Goldco Review: Services, Fees, Pros, and Cons

Are you considering investing in precious metals? When it comes to gold and silver IRA companies, you’ve got many choices. However, we have to note that several of them don’t have your best interest at heart. It’s essential to perform a background check on any company worth checking out before investing.

An individual retirement account works the same as a traditional IRA, but it holds physical goods such as gold bars and coins instead of paper stock. Some investors consider IRAs as the best method to safeguard against inflation besides diversifying their portfolios.

In this article, we measure up everything that Goldco, an established precious metals company featured in LA Weekly, has to offer. This review includes information about their company, every service it provides, fees, and other crucial characteristics.

We hope to clear any doubt an investor might have with this Goldco review. Let’s evaluate how this precious metal company fairs and see if it’s worth it to invest in precious metals with them.

About Goldco

GoldCo

Goldco, also known as Goldco Precious Metals, is an online precious metals broker that Trevor Gerszt founded back in 2006 under the former name Goldco Direct. It’s based in Woodland Hills, California, and nowadays, many people consider it one of the most reputable and legitimate precious metals IRA firms in the industry.

The Company’s Main Goal

Goldco aims to protect its customer’s retirement savings and wealth from market volatility, inflation, and economic uncertainty. It does this by making the setup of precious metals IRAs as straightforward as possible and educating the customer about their importance.

Goldco Services

The products of Goldco are precious metals IRAs which are divided into gold IRAs and silver IRAs. This company isn’t the custodian of your account; it acts as the intermediary in the precious metals buying and selling process.

Regardless, Goldco can help you complete the paperwork for the account application with your chosen custodian. It assists clients in buying IRS-approved gold and silver coins and bullions. Then, it arranges for their storage at an allowed depository.

Goldco can assist you in transferring your existing retirement funds into a precious metal IRA as well. Here is a summary of their most prominent services:

Self-directed Precious Metals IRAs

Goldco can help you start a precious metal IRA consisting of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, or a combination of these. It assists you with the metal purchase and storage at approved depositories and verifies whether you comply with IRS regulations. The company can help you determine which precious metals are adequate for you as well.

Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) and Simple IRA Planning

Goldco can guide you on the correct procedure of opening either a SEP IRA or a Simple IRA.

SEP IRAs follow traditional retirement accounts, allowing you to invest funds in almost the same way. They provide benefits and enable clients to save for their future retirement.

Business owners and employers can restrict which employees qualify for it, but the IRS limits these restrictions. However, this department also sets the contribution limits. Goldco can assist and educate you in these matters.

When it comes to simple IRAs, the company can help you understand the requirements, rules, and steps to set them up. After all, purchasing products that don’t meet purity requirements can have severe detriments. Even the place where they were minted can be relevant.

Cryptocurrency IRAs

Goldco can help you create a crypto IRA and identify the best digital currencies in the process. It does this in affiliation with CoinIRA, a sister company founded by Trevor Gerszt as well in 2017.

Unfortunately, Goldco doesn’t provide the option of merging precious metals and digital currencies in the same account.

Goldco Featured Products

Goldco had a more extensive catalog in the past that included certified graded coins and collectible gold such as European and pre-1933 gold.

Nowadays, the company focuses on the purchase and delivery of IRA-approved precious metals. It delivers these products either to the client’s custodian or directly to them in the case of a gold or silver IRA and 401 k.

Goldco doesn’t offer other precious metals IRA-approved on their website. That means you can’t buy either palladium or platinum coins. If you wish to diversify your investment portfolio with these other precious metals, you have to deal with your custodian directly.

Goldco Gold IRA-approved Gold Coins

Although commemorative coins appeal to some collectors, they aren’t eligible for a gold IRA. Any gold you invest in has to meet the minimum quality guidelines.

Also, Goldco doesn’t allow paper-backed investments and gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) due to various reasons. While ETFs may be convenient, you don’t own any of them in reality. What you do have is shares in the investment firm that collects gold.

In the end, you’re not just dealing with an intermediary but with a paper-backed investment that isn’t a hard asset.

Currently, Goldco has many eligible gold coins. These have a 99.9% purity, and the company recommends you to hold them in the secure storage of your custodian.

While certain companies and individuals may claim to let you hold precious metals at home, IRS regulations make it a complex subject. Putting gold inside your home qualifies as distribution, and if you’re under 60 years old, it might result in hefty penalty fees.

