Last Updated: April 3, 2023
Are you an investor looking to diversify your retirement portfolio? The best option is to invest in precious metals IRA accounts.
They’re a more stable investment choice than conventional investments since physical asset investments tend to be more resistant to an unstable economic situation.
You don’t have to worry about your future once you know that precious metals are a conventionally stable investment opportunity.
Precious Metal IRAs can also be referred to as gold or silver IRAs. Such retirement accounts are a privilege to retirement investors because they give tax benefits, improved purchasing power, and more control over your investments.
In short, having a diversified retirement portfolio assists to secure your future, and investing in precious metals is a prudent way to do that.
Generally, this guide compares two of the most reputable gold IRA companies in the market: Goldco Precious Metals & Augusta Precious Metals.
It reviews the differences and similarities between them to help you decide which one you’ll trust with your retirement savings.
FEATURES COMPARISON: WHAT DO GOLDCO VS AUGUSTA PRECIOUS METALS OFFER?
1. GoldCo’s Key Features
Goldco (read review) was founded in 2006, and its headquarters are located in Woodland Hills, California. Goldco has established itself as a brokerage company dealing with precious metal investments.
The firm provides world-class services when it comes to precious metal IRAs, and other investment options associated with precious metals.
Goldco has been highly acclaimed for its exceptional services to investors, assisting them to secure and balance their retirement wealth by investing in precious metals.
As opposed to most of the competition, the company stands out as a leading provider of a wide variety of options when it comes to precious metal investments.
Goldco allows you to pick from multiple metal categories such as silver, palladium, gold, and platinum.
Goldco also has tie-ups with reputable precious metal depositories, as well as custodians, to ensure that clients have a superb experience in the world of precious metals. The company also faces zero competition in the area of asset diversity, storage security, service reliability, and customer support.
Here’s a breakdown of what to expect from the company:
- Inclusive Pricing
GoldCo Precious Metals usually focuses on assisting its clients through every step of setting up and investing in IRAs. Additionally, the precious metals IRA firm offers investors and collectors gold bullion and various other precious metals.
Goldco comes with a decent buyback program, and the best part about them is their considerably low minimum investment amount of $25,000. Quite frankly, the company faces little competition when it comes to gold coins or precious metals.
- Transparency Regarding Fees
GoldCo’s total fee varies, based on who your custodian is and how much you’re investing. They’re very transparent/ honest about their fees, and you can be sure that there won’t be any hidden charges.
- Fast & Efficient Service
Are you done purchasing assets in precious metal coins? Well, the only thing you’ll need to do is to find a custodian. Don’t panic! GoldCo will help you find a suitable and reliable gold IRA custodian.
The company will also help you select the specific gold products you’d like to invest in once the money is there. Goldco has links with a wide range of gold dealers and mints.
That means they can manage customized gold bars for you upon your request, i.e., apart from the typical gold coins or gold bullion.
- Ratings
GoldCo has garnered high ratings from customers and experts alike. The BCA and BBB both rate the company considerably high. Undoubtedly, they’re considered one of the most preferred gold individual retirement account firms.
Pros
- Has almost two decades of experience
- It doesn’t have any additional or hidden fee – you always get what you pay for
- No fines or other investments are required to start the IRA account
- Reasonably low bar of investment
- Very competitive and considerable pricing
Cons
- It doesn’t provide any direct selling system
2. Augusta Precious Metals Key Features
Since its inception in 2012, Augusta Precious Metals has been a reputable precious metals IRA brokerage firm. The company prides itself on its excellent customer service and transparent business practices.
It distinguishes itself from other IRA companies in that they provide long-term support to its customers.
Provided you maintain an account with this firm, their seasoned representatives remain a vital resource to you.
Their representatives are always available for any questions you might have regarding your IRA account, the state of the silver and gold market, or other concerns and questions you may have.
Augusta Precious Metals is a leader in the industry, reputable, and rated pretty high with industry regulatory bodies like the Business Consumer Alliance, the Better Business Bureau, and TrustLink. They also have outstanding reviews from their former and current customers with an average satisfaction rating of about 4.6 out of 5 stars.
