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In an era where financial stability is more crucial than ever, the allure of investing in precious metals has never been stronger.
Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting to explore the world of bullion, finding a reliable platform to buy, store, and sell your precious metals is essential.
Enter BullionVault, a service that promises to simplify and secure your bullion investments.
But does it live up to the hype?
In this comprehensive review, we'll dive deep into BullionVault's offerings, security features, and user experience to help you decide if it's the right choice for your investment needs.
Stay with us as we uncover everything you need to know about BullionVault and how it can enhance your investment strategy.
Before we get started with this review:
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Overview of BullionVault
The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), located in England, is an independent precious metals trade group that ensures its members meet certain quality criteria. So it is good to see that BullionVault is a member here.
The LBMA focuses on the three main standards of good delivery, promoting the integrity and proper functioning of the market, and responsible sourcing. So if their members meet these criteria, it is an industry stamp of approval and quality.
BullionVault is a platform that lets investors buy and sell gold in many different forms like bars, ingots, and coins. You can also trade other precious metals like silver and platinum.
They claim to be the largest online gold investment website with over 95,000 active customers. Because of their size, they have economies of scale that allow them to have the lowest commission costs around.
History of BullionVault
BullionVault is owned by the parent company Galmarley Limited. It was started in 2003 but spent the first two years building the software that would power the website.
In 2005 BullionVault raised money through equity funding to purchase gold bars and other precious metal products which form the basis of the inventory was needed to have traded.
The company has experienced consistent growth ever since because the convenience, safety, and competitive prices of the gold products made the service popular with precious metals investors.
BullionVault generates its profits from four main sources; the commissions they receive from trade orders, the maintenance fees from gold storage, interest receipts, and the spread from purchasing and selling prices of gold.
The business has enjoyed consistent growth and has customers in over 176 countries and holds over 4 billion dollars in bullion stored in their vaults.
The company claims that their customer's gold and silver bullion holdings combined are larger than many country's central banks. BullionVault has become a significant player in the gold and precious metals industry.
Why Choose BullionVault?
As we have already stated BullionVault is a large company that is a fixture in the industry. They have also won industry awards and are a member of the London Bullion Market Association, which is another assurance of quality.
They have tried to make buying, selling, and storing precious metals as easy as possible for the consumer. Many people do not feel their gold is secure if they store it themselves.
And a safe deposit box has significant costs, as well as the danger that is inherent with all banks. At BullionVault, you can buy, sell, and store your precious metals for a reasonable fee.
The fee for storing bullion is only about $5/month as of the time of this writing.
Where does BullionVault Keep Your Gold?
BullionVault uses specialized facilities that exclusively serve BullionVault's clients. There are five locations where you can choose to store your precious metals: Zurich, London, New York, Toronto, or Singapore.
BullionVault uses three vault operators that also operate as security transportation companies and they are: Loomis International, Malca-Amit, and Brinks.
BullionVault can even give you proof of your assets in the vaults. Every business day they publish custody lists. A custody list is a list that shows all the bars they have with alias names published next to them.
You choose an alias that only you would recognize, and you remain anonymous to everyone else. This information is available on the website in the Daily Audit section.
This is a key part of BullionVault's success. You own the gold and other precious metals you purchase instead of getting an I.O.U. for a non-specific quantity of gold, BullionVault has your specific pieces set aside with your name on them.
The benefit of this system is that investor claims can not exceed the amount of bullion stored in the vault.
While it sounds outrageous, many gold companies have been caught over the years with more customer claims than gold on hand, with BullionVault you are avoiding the possibility of this age-old Ponzi scheme.
How Much Do You Need To Invest?
BullionVault is a marketplace unto itself. Because of this, they can handle any size orders from the very large whale to the small Mom and Pop style investors. They do not have a minimum investment level. You can get started with one hundred dollars, or one thousand.
Their goal is to empower precious metals investors and because of this, and the huge liquidity they offer, they accept all sizes of orders.
Because of these unique features, BullionVault can also work with folks that like to quickly trade in and out of precious metals. While this is possible, quick trading is discouraged for most prudent investors.
Precious Metals IRA Investments with BullionVault:
You can invest and store gold, silver, and other precious metals using BullionVault if you have created a self-directed IRA.
1. First, you have to find an IRA custodian that is capable of handling precious metals in an IRA. Many companies offer this but it is best to go with a company that specializes in these specific types of accounts.
2. Once you have created your IRA account with the proper custodian you will need to add funds to the account.
The common ways to do this are by rolling over an existing retirement account into your IRA like a 401K, doing a bank transfer, or annual contributions up to a certain dollar amount allowed by the IRS.
3. Next, you will need to direct your custodian that you want the funds in your IRA to purchase precious metals from BullionVault. To do this you will need to fill out either a Purchase Authorization Letter or a Buy Direction.
They are essentially the same thing. Your IRA provider will then send the funds to your account at BullionVault.
4. Now that your account has been funded, your IRA custodian will send you the login information to BullionVault. Then you will be able to log in to the website and choose the allocations of gold, silver, or platinum that best suit your investment goals.
IRS Rules for Precious Metals
The IRS requires minimum purity levels of .995 for gold, .999 for silver, and .9995 for platinum. Any metals bought from Bullion Vault either meet or exceed these requirements.
The IRS forbids collectible coins in these accounts. This is not an issue because BullionVault only sells large-format precious metal bars, the same that is required for trading in professional markets.
The IRS also forbids the investor from taking possession of their metals. They require the metals to be stored with a qualified custodian, which BullionVault can accommodate with their vaults in London, New York, Zurich, Singapore, or Toronto.
BullionVault Educational Resources
BullionVault has done a good job of providing lots of educational content on their site for their customers. On the top right corner of their website, they have a tab labeled Investment Guide that has a drop-down menu.
On this menu, they have separate guides for how to buy gold, silver, and platinum.
Because gold is the most popular metal they also provide additional reading about how to structure your gold investment plan, how to diversify your investment portfolio by using gold as "insurance" (the section has a ton of content), and a section charting gold returns for the last 40 years.
Pros
Cons
Summary
Every smart investor knows they should have a portion of their assets in gold and precious metals.
Gold is what is known as a non-correlated asset, meaning it generally does not go up or down or even goes the opposite direction, compared to traditional investments like stocks and real estate.
With the world's financial markets at unprecedented levels of uncertainty and all the central banks printing as much money as they can, it just makes sense to seek gold as a haven against inflation.
BullionVault does a decent job as a marketplace for precious metals investors. They have a lot of good educational content and decent services for both traders and investors.
BullionVault is an ok company, they are not a scam, but they are not the best choice like other companies we have written about on this website.
You can get a Free Gold Investors Guide from our top gold and precious metals company recommendation 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 investment companies. <<
Or, if you like what you have read about BullionVault, you can go to there website below:
I started BMOGAM Viewpoints as a way to compile all my views on investing in one place. I own my home, have some real estate, and own a few stocks like most people, but what really drives my interest in investing is I have a strong love of precious metals, especially gold.
