening an account and maintaining your account as well as for individual transactions. We compared these fees to see which companies had the most favorable fee structures. Too many fees can cut into the investment gains you might make should the value of the metals you purchased increase. Knowing up front what fees you will be charged is important before investing through any firm. We researched how well companies explained their fee structures and purchase agreements online, too.
Customer Service & Resources
If you’re new to precious metal investing, you’re likely to have a lot of questions. Companies that offered access to comprehensive educational materials on their websites rated highly with us. We also compared how easy each company makes it to reach their customer service representatives.
Helpful information about Gold IRAs
Precious metal IRAs, sometimes known as Gold IRAs, are a type of individual retirement account in which precious metals are held in custody for the IRA account owner instead of traditional paper assets. The four precious metals allowed by the IRS are gold, silver, platinum and palladium, but since gold is the most common one bought, all four are usually lumped in under the term “Gold IRA.”
Gold IRAs are a type of self-directed individual retirement account, which allow for alternative investments such as precious metals, real estate or even livestock instead of traditional stocks, bonds or cash. Gold IRAs usually involve a supply chain consisting of an IRA custodian who buys the gold on your behalf, a metals dealer who sells you the precious metals, and a IRS-approved depository in which the metals are stored. These all incur fees that vary and is a cost that must be taken into consideration when looking into Gold IRAs.
Precious metal IRAs can be traditional or Roth IRAs, in which contributions are often tax-deductible and transactions and earnings have no tax impact. Gold IRAs can be beneficial to investors looking to diversify their portfolio, as gold prices usually move in the opposite direction of liquid assets and can be used as a hedge against currency devaluation or inflation.
Although gold prices can go up or down unexpectedly, having gold and paper assets as part as a diverse portfolio could help mitigate disruptions in either market. Since 2016, gold has become increasingly difficult to mine as most miners have to dig deeper to get the same amount of gold, which along with central banks looking to diversify their monetary reserves, help drive the price of it and other precious metals used in IRAs.
Precious metal IRAs are one of the most common alternative investment IRAs, particularly popular in markets that have recently seen instability. Putting a percentage of your individual retirement account in gold is a tried and true method of offsetting risks and diversifying your portfolio, although you should always consult a financial advisor to determine how precious metals can work together with the rest of your portfolio.
FAQs about Gold IRAs
What kind of precious metals can be held in my IRA?
The IRS allows gold, silver, platinum and palladium to be held in self-directed IRAs, although gold is the most common metal held. The metals can be held in IRS-approved bullions or coins and have to meet a specific purity standard.
Can I take physical possession of the gold or precious metals in my IRA?
No. The IRS allows for gold in a self-directed IRA to be handled only by insured depositories, as holding them privately would be considered furnishing a service or facility and would be considered engaging in a prohibitive transaction.
Can I transfer money from an existing IRA or 401(k) account to fund a self-directed IRA?
Yes, and as long as it is being transferred from one tax-advantaged account to another, you will incur no tax penalties for doing so. You can transfer the full sum of your account or a partial amount.