It’s also crucial to note that you can’t deposit any gold currently in your possession before opening up precious metal IRAs. All you can do is purchase new gold. With a Goldco IRA, you can buy these gold products:

  • Royal Mint Gold Lunar Series
  • Gold Freedom
  • Gold Buffalo
  • Gold Maple Leaf
  • Gold American Bald Eagle
  • Gold Australian Saltwater
  • Gold Lucky Dragon

Gold bars are available as well, but they’re only worth their weight. Coins have higher resale value due to their limited amount.

Goldco Silver IRA-approved Silver Coins

Goldco offers several valuable bits of advice regarding investing in silver IRAs. First, there are a considerable number of counterfeit silver coins in circulation, so it’s essential to work with a trusted company.

It would be best to take some time to investigate the best one to work with for your IRA-approved silver. You can try to read unbiased reviews to try and filter out dishonest dealers. Regardless, many investors consider silver a safer asset.

Silver products have near-identical requirements as gold ones. It needs to have a 99.9% purity, and your custodian should hold onto it in a secure depository. With a Goldco IRA, you can buy these silver products:

  • Royal Mint Silver Britannia Lunar Series
  • Silver Dragon
  • Silver Lucky Dragon
  • Silver Maple Leaf
  • American Bald Eagle
  • Silver World War I
  • Silver WWII Victory
  • Silver Freedom

You can buy silver bars as well, but just like gold, they’re only worth their weight in silver.

Goldco Fees

Goldco doesn’t list every fee on their website as it has many variables, but we found out from a representative that they recommend a minimum purchase of $25,000. With this number, the company reimburses the storage fees of your precious metals for a year in the shape of like-value silver.

As this silver isn’t part of your gold or silver IRA account, you have to cover the storage expenses for it. Also, for each additional $25,000 invested, Goldco reimburses storage fees in the form of silver again.

At this investment level, the fees are $175 annually. The cost doesn’t increase until you reach $100,000, where it rises to $225 annually. Since the prices of precious metals slightly vary per day, Goldco’s website has a tracking resource that displays the value of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in charts.

What Makes Goldco Unique?

Goldco Precious Metals has various perks that make it an appealing option for investors, new and experienced alike, among the many IRA companies. Here are some of the most significant ones that tip the scale in its favor.

Gold Bars

Excellent Customer Service

A priority of Goldco is offering excellent customer service. Whether you’re opening a precious metals IRA or buying products straight from the custodian, it takes the effort to ensure every customer is satisfied.

It resolves most issues promptly, never pushes sales, and ensures you get the best value with its low-cost model. Goldco customer support staff is also remarkable. If you have any questions or concerns, they are happy to help.

IRA and 401 k Rollovers

The rollover process of an existing retirement plan is straightforward with this company. First, you have to set up a Goldco Precious Metals IRA. Then, a specialist helps fund your retirement account with your old one. Once it’s done, they help you find the precious metal products that fit your goals and needs the best. This process takes about 10 business days.

Buyback Program

If you’re considering selling your precious metals, Goldco can repurchase them swiftly. You don’t have to worry about finding the right buyer, and you get paid at the current market price to top it off.

Exceptional Educational Resources

The website offers 15 different ebooks that can help educate investors on precious metals and IRAs. It includes “How to Buy Gold & Silver,” “The Gold IRA Encyclopedia,” “How to Keep Your Gold & Silver Safe,” and many others. The page also has an in-depth blog that frequently updates with relevant topics and other educational videos.

Who Does Goldco Cater to?

A Goldco self-directed IRA is suitable for many types of investors. For example, those who want to possess physical investments might find it an excellent choice, considering the well-known durability of precious metals.

People looking to protect their wealth from uncontrollable aspects such as market volatility, rising inflation, and other economic uncertainties can enjoy retirement accounts. It minimizes their risk considering they’re relatively stable and helps them avoid most of these issues.

A gold IRA can be helpful for people who are nearing retirement age as well. Overall, precious metal IRAs provide a tax-advantage investment tool for any investor looking to save for retirement, just like a traditional and Roth IRA would do, but in a relatively safer asset.

Starting a Goldco Precious Metals IRA

Setting up a Goldco IRA is a straightforward process but a little time-consuming. You can do this by soliciting their free guide and filling out their form through their website or directly calling their representative’s phone number. This guide provides valuable information and can help you take advantage of IRS loopholes to avoid tax fees legitimately.

