Top 5 Gold IRA Companies in 2024 Reviewed

No matter how much you want to invest in precious metals, your journey starts with finding the best gold IRA company. Here are some tips that can help you find the right business to partner with:

Look for a reputable company

Contributions to a precious metal IRA can easily cost thousands of dollars. While it’s highly unlikely that an IRS-approved gold IRA provider would be outright prone to theft, gold IRA companies can have poor reputations within the industry. Or, alternatively, they might not be known for ripping people off, but they might be inexperienced and less knowledgeable about the process as a result.

Although we all have to start from somewhere, you don’t want to be some new company’s guinea pig. By working with a reputable gold IRA company with an established track record, you can save yourself a lot of pain and heartache.

Gold IRA company reviews

A gold IRA company can be amazing while still not being the right fit for you on a personal level. And to make matters even more complicated, sometimes the only way that you’ll be able to find out what it’s like to work with a company is by reading gold IRA reviews.

Look at the negative reviews. And then look at the positive reviews. Are there any ongoing themes that rub you the wrong way?

Maybe the fee structure isn’t clearly explained. Or perhaps customers are disappointed with the receipt they get back while still being thrilled with the company overall.

The gold IRA companies we’ve just listed are all highly rated by the Better Business Bureau and Google, among others. As you create your personal shortlist, you’ll want to give yourself a bit of time to dive into the customer feedback.

Look For a Company That Understands Precious Metals

Have you ever done business with a company that primarily did one thing but offered other services or products on the side? Like a coffee shop that offers reheated muffins or an artist that gift wraps their paintings, sometimes there are questions of expertise and quality around those incidental services.

Because of the stakes involved with gold IRAs, the last thing you want or need is to deal with a gold IRA provider that’s just not ready for prime time when it comes to precious metals. If you’re on the phone with folks and you’re starting to get the feeling that you understand the precious metals market better than the customer success team does, don’t feel bad about moving on to the next company. After all, mistakes during this process might affect your taxes and your retirement costs.

Remember what we said before about how most precious metals investors are legally required to keep an arms-length distance from their IRAs? This is the direct consequence of that particular set of rules and regulations.

In layman’s terms, the custodian is the person who makes the purchases on your behalf. And the depository is the storage facility that will physically house the gold until you’re old enough to claim it.

Because you might be looking at a time period of several years or even decades before you can take the gold, you’ll want to make sure that both the custodian and the depository service are top-notch.

On that front, the good news is that gold IRA companies for the most part understand that most people don’t have a curated list of storage services or trustees just sitting on their kitchen tables. As such, it’s not unusual for most gold companies to have partnerships and recommendations with multiple providers.

Even so, however, you’ll still want to do some research of your own during this process. Is the custodian responsive and friendly over the phone? How transparent is the depository service? Is there a flat fee or do the rates scale up depending on the size of your account?

These are the kinds of questions that you’ll want to figure out before you sit down and make your final decision.

At this stage, things are finally coming together. You’ve chosen a gold IRA company with a sterling reputation and an easy-to-understand process. And after some consideration, you’ve got the depository and the custodian that you want unless you’ve opted into home storage.

Now it’s time to fund your gold IRA account

With most gold IRA companies, you have a few funding options at your disposal. You can do a rollover of your traditional IRA or you can simply opt for a transfer. Plus, if you happen to have a bit of cash on hand, it’s also possible for you to make your purchases that way as well.

Of course, if you’ve been thinking about converting your 401(k) into a self-directed gold IRA, you might be taking an unconventional financial step. After all, many Americans prefer to step back and let bankers and investment managers handle their funds.

But if your goal is financial freedom, there are many strong reasons to move forward with the conversion. And if the 401(k) is your best source of long-term investment funding right now, it may be worth your while to pull the trigger.

Let’s say that you’ve completed your transfer and you’re ready to start buying gold. Here’s the part where you work with your gold IRA company to explore your investment options.

Many gold IRA companies will sell coins as well as bars. Are you looking for a Royal Canadian Mint coin? Do you want a smaller number of bars with a side of silver or platinum for variety? Do you want gold bullion or silver coins. Will you be making major purchases every year or putting aside a certain amount each month?

Here’s the part where you can take control of your financial future and start putting growing your investments.

In technical terms, a gold IRA is an individual retirement account that invests in gold. However, because these funds fall under the larger umbrella of what’s known as a precious metal IRA, it’s not unusual to see people purchasing silver and platinum along with gold.

Either way, however, these investment accounts will typically take the form of a self-directed IRA. What this means is that instead of the investment managers at the bank handling your funds, the purchasing and selling decisions will be made by you. Simply because this is a bit risky if you’re not familiar with the assets you’re purchasing, it’s highly recommended that you do your research before you go this route.

By our count, there are a number of strong reasons why hard-working Americans, like you, should consider opting for a gold IRA:

1. It’s one of the best long-term buys you can make

When you’re investing for fun and profit in the short term, you don’t have to think too hard about whether Company X is going to be around for the long haul. But when you’re looking at cashing out on your profits in 10, 15, or 25 years, however, you don’t want to be investing in trendy assets that don’t have staying power.

Say what you will about purchasing gold, but if there’s one thing that we’ve all learned from the past several thousand years of human history, it’s that gold has staying power. You won’t have to spend time waiting breathlessly for the next market crash. And you won’t have to bother worrying about your assets until you’re ready to retire.

Whether you’re planning to cash out, hold, or let your younger relatives inherit your gold over the long term, you’ll never have to worry about finding buyers, losing your wealth, or engaging in day-to-day trades when you have a gold IRA. You can just let the money sit for a few decades and watch your net worth grow.