It’s an ideal choice for investors who want self-directed silver and gold IRA accounts, as well as people interested in purchasing silver and gold outside of IRA accounts.
What’s more, Augusta Precious Metals is a great educational resource with a massive library of information on its website. It commits itself to ensure that its clients make educated choices that will help them attain their long-term goals.
Here’s a breakdown of what to expect from the company:
- Educative System
They aim at educating their customers through the entire process of IRA investments. Surprisingly, unlike other gold IRA firms, they never talk business upfront.
Instead, they’ll focus on educating you about the fundamentals of IRA to ensure that you know what you’re getting into before investing.
Whether it’s the whereabouts of precious metals, gold IRA companies, or basic business consumer alliance – you’ll get assistance with everything.
- Four Separate Departments for Quality Service
Augusta Precious Metals consists of four different departments, with each solely committed to providing you with the best level of service.
Their team members comprise customer success agents, official economic analysts, and a highly efficient processing team that will assist you through the entire process of picking precious metals.
You could either choose to go for gold bullion coins or gold IRAs with them. Augusta is highly reliable since they usually sell IRS-approved coins.
That means you can safely buy gold from them with your retirement savings.
When you decide to take their service, they’ll assign you an agent who will work closely with you provided the account exists. Are you prepared to create an IRA account? It’s worth noting that their staff will be dealing with almost all the necessary paperwork.
The only thing you need to do is to give them the necessary information.
There’s no denying that concerning business consumer alliance, you can’t find many gold investment firms better than Augusta.
- Vast Range of Precious Metals
After the paperwork is completed, you’ll then be sent to their order desk. This is where they’ll assist you to choose from a wide range of physical, precious metals such as palladium, platinum, gold, and silver.
Typically, they provide their customers with silver bullion and coins, and physical gold. And with their no-commission sales, you won’t be manipulated or conned by their staff in any way.
- High Ratings & Low Complaints
Augusta’s secret to success is paying more attention to the clients and assisting them in all ways possible.
The firm prides itself on an excellent rating in BBB and BCA but that’s not all. It’s highly praised on TrustLink, Google, Facebook, and numerous other social media platforms.
Pros
- It doesn’t have any BBB or BCA complaints since 2012
- Up to 10 years of waivers for various fees
- Arranges educational conferences undertaken by Harvard economists for their clients
- Straightforward and transparent pricing
- They offer each client with an “account lifetime support”
- No-commission sales tend to make it safer for clients to invest
Cons
- The minimum IRA amount is $50,000
PRODUCTS COMPARISON
What products does each company offer?
Goldco Products
As a well-established silver and gold IRA investment company, GoldCo offers a wide variety of products and services to its customers.
Apart from providing both conventional and Roth IRA accounts, the company also offers SIMPLE and SEP-IRAs for small businesses. It also offers a vast range of precious metals for investment, including platinum, palladium, silver, and gold.
Lastly, they’re one of the few companies in the market that enable its clients to use silver or physical gold as collateral for their IRA accounts.
Augusta Precious Metals Products
This is another well-respected silver and gold IRA investment company. They typically offer a wide variety of precious metals you can invest in, including platinum, palladium, silver, and gold.
Augusta can also provide you with a range of IRA account types, such as Roth, traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs. The company has a low minimum investment amount of only $5,000. Undoubtedly, this makes them an excellent option for beginner investors.
The following comparison will help you gain a better understanding of these two companies.
Goldco
- Year of Establishment – 2006
- Average Rating – an outstanding 4.8 out of 5
- Minimum Investment Requirement – $20,000
- Precious Metals Offered – Platinum, gold, silver, and palladium
- If Support Is Provided for Existing IRA Rollover – Yes
- If There’s Price-Matching for Precious Metal Coins and Bullion – No
- Nature of Customer Support – Personalized and dedicated customer support
- The Average Time It Takes for Your Order to Make It to the Depository – A week
- If There’s a Buy-Back for Precious Metals – Yes
Augusta Precious Metals
- Year of Establishment – 2012
- Average Rating – 4.6 out of 5
- Minimum Investment Requirement – $50,000
- Precious Metals Offered – Gold and silver
- If Support Is Provided for Existing IRA Rollover – Yes
- If There’s Price-Matching for Precious Metal Coins and Bullion – Yes
- Nature of Customer Support – Personalized, committed, and life-long customer support
- The Average Time It Takes for Your Order to Make It to the Depository – Two weeks
- If There’s a Buy-Back for Precious Metals – Yes
IRA ROLLOVER COMPARISON
Let’s look at how these companies compare when it comes to IRA rollover.