If you have questions or concerns, you can ask them now. Once you feel assured, you can tell them that you wish to open up a Goldco gold IRA. The representative then might transfer you to a specialist or set up a later appointment.

During the call with the specialist, they gather all the required information to complete the application, create a retirement account, and transfer funds. Finally, you get in touch with an account executive who helps you pick suitable precious metals for your IRA.

Should they have them in stock, they can transfer them in a couple of business days. If they don’t, you might have to wait around three weeks.

Goldco Pros and Cons

Pros

  • It’s one of the most trusted gold IRA companies in the US
  • The setup process is straightforward, and its specialists complete most of the paperwork for you
  • It provides excellent educational resources
  • Low fees
  • The company has excellent customer reviews on multiple accredited sites
  • Its customer support is always ready to help

Cons

  • It doesn’t provide storage or custodian services, but they help customers set them up
  • You can’t add any precious metal in your possession to your retirement account
  • High initial investment
  • It only operates in the US
  • It doesn’t allow combined gold and crypto IRAs

Goldco Reviews and Complaints

Most reviews of Goldco have a favorable opinion of the services, products, and support it provides. It has a Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating of A+ and shows an impressive average of 4.87 stars out of five from over 124 customer reviews. Customer Affairs also has an outstanding average star rating of 4.8 from 428 clients.

Other sites such as Trust Pilot and Trustlink show excellent reviews as well, with more than 800 combined clients giving it 4.8 and 5 stars, respectively.

Every customer seems satisfied with how Goldco handles the precious metals IRA setup. In particular, they are content with its management of the gold and silver purchase paperwork between the storage facility and the IRA custodian.

The few negative reviews and complaints of Goldco are due to misunderstandings regarding the precious metals financial market and how its values are calculated.  You can read more about that on one of the best GoldCo reviews, https://www.irainvesting.com/goldco-review.

For instance, many of them referred to the value of collectible coins. Goldco responds to most inquiries promptly, and in these cases, it explained that the coins list their melt value which doesn’t reflect the current market rate of the physical currency. For this reason, it isn’t rare to find amended Goldco reviews once the customer understands the process better.

The Bottom Line

Goldco is one of the top-rated providers of precious metals IRAs. It has over a decade of experience with gold IRA investments, and it has many exceptional advisors and specialists who are willing to help you out at a moment’s notice.

This company significantly simplifies the IRA setup process for you. Its specialists handle most of the paperwork and logistics and create your account quite quickly. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a new investor or are transitioning from a traditional IRA. The team is willing to help.

We definitely can recommend Goldco to anyone interested in getting precious metals inside their portfolio or looking for a safer alternative.

However, its minimum investment is high, and not many people can front such a cost. Moreover, the company doesn’t provide a storage or custodian service as well. Regardless, the alluring low fees and other benefits can make up for it.

How Does Coin IRA Help You Add Bitcoin to Your Retirement?

Bitcoin

There aren’t too many ways to gain exposure to alt coins like Bitcoin as a way to earn money in retirement. Personally, I feel that a self-directed Bitcoin IRA is the best way to go. And at first it was the only option. But recently, the IRS allowed cryptocurrencies in 401(k)s.

But to answer the question, “Does a coin IRA help you add Bitcoin to your retirement?” It absolutely does and from personal experience, I can tell you that it is the smartest way to add it to your retirement and the best way to get the biggest advantages and benefits as well.

What do I mean? Besides having the opportunity to add Bitcoin to your retirement account, you also can make the most of certain tax breaks, diversification, a hedge against inflation, and other wonderful benefits.

Before I get into the benefits specifically, I’d also like to tell you how you can best go about opening a Bitcoin IRA for your retirement. Because getting started with a cryptocurrency IRA is the only way to begin taking advantage of these amazing benefits and solidifying your retirement for the future.

How to Get Started Opening a Bitcoin IRA

Let me get the technicalities out of the way first. Even though we call it a Bitcoin IRA, the account you want to open is technically a SDIRA account, otherwise known as a self-directed individual retirement account.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, it’s time to find the best Bitcoin IRA company to help you open the account, fund the account, and purchase your first cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ripple.

