All of us aspire to have secure retirement plans in order to live comfortably in our golden years. To ensure capital preservation along with growth, it is prudent to consider diversification of your retirement portfolio through multiple investments. Macro economic and political upheavals frequently impact traditional investments adversely. This accentuates the importance of looking at alternative sources for investment.

Moreover, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission advises diversified retirement investments as a safe way to manage financial risks and attain financial security after retirement. If you are looking to invest in precious metals, your IRA can assist you in securing a comfortable retired life by offering tax benefits, enhancing purchasing power, and diversifying financial and other assets.

In recent years, a number of companies dealing in Gold IRA have entered the market. This has made it challenging for interested investors to seek out the best players. Nonetheless, a handful of proven and reliable providers stand out that offer world-class services in the domain of precious metals.

Let us review and compare two of the top companies providing precious metals IRA for assisting you in determining the best one to trust with your retirement savings.

Overview: Augusta Precious Metals

Augusta Precious Metals, established in 2012, has been offering its customers a wide range of legit ways to diversify their wealth via investments in precious metals. This family-owned and service-oriented business has around a decade of experience in offering world-class services in precious metals.

With Augusta Precious Metals, you get an investment package that includes silver and gold precious metal IRA services, marketplace for non-IRA precious metals, and uninterrupted customer support.

If you are looking to partner with an established and reputed precious metals company for building your wealth to have a worry free life of retirement in future, then Augusta Precious Metals is worth considering. Not only does the company specialize in self-directed IRA, but it also allows selling of silver and gold outside of IRA arrangements.

Overview: Goldco Precious Metals (Goldco)

Since its inception in 2006, and with headquarters in Woodland Hills, California, Goldco Precious Metals (Goldco) has distinguished itself as a brokerage firm specializing in precious metal investments. The company offers world-class services with regard to precious metal IRAs, as well as other investment options related to precious metals. The company has been highly acclaimed for its dedicated services to investors, helping them not only secure but also balance their retirement wealth through the route of precious metals.

Unlike most of the competition, Goldco stands out as a specialist provider of a wide range of options for precious metal investments. You are allowed to choose from multiple metal categories including silver, gold, palladium, and platinum.

Moreover, Goldco has tie-ups with trusted precious metal depositories and custodians to provide clients with a world-class experience in the domain of precious metals. In the area of service reliability, storage security, asset diversity, and customer support, the company has almost no competition.

Comparison: Goldco Precious Metals (Goldco) Vs Augusta Precious Metals

Header

Augusta Precious Metals

Goldco

Year of Establishment

2012

2006

Minimum Investment Requirement

$50,000

$20,000

Average Rating On An Overall Basis

4.6 out of 5

4.8 out of 5

Precious Metals Offered

Silver and gold

Silver, gold, palladium, and platinum

If Price-Matching Is Available For Precious Metal Coins And Bullion

Yes

No

If Support Is Offered For Existing IRA Rollover

Yes

Yes

The Average Time Interval It Takes For An Order To Make It To The Depository

Two weeks

One week

Nature Of Customer Support

Customized, dedicated, and life-long customer support

Customized and dedicated customer support

If A Buy-Back Program For Precious Metals Exists

Yes

Yes

Rollover Opportunities: Augusta Precious Metals

Let us suppose that you already have an existing retirement account like a Traditional IRA or a 401(k) account. In such a scenario, Augusta Precious Metals affords you the facility to rollover the funds in that account to your new Gold IRA. You can choose to transfer either part or all of your funds.

In either case, this allows you to avail the tax benefits applicable to a conventional IRA, which is in addition to the other benefits that accrue from investment in precious metals.

Furthermore, this rollover is a surefire way of protecting your retirement wealth against adverse events in the market that affect value such as high energy costs and growing inflation.

