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If you've spent enough time looking into creating a gold IRA to save for retirement, then you know two things already. First, you need a broker to serve as the account custodian. Second, Augusta Precious Metals is one of the options.
While you know these two things, it inevitably leads to a particular question. Should you use Augusta? Only you can decide that for yourself.
However, you can best make that decision when you are familiar with the company. That includes its products, services, fees, requirements, and pros and cons.
These are the specifics that help you decide whether or not to trust Augusta Precious Metals with your money and retirement investments.
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What is Augusta Precious Metals?
Augusta Precious Metals deals in physical precious metals. They're a full-service dealer. Investors use them for a broad selection of various services and products.
They've been operating since 2012. Since then, they've become one of the country's biggest gold and silver dealers. Based out of Casper, Wyoming, their Better Business Bureau rating is A+.
If you're wondering how they can help you with retirement, it's because they let you create a self-directed IRA. Your precious metal IRA can invest in gold and silver.
You get to pick the specific investments that you'd like to make instead of trusting a fund manager or turning over control to someone else.
The precious metals of gold and silver are known for being used as currency. That's something that's been happening for thousands of years. Even today, they prove to be popular retirement investments, and that happens for many reasons.
For starters, gold and silver are both physical mediums. These tangible assets are something that can be stored easily. They're also very easy to access.
As physical, hold-in-your-hand materials, they don't follow the same patterns as paper-based assets. The government can't print more precious metals as they might do with currency.
Stock market swings don't influence precious metals the same as they do equities and bonds. Given that gold isn't tied to how well a currency or stock market index performs, it proves to be a crucial investment choice for long-term portfolios.
It diversifies a portfolio immediately just by being an alternative asset class. However, the real value in the diversification is over time when it performs very differently than paper-based assets, especially in market downturns or periods of high inflation.
The gold standard was a cornerstone of the economic policies of many countries for centuries.
Even though many governments have turned away from this idea, the value of gold as an investment has proven itself time and again through multiple financial crises.
Since saving for retirement takes decades, chances are good you'll go through several such crises.
Granted, any investment carries risk, and gold prices do rise and fall along the way. However, they tend to rise over a long period. That helps stabilize your long game and preserves your wealth when other asset classes are temporarily unstable.
Using Augusta for Your Gold IRA
Using Augusta Precious Metals for your gold IRA lets you enjoy a self-directed retirement investment account where you choose your physical silver and gold. The IRS lists certain bullion bars and coins they approve of for IRA investing.
Augusta offers many of these products if you open an account through them.
A gold IRA can help you protect your retirement investment portfolio from economic turbulence by investing in precious metal products such as the American Eagle, American Buffalo, and American Eagle Proofs.
You're not restricted to just American products, either. Through Augusta, you can invest in Gold Canadian Eagles, Australian Striped Marlins, and Canadian Maple Leafs.
Once you buy any combination of these or other eligible products, you can pick one of Augusta's certified storage depositories or vaults. Augusta provides its clients with free shipping to any custodian they choose.
If you pick a storage facility that's geographically close enough to you, it might be possible for you to personally visit and see your gold for yourself.
Using Augusta for Your Silver IRA
A silver IRA isn't very different from a gold IRA. You just focus on silver products instead of gold. Physical silver bullion products are available through Augusta, and you can use them for many of the same benefits as gold.
The IRS has approved certain silver products for precious metal IRA inclusion, and Augusta offers American Silver Eagles for interested investors. There are also several Canadian silver products available through this broker.
They include the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf, the Canadian Silver Soaring Eagle, and the Canadian Silver Eagle with Nest.
As with gold products, these have to be stored in a custodial facility. Augusta doesn't store your metals on their property, but they do have several relationships with notable storage vaults.
The primary recommendation Augusta Precious Metals will give you is the Delaware Depository, which is insured for $1 billion through Lloyds of London.
Augusta has other storage places they have developed relationships with over the years. You can find storage possibilities in Nevada, New York, California, Idaho, Utah, Texas, and North Dakota.
Aside from Delaware Depository, Augusta has several other notable suggestions for custodial IRA services. The Kingdom Trust is the biggest and oldest precious metals investment business working for American consumers.
They provide distinct and creative custodial services for hundreds of thousands of clients. This company manages over $12 billion in investment assets.
GoldStar Trust Company handles over 35,000 self-directed IRAs. They're a division of the Texas-based Happy State Bank. The BBB rates GoldStar as an A+ business.
Equity Trust has more than three decades of experience in serving self-directed IRA clients. They've managed more than $20 billion in cumulative assets. This company operates in all 50 states.
Depositories and storage vaults are highly secure facilities. Most are located hundreds of miles away from centers of finance or political power. They're also privately owned.
Every one of them has strict access controls and protects your physical precious metals with industry-leading technology. If you decide to move your metals from one location to another, they'll get there within a week to 10 days.
