Goldco is among the most well-known precious metal IRA firms out there. They’re also one of the more experienced ones, boasting of superior customer service with a high client satisfaction rate. That’s easy to say, but can they back it up and put their money (or more accurately, yours) where their mouth is? Read on to find out if you should trust Goldco with your savings and retirement accounts.
Who is GoldCo?
Goldco was founded in 2006 and is based out of Woodland Hills, CA. They are legally known as Goldco Direct LLC, but you may also see them referred to as Goldco Precious Metals or the Heritage Gold Group.
Their mission? To provide investors with an easier way to add precious metals to their retirement accounts so they can protect and grow their assets. Basically, a less volatile alternative to stocks or bonds. This was all made possible in the first place by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which allowed a few specific types of coins and bullion to be permitted as IRA investments. Goldco was eventually started in response to this ruling.
Today, they work as a precious metals broker, partnering with IRA custodian companies and clients to provide rollover services for those that wish to convert their existing retirement accounts to holdings backed by gold, silver, plastinum, palladium, or some combination thereof. They’ve experienced significant growth, and were ranked in 2015, 2016, and 2017 by Inc. Magazine on their list of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the country. In 2017 they had a growth rate of 676.77% and revenues of $89.5 million. They’ve certainly become a major player in their space.
Goldco has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) since 2012. They’ve maintained an “A” rating, and have a solid track record of responding to and resolving customer complaints. The Business Consumer Alliance has rated Goldco “AAA”, their highest mark. They also have a nearly perfect rating on TrustLink, with 149 reviews and an average score that’s nearly 5 stars, and their feedback on TrustPilot and Consumer Affairs is similarly impressive. Based on what we’ve seen, clients tend to be very pleased with the overall Goldco experience.
That’s great news so far, but what about their actual product offering? How does it stack up?
What Do They Offer?
First off, let’s cover the basics. Goldco offers the following:
- Coins and bars in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium
- Gold and silver IRAs
- Self-storage gold IRAs
- Rollover of 401(k), 403(b), 457, Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), Traditional IRA and Roth IRA
Goldco basically serves as a broker for IRAs funded by precious metals, per IRS rules and regulations. They also handle client distributions from IRAs, buying back physical metals or selling them via the metals market. Note that they do NOT provide storage or custodian services. They partner with several companies offering these services though, and will help you get them set up. It’s a minor inconvenience, but to us it isn’t a huge deterrent, especially since they’ll help with most of the extra legwork.
They also assist clients with the purchase of IRS-approved coins and bullion. Not only that, but they’ll coordinate with your custodian and storage facility to make sure it all goes smoothly. One of the most common mistakes people make when investing in gold or silver by themselves is not making sure if what they’re buying is actually IRS-approved, so we really like this service.
Now let’s look at their specific products in more detail:
Gold IRA
Gold is a major asset that is bought by central banks and investors. The most common reason why most people buy gold is that it is often seen as a good hedge against inflation. They also invest in gold in a bid to generate uncorrelated returns. You can invest in gold in various ways such as a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) or by buying the physical metal. Most importantly, you can invest in a gold Individual Retirement Account (IRA).
What is a gold IRA?
An IRA is a retirement account that is set up at a financial services company that allows you to save for retirement. An IRA has tax advantages over other convectional investments since it allows for a tax-free growth.
A gold IRA is an investment product that enables individuals to add the metal into their retirement accounts. The IRA works in a relatively similar way to other standard retirement accounts. The only difference is that the IRA is earmarked for holding physical bullion. Examples of bullion are coins and 1bars.
Some of the most popular coins in a gold IRA are the American Eagle, Gold Maple Leaf, Gold American Buffalo, and Gold Freedom Coin among others.
There are several reasons for investing in a gold IRA. First, gold is a well-known asset that is used as a hedge against inflation. Sadly, inflation will only get worse as the American budget deficit widens and the Federal Reserve embraces low-interest rates.
Second, gold has generally risen in the past few decades. After the gold standard ended in the 1970s, the price of gold has risen from about $35 to about $2,000. Third, gold tends to have uncorrelated returns compared to other assets.
How to invest in a gold IRA
Investing in gold is a relatively easy process today. If you have a Robinhood account, you can invest in gold by buying an ETF or mutual fund that track gold. Similarly, investing in a gold IRA is also a relatively easy process.
