Top 5 Best Gold IRA Companies in 2023 & Gold IRA Guide

Overview

A gold-based IRA is considered by many to be one of the best options to protect your retirement account from an unstable economy. This is because gold has proven itself to be a safe-haven asset that can withstand severe fluctuations and downturns in the market, and often outperforms other asset classes during recessions. Below you’ll find our top-rated picks for the Top 5 Best Gold IRA Companies with links to reviews.  You will also find an informative Gold IRA Guide.

Disclaimer: The following content is not financial advice. Please refer to a finance professional before making your financial decisions. Some of the companies listed here may advertise with us and/or have an affiliate relationship with us. The opinions expressed, however, are our own.

Top 5 Best Gold IRA Companies in 2023

Which Gold IRA company?

There are many companies offering Gold IRA’s to choose from. We reviewed them based on their consumer ratings, reputations, offerings, transparency, customer support, and other factors. The following are our picks for the top 5 best gold IRA companies in 2023.

#1    Augusta Precious Metals

Founded: 
1/1/2012
Headquarters: 
Casper, WY

Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 0

Business Consumer Alliance

4.9
132 reviews

Consumer Affairs

AAA
highest rating

Better Business Bureau Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 0

Business Consumer Alliance Business Consumer Alliance

4.9
132 reviews

Consumer Affairs Consumer Affairs

AAA
highest rating

#2    Birch Gold Group

Founded: 
1/29/2003
Headquarters: 
Burbank, CA

Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 7 (3yrs) Complaints closed: 3 (1 yr)

Business Consumer Alliance

4.8
4.8/5 114 reviews

Consumer Affairs

AAA
highest rating

Better Business Bureau Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 7 (3yrs) Complaints closed: 3 (1 yr)

Business Consumer Alliance Business Consumer Alliance

4.8
4.8/5 114 reviews

Consumer Affairs Consumer Affairs

AAA
highest rating

#3    Noble Gold

Founded: 
5/14/2016
Headquarters: 
Encino, CA

Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 5 (3yrs) Complaints closed: 2 (1 yr)

Business Consumer Alliance

4.9
167 reviews

Consumer Affairs

AA

Better Business Bureau Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 5 (3yrs) Complaints closed: 2 (1 yr)

Business Consumer Alliance Business Consumer Alliance

4.9
167 reviews

Consumer Affairs Consumer Affairs

AA

#4    American Hartford Gold

Founded: 
3/30/2015
Headquarters: 
Los Angeles, CA

Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 27 (3yrs) Complaints closed: 11 (1 yr)

Business Consumer Alliance

4.8
217 reviews

Consumer Affairs

AA

Better Business Bureau Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 27 (3yrs) Complaints closed: 11 (1 yr)

Business Consumer Alliance Business Consumer Alliance

4.8
217 reviews

Consumer Affairs Consumer Affairs

AA

#5    Advantage Gold

Founded: 
6/5/2014
Headquarters: 
Los Angeles, CA

Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 1 (3yrs) Complaints closed: 0 (1 yr)

Business Consumer Alliance

5.0
442 reviews

Consumer Affairs

AAA
highest rating

Better Business Bureau Better Business Bureau

A+
Complaints: 1 (3yrs) Complaints closed: 0 (1 yr)

Business Consumer Alliance Business Consumer Alliance

5.0
442 reviews

Consumer Affairs Consumer Affairs

AAA
highest rating

 

Gold IRA Guide

Understanding the Basics: IRA’s versus Gold IRA’s

An IRA (Individual Retirement Account) is a savings plan with your name on it into which you may put certain investments approved by the government. The government does this because they give you tax breaks on the assets they allow in your savings plan.

In the past many people tried to include several things in their IRA plan over the years such as property, rental real estate and raw land. These are all prime examples of things which are sometimes allowed, and sometimes not.

With property, for example, you cannot live there, or let anyone else in your family live there. You cannot gain any immediate benefit from the property either, in fact you cannot have any personal involvement with the property in your IRA pot.

Once your investment is in the IRA savings plan, it stays there untouched until the person looking after it for you lets you have it back to draw the proceeds down.

Rules like this exist to ensure your investments are sound, and still likely to be there when you finally retire.

Different Strokes For Different Folks

There are various types of IRA's for different investments.

Imagine a set of savings plans that have rules stating which types of investments they allow.

You are permitted as many types of investments as your income, assets and circumstances allow.

A Self-directed IRA is a savings plan that will only let you put certain “alternative” investments like real estate or intellectual property into it.

A simple IRA savings plan will allow stocks or mutual funds to be put in.

A Gold IRA or precious metals IRA savings plan will allow physical (i.e. real) gold, silver, or other approved precious metals to be put in. This type of IRA does not allow ETFs, or gold mining shares - just physical metals.

Like the others, the Gold IRA savings plan is kept by other people, called a custodian, so you are not tempted to spend the metal before you retire. This is an especially important and convenient point with gold - it can be easily sold. Make sure the people looking after your IRA are reliable and honest. A safe place to store your gold is also a must for obvious reasons. Be sure to research not only the reputation of the Gold IRA companies you are considering but also where and how they store your gold.  Gold storage facilities are called depositories. 

Why a Gold IRA?