2. You can start experiencing the tax benefits today

If you’ve been investing in traditional IRAs this whole time, then you already know how your contributions are treated during tax season. One of the advantages of having a gold IRA is that you can get all the security and peace of mind that comes with investing in precious metals alongside the standard tax deductions that are associated with self-directed IRAs. It’s a win-win on all fronts.

3. You Can Have More Control Over Your Financial Future

Would you take a random person off the street and trust them with your nest egg and your retirement hopes and dreams? Of course not! But when it comes to retirement planning, far too many Americans are content to just go with the flow.

For those who have traditional 401(k)s and IRAs, you have no say in how your money is being managed on a day-to-day basis. And if you’re one of the people who was astute enough to look at the economy and say, “This isn’t moving in a positive direction.”, then you’re already ahead of the curve when it comes to assessing larger economic trends.

With a gold IRA, you have the final say in your investment purchases. And if being able to take matters into your own hands while protecting your finances is important to you, precious metal and gold IRAs will probably be especially appealing to you.

Okay. Let’s say that you’ve fallen in love with gold and silver. So much so that even after purchasing gold coins and bars , you still don’t feel like you have enough.

Should gold ETFs and mining shares be a part of your investment strategy?

In many ways, traditional stock investments have a lot going for them. For starters, they’re often more convenient to purchase. And for another, storing and tracking your share certificates is easy. In addition, depending on your broker of choice, purchasing gold mining shares or precious metals ETFs is often also cheaper. However, gold-related stocks and physical gold have a few key differences that you’ll want to be aware of:

1. Gold Shares Don’t Necessarily Reflect the Value of Gold

If you’ve spent any amount of time in investing circles, you’ve probably heard people say that share prices don’t necessarily reflect the worth of your underlying asset. Why? Because the value of your stocks will ultimately depend on investor confidence.

As such, you could be invested in a company that’s doing everything right. But if other investors don’t see it that way, you may never see the potential of that company reflected in the value of your portfolio.

Conversely, you could be invested in a seemingly foolproof ETF. If there’s a scandal or if there’s a major downturn, however, the value of your shares could sink even while the value of gold goes up.

While gold-related shares can certainly help you hedge your stock portfolio, it’s important to know that the value of your shares will probably be affected by factors other than the price of gold.

2. You Can Only Cash Out if You Have Buyers

Although people will often talk about selling their investments to fund their retirement, there’s a dark side to this strategy that many folks aren’t aware of:

You can only sell shares that have demand. If you’ve purchased mining stocks on a slow exchange or if you’ve purchased a stock that no one wants to buy in 20 or 30 years, you won’t be able to turn those shares into cold, hard cash very easily.

When you’re invested in precious metals, however, you will never have to worry about finding buyers. And if you sign up with a gold IRA company that offers a buy-back program, the process of going from “I own this.” to “I just sold this.” becomes a lot smoother for you as an investor.

3. Buying Stocks Takes Time

Here’s the thing about investing on the stock market:

Analyzing a company is a time-consuming endeavor. First, you have to go over the company’s historic and current financial performance. Then, you have to take a look at the management team before evaluating the company’s long-term potential. In short, it’s a lot of work. And although gold is famous for retaining its value in difficult times, the same can’t necessarily be said for gold companies across the board.

What happens if the company’s mining equipment breaks down? What if that particular company runs out of easily accessible gold?

Gold ETFs and companies can certainly help your investment prospects. But it often requires work and research while also being subject to the whims of the stock market. For these reasons, gold stocks aren’t an exact substitute for purchasing physical gold.

The short answer is, “Mostly, yes.” According to Investopedia, the capital gains tax rate for physical gold is matched to your marginal tax rate. At first glance, this might not sound like a good deal. But if you happen to be in a higher tax bracket, you’re in luck.

Why? Because the maximum amount you can pay on capital gains tax is 28 percent. In the 2021 tax year, people making over $164,925 paid a marginal tax rate of 32 percent. If you’re in that category, the income from your capital gains is actually taxed below your marginal tax rate.

Where the “Mostly” part of “Mostly, yes.” comes in is if you cash out within a shorter time frame. If you’ve made a successful swing trade or simply cashed out at an earlier date than expected, you’ll be taxed at the regular rate for your income level.

As a general rule of thumb, the gold you’ve purchased for your IRA will need to be held in an IRS-approved storage facility. On most websites, you’ll see these storage companies referred to as “depositories”.

The IRS has standards for both the fineness of the gold as well as the companies that will be in charge of storing it. However, depending on your circumstances, you may be able to store your gold in a bank’s safe deposit box or a home safe.

Have you ever noticed that in any situation where money’s involved, there are a bunch of government rules and regulations around it? Gold IRAs are no different in this regard.

We’ve got a more extensive list of IRA rules and regulations that you’ll want to check out, but with precious metal investments most of the restrictions will revolve around two issues:

• Administrators
• Storage

Gold IRA Custodians

Even though the gold will technically be owned by you, it likely won’t be possible for you to have the items shipped straight to your house and into your closet if you’re investing through an IRA. But at the same time, investors should be able to add precious metals to their portfolios without having to wonder if they’re being robbed on the side.

To satisfy everyone’s interests, there are rules about who’s allowed to act as a precious metals custodian. These are companies that have can legally handle your account and do the heavy lifting involved with executing your transactions. If you want to have your gold on hand at home, we have a tutorial on precious metals IRA home storage that’ll tell you what you need to know.

Precious Metal Storage Requirements

Along with requirements around who can handle the gold and execute your purchases, there are also rules about how IRA precious metals should be stored. As such, the depository you choose must have IRS-approved storage vaults.

Once you reach the age of 59.5, you can take custody of your gold. On top of these major categories, there are also rules around annual contribution limits, early withdrawals, and taxes that we’ve touched on earlier in this article.