Augusta Precious Metals Rollover Options
Do you already own an existing retirement account such as a 401(k) account or a Traditional IRA? In such a situation, Augusta allows you to roll over the money in that account to your newly created Gold IRA.
You may opt to transfer either all or part of your funds.
Regardless of the case, it lets you avail the tax benefits that come with a traditional IRA. And this is in addition to several other benefits that accumulate from investment in precious metals.
More importantly, this rollover acts as a surefire way of securing your retirement wealth against undesirable events in the market that impact value such as growing inflation and high energy costs.
Goldco’s Precious Metals Rollover Options
Are you set to invest with Goldco? Well, you can fund your new precious metals IRA by depositing money or transferring it from an existing established retirement account.
With Goldco, you can roll over funds from various accounts into your gold or silver IRA. They include:
- Traditional IRA
- Roth IRA
- SEP IRA
- SIMPLE IRA
- Roth 401(k)
- Roth 457(b)
- 401(k)
- 403(b)
FEES HEAD-TO-HEAD
Goldco’s Fees
Once you examine the Goldco website, you’ll realize that there’s a lack of transparency when it comes to the costs of products and services.
That said, these are the general fees that you’ll likely to incur:
- A one-time wire fee of $30
- A $50 setup fee for Goldco IRA
- You need to pay an annual maintenance fee of $80
- Whether you open silver or gold IRA, you’ll need to invest a minimum of $25,000 in the account
- You’ll need to pay an annual fee of $150 for segregated IRA storage cost
- Non-segregated IRA storage cost of $100 yearly
Augusta Precious Metals’ Fees
Augusta distinguishes itself from other precious metal IRA providers in that it comes with an exclusive and transparent nature of its precious metal investment offerings. There are also no hidden charges of any manner.
What’s more, the pricing for services and products associated with precious metals is one of the most competitive in the market.
Here’s a breakdown of the costs that you’ll likely incur when it comes to investing in precious metals with Augusta:
- A one-time setup fee of $50
- You need to pay $100 for depository storage annually
- An annual custodian maintenance fee of $80
- Gold or silver IRA requires at least $100,000 to be invested in the account
- Shipping and transit are free
- Buying non-IRA precious metals will require a minimum investment of $50,000
- The fluctuating costs of gold and silver bullion and coins are based on market rates and spot prices. There’s a markup cost of 5% for bullion coins.
SUMMARY
Goldco and Augusta are both great gold IRA company options for any investor that is looking to diversify their retirement portfolios. Although both companies provide similar services, their slight differences are what tip the scales.
You Should Pick GoldCo If…
- You want a lower minimum investment amount for your account since you’re only required to invest at least $25,000
- You prefer low annual fees
- You’re interested in holding wealth in different types of precious metal assets such as gold, palladium, platinum, and silver
- You want free storage for non-ira precious metals
- You’re looking for free IRA and 401k Rollovers
You Should Pick Augusta Precious Metals If…
- You want a wide variety of investment options
- You want a considerably low minimum investment amount
- You want a 100% will cover of IRA fees for 10 years depending on the size of your account
- You’d like free one-on-one investment seminars
- You’re looking for no-commission sales
It’s also worth mentioning that both companies provide a free IRA Rollover Kit to assist investors throughout the process.
As previously stated, Augusta and GoldCo are both ideal choices for any investor that wants to rollover their IRA into a silver or gold IRA. They also offer a wide variety of investment options, outstanding customer service, and low fees.
Ultimately you will want to work closely with your financial advisor to determine whether working with a company like Augusta or GoldCo is the right choice for you.