Augusta vets all of its partners regularly.
Buying Gold and Silver
A precious metals IRA isn't the only way to do gold or silver investing with Augusta Precious Metals. You can buy high-caliber products even without an IRA.
These are precious metal products you can store at home, at your bank, or with one of the aforementioned custodians.
If you buy gold and silver this way, then it's different than doing it through a self-directed IRA. The upside is your freedom of choice. However, there are risks involved.
The advantage of doing it outside of an IRA is that you aren't restricted to the IRS list of approved products. You can buy whatever you want. You can also store it wherever you want.
The downside is that self-storage entails the risk of loss. Your insurance might not cover these products. Also, you'll lose out on the potential tax benefits.
Augusta offers clients free shipping for gold and silver. For IRA owners, that means free shipping to their vault of choice. If you don't have an IRA, that means free shipping to you personally.
You can also use Augusta Precious Metals for coin-collecting services. You can sell, find, and buy coins through Augusta. They deal in both gold and silver coins.
They already have a big selection of collectible and rare coins. Many of these are hard to find in other places. They even have a grading service you can use to ascertain the values of any current coins you have.
Pros and Cons of Working With Augusta Precious Metals
Your decision on which precious metal dealer to work with might just come down to specific pros and cons. It's important to know what they are. Not all of them may matter to you.
The first thing you should know about Augusta Precious Metals is that their BBB rating is A+. This is the highest possible rating the BBB gives out. It shows the trust Augusta has earned in the business community.
Second, you should know that they partner with Kingdom Trust. This relationship has been longstanding. Kingdom Trust manages more than $10 billion in client investment assets.
Third, Augusta Precious Metals has very competitive prices for its gold and silver products.
Most precious metal dealers only make money off of physical products they sell and not precious metal IRAs themselves, so they have to do markups. Augusta treats its clients very fairly in this regard.
Fourth, you can deal in many different precious metals through Augusta. Finding gold brokers is easy. However, also being able to deal in silver and platinum opens up more options for you.
Fifth, if you're into collectible coins, then Augusta is worth a look. Most collector's coins won't be IRA-eligible, thanks to IRS restrictions. However, you can still own them privately outside of a tax-advantaged retirement account.
Sixth, Augusta offers free shipping on all their order. Some brokers try to make extra money with side fees, such as padded shipping costs, but Augusta doesn't. Shipping is free for both IRA accounts and private purchases.
Finally, Augusta Precious Metals has tremendous client support. They're a rare broker that offers customer support and client education in different departments so the teams can both excel in their specific roles.
You'll learn all you want about the precious metals industry if you're a client of Augusta.
Perhaps the only downside is the minimum investment amount for a gold IRA.
It's $50,000, and that's one of the highest thresholds in the industry.
Most investors can only do this with a rollover from a previous retirement account.
Augusta's Fees
If you choose to deal in gold and silver through Augusta Precious Metals, then you intend to save and make money. Unfortunately, there are going to be some fees involved that detract from that. The nice thing is that shipping is always free with Augusta.
Most of their fees revolve around gold IRAs. It costs $50 to set one of those up, and the first year of custodial maintenance is $250. Maintenance fees after that are $100 per year, and storage fees are also $100 per year, starting with the first year.
You can pay these fees out of your pocket to avoid denting your portfolio value. These fees are tax-deductible. You can pay them by check or card.
Augusta Makes it Easy
Setting up an account only takes a few minutes, as is the case with most precious metal brokers. You can fund your account using cash or a rollover. Doing a rollover can mean tapping into other IRAs or 401(k) and other plans.
Once you have that all taken care of, you can choose how much to invest and what products to invest in. Augusta will buy them for you. Then, they'll ship them to your depository.
One thing that distinguishes Augusta in this process is how they start the client education services they're so famous for. You get a personal online conference with their Director of Education.
Consulting with Devlyn Steele means you get to ask questions and learn from someone educated through Harvard's business school.
This is one facet of the gold IRA process very unique to Augusta Precious Metals. It's said to be the one thing that convinced NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana to become a brand ambassador more than just a client.
It's also only the start of the client education support and services you get through Augusta.
Key Takeaway
Augusta Precious Metals is one of many gold and silver brokers you can use for a self-directed IRA or to just buy and sell physical coins and bullion.
Their customer service is among the best in the business, and their client education might be better than anyone.
Having said that, a minimum investment level of $50,000 is a high point of entry that might deter many investors.
Augusta Precious Metals is one of the very best companies to work with in the precious metals industry.
At BMOGAM Viewpoints we highly recommend Augusta Precious Metals for individual cash purchases of gold and silver, or for investors looking to protect their savings with a physical gold IRA.
You can get a Free Gold Investors Guide from Augusta Precious Metals by clicking the link above or you can read our article of the top companies we reviewed this year:
>> CLICK HERE to read our list of the Top Gold IRA Companies. <<