Including gold, and other precious metals, into your IRA portfolio may be a necessary means of protecting the value of your assets. Should your investments in the stock market tank, the chances are good that your precious metals will hold their value, if not increase in this scenario. 

The following are the top reasons to include Gold in your portfolio:

Why Gold?

Below are the top reasons why people choose to diversify with gold:

Economic safety: If the stock market crashes, having part of your investments in gold may protect you from significant losses. This is especially important to consider if you are nearing retirement.

Inflation defense: Your purchasing power drops as the value of the US dollar drops. Having gold in your portfolio can protect you as gold has out-performed the value of the dollar historically.

Portfolio diversification: Having all of your money in a single investment class (such as stock and bonds) can open you up to significant risk. Diversifying your portfolio to include gold, such as in a Gold IRA, may be an important step to protecting your nest egg. 

Deflation protection: Deflation is a period of time when there is a decline in business activity, a decrease in prices, and the economy has excessive debt. The last time this happened was the Great Depression. During that time, gold soared while other prices decreased significantly. Gold was the safest place to hold cash during the Depression.

Geopolitical and financial crises: Gold is often called the “crisis commodity”. When crises emerge in the world, consumers often flee to gold for its relative safety as it typically outperforms other asset classes during these times. 

Furthermore the gold price typically increases when there is a financial crisis.

This graph shows the little wobble the stock market had around the time of the Presidential election - when it became clear Donald Trump was going to win.

The top graph is the S&P500, the bottom graph is the gold price. Notice how gold rises as the stock market falls in almost exactly the opposite (inverse) direction. It did not fall much but it fell quickly. A position in gold would compensate for losses made on such stocks.

How does Gold perform when the stock market crashes?

Gold almost always increases during significant stock market declines. One way to illustrate this is by comparing gold's performance with the S&P 500. This infographic and analysis of gold prices during stock market crashes shows the 10 largest stock market declines and the performance of gold during the same time period.  As this data clearly shows, gold increased significantly during most of these times, and outperformed the S&P in all but one. 

What is a Gold IRA Rollover?

So now you understand that gold, and precious metals, are important assets to have in your nest egg. However, a Gold IRA rollover may not be something that you’ve heretofore considered. An IRA rollover is a method of swapping some of the contents of one savings plan, with another. You may hold excess cash or stocks in an account, and want to convert some of these to gold. Here, the person looking after the stocks savings plan, sells some, and buys gold with the proceeds. The gold is then put into the Gold IRA savings plan. This savings plan is then guarded by another custodian specializing in precious metals.

How do you fund a Gold IRA?

You have 2 options to fund a Gold IRA. 

  1. If you have a 401(k), 403b, 457b, Roth IRA, SEP, TSP, annuities, or pension plans with a previous employer you can rollover or transfer those funds or a portion of those funds into your Gold IRA account. 
  2. You can contribute directly to your established Gold IRA account up to $7K per year depending on your age. 

You can withdraw from your Gold IRA at any point. However, if you make withdrawals before reaching the age of 59.5 there will be a 10% penalty. There are more aspects of Gold IRA to understand such as different eligibility rules, tax brackets and ways of withdrawing your money. It is recommended you discuss the details with a Gold IRA rollover specialist to help determine your best options.

What are the precious metals options for my Gold IRA?

The following physical gold and precious metal options are permitted in a gold IRA account:

A precious metal IRA or Gold IRA works the same way as any other IRA or 401(k). The following options are permitted when investing in a gold IRA account:

  • Gold coins and bars of a purity of .995 Fine or above
  • Silver coins and bars of a purity of .999 Fine or above
  • Platinum coins and bars of a purity of .9995 Fine or above
  • Palladium coins & bars of a purity of .9995 Fine or above

You may store your precious metals together in one account. Separate accounts are not needed for each type of metal.

The following is a list of the approved coins and gold bars for your precious metals IRA:

Gold

Gold

  • American Gold Eagle coins
  • American Gold Buffalo coins 
  • Australian Gold Kangaroo/Nugget coins 
  • Austrian Gold Philharmonic coins 
  • Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coins 
  • Credit Suisse Gold Bar 
  • Johnson Matthey Gold Bar 
  • Valcambi Gold CombiBar
Silver

Silver

  • American Silver Eagle Coins
  • Australian Kookaburra Silver coins 
  • Austrian Philharmonic Silver coins 
  • Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins 
  • Mexican Silver Libertad coins 
  • Johnson Matthey Silver Bar 
  • Royal Canadian Mint Silver Bar
Platinum

Platinum

  • American Eagle Platinum bullion coins
  • Australian Koala Platinum coins
  • Canadian Maple Leaf Platinum coins
Palladium

Palladium

  • Canadian Palladium Maple Leaf coins
  • Russian Ballerina Palladium coins
  • Baird Palladium bars
  • Credit Suisse Palladium bars

All of these approved items have an inherent (intrinsic) value to them, they are pure metal.

Your next step

Now that you have an understanding of what a Gold IRA is, how it works, and why having gold in your portfolio may be an important means of protecting your financial future, explore the Top 5 Best Gold IRA Companies in the convenient comparison chart above. It is recommended that you request their informative and free guides, understand the specifics of how their process works, follow up with their Gold IRA specialists to get your remaining questions answered. 

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