When I search for a Bitcoin IRA broker, I tend to focus on certain specific areas. The things to look for include:

  • How they rank on online peer-reviewed websites including the Better Business Bureau, the Business Consumer Alliance, and Trustlink
  • How they store your cryptocurrency after purchase
  • Do they have offices in the United States?
  • Are they known for safely processing Bitcoin purchases?
  • Do they have an excellent reputation in the industry?
  • Do their peers consider them an asset to the industry?
  • Have previous customers shared numerous positive reviews about them online?
  • Have they received any industry awards or accolades?
  • Do they have years of experience in the alternative investment space?

Your cryptocurrency IRA company does not need to have excellent marks in each one of the categories above. But it would certainly help if they excel in the wide majority of these areas. Do not hesitate to ask these questions to determine how well the crypto IRA company you’re considering stacks up in these areas.

How to Fund a Self-Directed Bitcoin IRA

Bitcoin IRA

Now that you’ve narrowed down your options and chose a Bitcoin IRA company to work with, it’s time to begin the account creation and funding process.

Basically, to create the account you’ll have to contact your new Bitcoin broker and tell them about your wishes. They will get started and begin taking care of the entire account creation process on your behalf.

Even better, it’s easier than ever to fund a cryptocurrency IRA right now. In fact, they made it so easy that there are three ways to fund your account immediately so you can get started with this investment.

Your funding options include:

  • Funding a cryptocurrency IRA with an account rollover – believe it or not, there may come a time where you leave your old job or retire and you have an old 401(k) with your employer that’s going to no longer be active. Instead of letting this account remain dormant, you decide to do something about it and want to use the proceeds to invest in cryptocurrencies. In this case, you will tell your crypto IRA broker to initiate a 401(k) to IRA rollover. The account specialist will contact your 401(k) administrator and provide the necessary information so they can begin the rollover process. With a direct rollover, they will send the proceeds to you and you will need to send the funds to your new IRA account administrator within 60 days or you’ll have to pay taxes and penalties. With an indirect rollover, the account administrator will send the funds directly to your new IRA custodian.
  • Fund your cryptocurrency IRA with a transfer – funding your account via transfer is also an excellent option that might be possible depending on your situation. Do you have an existing traditional or Roth IRA? If you do, and you’d like to have the opportunity to purchase alternative investments, then you’ll need to transfer the funds from this account into a new self-directed individual retirement account that has the ability to purchase cryptocurrencies within. You can transfer all of the funds from your traditional or Roth IRA, or just use some of the funds to have money to invest in cryptocurrencies in your new account. It’s up to you. Even better, account transfers are allowed as often as you want to make them. Rollovers are only allowed to take place once every 12 months, so this is a big difference.
  • Funding a cryptocurrency IRA with regular contributions – each year, you are allowed to contribute a certain amount of money to your self-directed IRA. In tax year 2021, you can contribute $6000 per year if you are below 50 years old and $7000 per year if you are 50 years old or older.

Cryptocurrency IRA Benefits

Before we go, I also want to share the benefits of a cryptocurrency IRA. They include the following:

  • Tax advantages – the IRS has basically created a loophole for self-directed IRA account holders that allows them to make tax-deferred or tax-free investments. In a tax-deferred traditional self-directed IRA, you can lower your yearly gross income and you will not pay taxes until you begin taking distributions in retirement. Distributions begin at 59 ½ years old. Tax-free investors pay taxes upfront and do not have to pay taxes again ever.
  • Cryptocurrency is trending right now – it may have cooled off at the moment, but the recent selloff presents a great opportunity. You can get Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies much cheaper than you could three months ago, so strike while the iron is hot.

Do yourself a favor and open up a cryptocurrency IRA today. You will not be disappointed with this exciting long-term investment strategy.

Which Gold Coins Are Popular with Investors?

As an investor, it’s your job to choose the proper investments to meet your overall needs. And intelligent investors know that the best way to grow their wealth via precious metals is through a gold IRA.

But as you may or may not know, many gold coins, silver bars, platinum rounds, and everything else in between are not necessarily IRA approved. And that means you’ll have to focus on the options that have received IRA approval, because otherwise they aren’t allowable within a precious metals IRA account.

So, that’s what we’re going to focus on right now. We’ll take a look at many of the top popular IRA approved precious metals including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. And you’ll learn the best choices to successfully add to your gold IRA account to help grow your wealth as you work your way toward retirement.

