Augusta Precious Metals Gold IRA Review

Diversifying your investments is an important part of retirement planning, and investing in precious metals like gold and silver can be a way to hedge against inflation and protect your portfolio from market volatility.

However, just like investing in any asset class, there are certainly downsides to precious metals, like the fact that they don’t earn dividends. But if you’re interested in precious metals investing, one option is to do so through a gold IRA (individual retirement account).

Read on for our review of Augusta Precious Metals to help you decide if its gold IRA offering is right for you.

Best overall

Augusta Precious Metals is listed as “best overall” on Money’s list of the best gold IRA companies. The company provides numerous educational resources on its site, including a series on why not to own gold to make sure investors understand the risks, and receives the highest possible rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

Augusta Precious Metals gold IRA pros and cons

Pros explained

We rated Augusta Precious Metals as one of the best gold IRA companies thanks to various offerings and features, including its online educational content.

One-on-one web session

Before opening an IRA with Augusta Precious Metals, you have the opportunity to attend an online web conference to learn about its offerings. This web session will educate you on what a gold IRA is, the benefits of investing in precious metals, how to avoid falling for gimmicks when buying silver and gold and more. The session is free and has no obligations, though the site says it’s only for those with at least $100,000 in savings.

Offers educational content in video format on its website

Augusta Precious Metals offers a wide selection of educational videos. Topics include how to buy gold in an IRA, how the Federal Reserve works, how to handle some of the risks you may face in retirement and how current events may impact your investments. The company also provides weekly articles with updates on market news.

Account lifetime customer support

Once you are a customer of Augusta Precious Metals, you can access their account lifetime customer support. The company says clients are assigned a customer success agent that will be available via phone or email to answer questions and connect you with other departments when necessary.

Strong guarantees

Augusta Precious Metals offers its customers a buyback guarantee for any precious metals purchased through its website, as well as a seven-day money-back guarantee. Both of these provide consumers with the assurance of quality products that they’ll be able to liquidate if and when they choose.

Cons explained

Investing in a gold IRA with Augusta Precious Metals may not work for everyone. The following section details some of the potential drawbacks you should consider.

$50,000 order minimum

One downside of investing with Augusta Precious Metals is the required minimum investment amount to start an IRA. Augusta’s services target well-established retirement investors and therefore requires you to invest at least $50,000 into your new IRA, which is higher than other firms operating in the same industry. The funds used to purchase gold and silver can come from a deposit or transfer from a Roth IRA, 401(k) or another retirement account.

Hard to find information about fees online

Augusta Precious Metals may offer abundant educational resources online, but it’s difficult to find fee information. To learn about current costs, prospective clients need to call a company representative.

Augusta Precious Metals offerings

On top of their IRA investment options, Augusta also allows you to directly purchase gold and silver bars and coins.

Gold and silver IRA

When you open a gold IRA with Augusta Precious Metals, the company says you’ll get help from a representative from the time you decide to open the account to anytime questions come up in the future. Once you choose your precious metals, Augusta covers the cost of shipping fees and liability insurance until the metals are delivered to the storage location.

The IRS has approved certain precious metals for investment in IRAs. Gold bars and coins must be, for the most part, 99.5% pure. Silver coins and bars must be 99.9% pure.

Gold coins you can purchase for your IRA that Augusta highlights include:

• American Eagles
• American Eagle Proofs
• Canadian Maple Leaf
• Gold Canadian Eagle
• American Buffalo
• Australian Striped Marlin

Silver coins you can purchase for your IRA that Augusta highlights include:

• Canadian Silver Soaring Eagle
• Canadian Silver Eagle with Nest
• American Silver Eagle
• Canadian Silver Maple Leaf

Gold and silver cash purchases

You can buy gold and silver products directly from Augusta Precious Metals if you do not want to invest in an IRA or do not have the minimum investment requirement of $50,000. Augusta Precious Metals offers coin and bar products available for purchase outside of an IRA, which the company can ship to any location you choose at no additional cost.