Rollover Opportunities: Goldco Precious Metals (Goldco)

When investing with Goldco, it is possible to fund your fresh precious metals IRA by directly depositing funds or transferring them from any existing recognized retirement account. You are allowed to rollover funds from the following accounts into your Goldco gold or silver IRA:

  • Traditional IRA
  • Roth IRA
  • SIMPLE IRA
  • SEP IRA
  • 401(k)
  • 403(b)
  • Roth 401(k)
  • Roth 457(b)

Fees: Augusta Precious Metals

In contrast to most other providers of precious metal IRA, Augusta needs special mention because of the transparent and exclusive nature of its offerings in precious metal investment. There are no hidden fees of any manner.

In addition, the pricing for products and services related to precious metals is amongst the most competitive in the market.

The following is a breakdown of the costs involved for investment in precious metals with the company:
  • A one-time fee of $50 to setup your account.
  • An $80 custodian maintenance fee to be paid annually.
  • An annual fee of $100 for depository storage.
  • Non-IRA purchase of precious metals requires a minimum of $50,000 to be invested in the account.
  • Silver or gold IRA requires a minimum of $100,000 to be invested in the account.
  • The fluctuating costs of silver and gold coins and bullion are based on spot prices and market rates. There is a 5% markup cost for bullion coins.
  • Shipping and transit come for free

Fees: Goldco Precious Metals (Goldco)

After examining the Goldco website, one can find that there is lack of transparency in the costs of products and services. 

However, the following are the general fees that you are likely to incur:
  • A one-time setup fee of $50 for Goldco IRA
  • A $30 wire fee chargeable only once
  • Whether you open a gold or silver IRA, you need to invest at least $25,000 in the account
  • You need to pay $80 as annual maintenance fee
  • Segregated IRA storage cost of $150 to be paid annually
  • Non-segregated IRA storage fee comes to a total of $100 annually

Choosing Between Augusta Precious Metals And Goldco Precious Metals (Goldco) For Gold IRA Rollovers

Both Augusta Precious Metals as well as Goldco not only allow but also assist their customers to rollover, either partially or completely, their funds from their existing IRAs to newly opened IRAs. Correlating with this, Goldco scores over Augusta significantly in one aspect. With Goldco, you can transfer your entire $25,000 from an IRA that you already have to jump-start your investment in precious metals.

With that said, Augusta places the restriction of a prohibitive minimum investment of $50,000 on the investor for beginning such an investment journey.

Also, Goldco is better in another aspect too. You are allowed to purchase and hold silver, gold, palladium, and platinum using funds that you have transferred. Moreover, with Augusta you are only permitted to purchase silver and gold using your rollover funds.

Final Conclusion: Deciding Whether Augusta Precious Metals Or Goldco Precious Metals (Goldco) Is Better For Investment In Gold IRA

Overall, Goldco may be considered a better gold IRA investment destination compared to Augusta Precious Metals for the following reasons:
  • Goldco asks for a lower minimum amount as investment for your account as compared to Augusta. You are only required to invest a minimum of $25,000 with Goldco, whereas Augusta Precious Metals has a minimum requirement of $50,000. This renders Goldco more conducive to those with less capital. On the other hand, Augusta would be more suitable for more high-profile investors.
  • Goldco allows its clients to hold wealth in multiple types of precious metal assets that include silver, gold, palladium, and platinum. In contrast, Augusta permits investments in only gold and silver assets.
  • Goldco has been serving its customers in the precious metals market for more than a decade, and, consequently, has more market exposure than its rival Augusta Precious Metals – which has relatively less market experience of less than a decade.

Furthermore, both of these gold IRA companies are reliable, legit, and well-known for the high-quality support services they provide their customers. In fact, compared to Goldco, Augusta may even be considered better in terms of offering a life-long customer support system that is more focused on the customer and exclusive.

This makes it an ideal choice for investors with little or no experience in the precious metals market – and who would need professional guidance every step of the way to be able to make it successfully.

About the Author James Holland

James is a certified financial planner who helps retirees and pre-retirees make the most of their money. He has more than 10 years of experience in the field, and he knows how to help people plan for retirement on a budget. James also offers advice on estate planning, long-term care, and other aspects of retirement planning.

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