Popular Gold Coins & Bars Eligible for Your Precious Metals IRA

Gold Coins

As I’ve been alluding to the whole time, not every gold coin or bar passes the eligibility requirements by the IRS for allowance into a precious metals IRA. As a matter of fact, your choices are limited to the best, most popular gold coins and bars that contain nearly 100% gold, because they are all 24-karat gold and they all have at a minimum, 0.995% purity levels.

But what are these popular coins and bars? To name a few of the best that many people tend to gravitate toward, they are named the following:

  • Gold Johnson Matthey Bar
  • Gold Credit Suisse Bar
  • Gold Austrian Philharmonic Coin
  • Gold American Buffalo Coin
  • Gold American Eagle Coin
  • Gold Canadian Maple Leaf Coin

And that’s definitely not all of the top IRA approved gold coins and bars for you to consider at the moment. Each one of the coins or bars mentioned above are made of gold bullion and they are perfect for investments in individual retirement accounts. But the IRS, in their infinite wisdom, has also decided to grant approval to other precious metals that also fall under the category of IRA approved gold coins and bars.

Some of the other very popular choices to think about include:

  • Gold Mexican Libertad Coin
  • Gold Chinese Panda Coin
  • Gold Australian Kangaroo Coin
  • Gold Great Britain Britannia Coin

Owning gold is great for precious metals IRA account investors and investors of all kinds. But it isn’t the only game in town by any means. There are also some amazing silver bars and silver coins that you’d benefit from by investing in them within your silver precious metals IRA account.

Popular Silver Coins & Bars Eligible for Your Precious Metals IRA

Silver Coins

As I said, we cannot let gold steal all the glory, although it is definitely an amazing investment and I wouldn’t want to downplay that either. But silver is also a great investment, and because it’s such a low dollar amount, it actually tends to make more money percentagewise these days, which is certainly a good thing for investors like you and me.

Are there any really popular silver coins and bars to invest in within a precious metals IRA? You bet there are. In fact, I’d like to share some of my all-time favorite silver investments with you right now. They are as follows:

  • Silver Austrian Philharmonic Coin
  • Silver Australian Kookaburra Coin
  • Silver Canadian Maple Leaf Coin
  • Silver American Eagle Coin
  • Silver Mexican Libertad Coin
  • Silver Johnson Matthey Bar

Each one of the choices previously mentioned are extremely popular silver investments. Even better, they have all received precious metals IRA approval set forth by the IRS, because they all contain the correct amount of silver purity required to be eligible for this investment.

Even though the silver coins and bars mentioned above are likely the most popular silver investments, there are definitely some other exciting silver investments you might want to consider as well. They include the following:

  • Silver Australian Koala
  • IRA Approved Silver America the Beautiful
  • Silver Chinese panda
  • Silver Armenian Noah’s Ark

Popular Platinum Coins & Bars Eligible for Your Precious Metals IRA

Although many investors tend to ignore them, there is a limited range of incredible platinum precious metals to consider adding to your retirement portfolio.

Why is platinum such a good deal? Like other precious metals, it’s incredibly valuable and it continues to gain greater levels of wealth as the years go by. This is an excellent way to increase your personal wealth for many years to come, as you boost your potential for making great gains in the future with your precious metals IRA account.

The names of the top platinum IRA approved coins, bars, and rounds include:

  • Platinum Canadian Maple Leaf Coin
  • Platinum American Eagle Coin
  • Platinum Australian Koala Coin
  • Platinum Isle Of Man Noble Coin
  • Various Platinum Rounds and Bars – .9995 Purity

Platinum

Popular Palladium Coins & Bars Eligible for Your Precious Metals IRA

Unfortunately, if you intend to invest in palladium, you really aren’t going to run across too many IRA approved options. In fact, there’s only one coin that I can successfully recommend to you, although you may find other rounds and bars that meet the .9995 purity level along your travels, so keep that in mind as you begin looking for high-quality palladium investments for your IRA.

The limited options that I can tell you about include:

  • Palladium Canadian Maple Leaf Coin
  • Various Palladium Rounds and Bars – .9995 Purity

Final Thoughts

If your plan is to become a successful gold IRA investor in the near future, you’ll definitely need to vary your investments within the precious metal space. I highly recommend choosing high-quality gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars, coins, and rounds for your investment portfolio.

Why? This will give you an opportunity to buy many first-class investments that will accumulate wealth throughout the years. And it will keep things interesting and enjoyable as well, because each one of these precious metals will continue to rise in value throughout the year, so they are all great choices in my opinion.