Common bullion products

Common gold and silver bullion products are available for purchase from Augusta Precious Metals. A complete list of available products can be found on the company’s website. However, current prices are not available online and must be confirmed by Augusta Precious Metals at the time of purchase. Augusta Precious Metal’s transaction agreement states that the margin for which it sells common bullion products can be as high as 14.5%. Once you confirm your order, the price will lock in.

Premium products

Augusta also offers several premium gold and silver coins and bars. As noted in their transaction agreement, the margin for premium products is generally 29% unless discounted. Many premium products listed on their website are in limited supply or sold out.

Augusta Precious Metals gold IRA pricing

Augusta Precious Metals does not list the prices of any products on its website, as the gold and silver markets are constantly in flux. You will need to call and speak with an agent to get the price of a specific bar or coin. The company doesn’t charge management fees for the gold and silver IRAs.

Opening an IRA includes a one-time set-up fee of $250 that covers custodian and storage costs, as well as a $200 recurring annual fee that also covers custodian and storage costs. However, the company covers these fees for up to 10 years for customers.

Augusta Precious Metals sets its own buyback prices internally based on the intrinsic metal value of the product. These buyback prices change regularly and differ depending on the market, current prices and whether the product is common bullion or a premium product.

Gold IRA financial stability

Augusta Precious Metals has been accredited with the BBB since 2015 and receives an A+ ranking. Beyond its BBB rating, since Augusta Precious Metals is a privately held company, no information about its financial stability is publicly available.

Gold and other precious metals are thought to be stable investments since they can help hedge against market volatility — one of the biggest risks people face in retirement — and inflation. But there are certainly risks. As with any investment, gold prices are not guaranteed to increase over time. Physical gold purchases don’t pay dividends, so financial advisors recommend only allocating a small portion of your investment portfolio (e.g., 5%–10%) to alternative assets like precious metals.

Augusta Precious Metals gold IRA accessibility

Augusta Precious Metals is available to anyone interested in buying gold or silver, but it has a minimum investment requirement of $50,000 plus an initial set-up fee totaling $250.

Availability

Augusta Precious Metals is available throughout the U.S. You can purchase gold or silver and have it shipped to your home or stored in one of Augusta’s preferred depositories.

Contact information

Augusta offers exceptional customer support. Contact Augusta Precious Metals through its website chat or speak with a representative at 1-800-700-1008.

User experience

Augusta Precious Metals seems to provide an excellent user experience for customers and those looking to learn more about the precious metals market. The company also has a lot of educational information about bad reasons to buy gold and silver, and how to avoid scare tactics that are often used in the industry.

Augusta Precious Metals gold IRA customer satisfaction

Augusta Precious Metals boasts a BBB customer review rating of 4.96 out of 5 stars, with positive comments about the companies’ professionalism and focus on education. Since receiving its accreditation from the BBB, the company hasn’t received any customer complaints.

How we evaluated Augusta Precious Metals gold IRA

We evaluated Augusta Precious Metals based on the following factors:

• Account offerings, including what kinds of metals customers can invest in

• Information (or lack thereof) on pricing

• Customer experience and satisfaction according to trusted third-party review sites such as the BBB

• Availability across the U.S.

Summary of Money’s Augusta Precious Metals gold IRA review

Gold IRAs provide investors with a way to gain exposure to precious metals, which can help them diversify their investment portfolios. Augusta Precious Metals offers impressive educational content, advice about avoiding scams and customer support, which are factors Money scrutinized when naming it one of the best gold IRAs.

The company may be a good option for those who want to learn a lot about the precious metals industry and make informed decisions about precious metals investing. Augusta Precious Metals’ $50,000 minimum investment requirement for its gold and silver IRA is high compared to competitors, but it also offers options for purchasing precious metals outside of IRAs.