First, you need to find a licenced company that offers gold IRA services. A simple google search will show you some of the leading firms that offer these services.
Second, you should create an account with the company by providing key information like your name and contact details.
Third, you should move to fund your IRA using two main ways. First, you can deposit funds to your IRA directly or you can rollover your assets from other retirement accounts like a 401 (k) and 403 (b). The rollover will not have any tax consequences. Finally, you should select the gold coins that you want in your IRA. Unlike other assets, you will be charged a flat fee for your investment.
How to cash out
An IRA is recommended for people who are investing in the long term. Still, it is equally simple to cash out your gold IRA. You simply need to sign in to your online account and then request to cash out. In most cases, the company will help you to convert the coins into cash.
Summary
A gold IRA is an excellent way of investing for your retirement. Gold has a long history of being a good performer and a hedge against inflation. Still, there are several recommended precautions when investing in a gold IRA. For example, always ensure that you have a diversified portfolio and that you are using a genuine IRA company.
Silver IRA
Silver is a precious and industrial metal that is relatively popular among investors. One way of investing in silver is through a silver Individual Retirement Account (IRA). This is a financial product that allows you to invest in eligible silver coins and bars for the long term.
Why invest in silver?
Investors allocate their capital to silver for a number of reasons. First, silver is at the intersection of precious and industrial metals.
Second, it has many industrial uses, meaning that they expect that its price will keep rising as the global economy recovers. Some of the top uses of silver are in the manufacture of jewellery, cutlery, semiconductors, and solar panels.
Third, silver is often seen as a cheaper alternative to gold. While an ounce of gold is trading at more than $1,700, silver trades at less than $30. Although this is a good feature, it also makes silver to be more volatile than gold.
In addition, silver is often seen as a hedge against inflation since its price tends to rise in the long term. Also, silver is usually a good option to diversify your returns. A silver IRA, on the other hand, offers a good way to invest in the metal in a tax-friendly method.
How to invest in a silver IRA
The process of investing in a silver IRA is a relatively simple one. First, you need to find a good company that offers these services. Some of these companies use physical stores while most of them use an online-only option. Since there are many scams in the industry, we recommend that you do your due diligence before you invest.
Second, after finding a company, you need to create an account by providing your personal information like your name and social security number.
Third, you should now deposit funds to your account. A popular tax-free option is to rollover funds from your other retirement accounts.
Finally, you should select the coins that you want to invest in and pay for the purchase. The company will charge you a fixed fee for executing the purchase. It will also store the coins for you using its custodian.
Eligible silver IRA coins
Not all silver bars and coins are eligible for a silver IRA. The most popular coins that are eligible are Silver American Eagle type 1 and type 2, Silver American Eagle Proof, Silver American Bald Eagle, Silver Great Barrier Reef, and Silver Military Guinea.
How to cash out
Cashing out is a relatively easy process although it is recommended that you hold your silver IRA for the long term. To redeem your cash, you just need to visit your account and then select the redeem option. By so doing, the company will give you an option to choose. For example, you can receive the physical coins or the company will help you to convert your silver to cash.
While silver has been a good investment in the past few decades, you should always diversify your IRA. You can achieve this by also buying gold coins and other assets like stocks and even cryptocurrency.
401 (k)
Preparing for retirement is one of the most important decisions that a person can make. One of the most common methods of saving and investing for retirement is known as a 401 (k).
A 401 (k) is a retirement savings account that allows your employer to take a tax break by depositing some money into your retirement account. These funds are deducted automatically from the paychecks and are then invested in funds that the staff choses.
The goal of a 401 (k) plan is to promote a savings culture and to help employees take charge of their retirement earlier in their careers. In most cases, employees are also encouraged to match funds that their employees move to their 401 (k) plans.
How to invest in a 401 (k)
A 401 (k) is a product that is offered by a company. Sadly, not all companies offer 401 (k) to their employees. While the number of firms offering the benefit to employees has been rising, it dipped sharply in 2020 amid the pandemic. The number has started rising as companies compete to find new workers as the economy rebounds.
According to the rules, 401 (k) contributions have a limit of about $19,500 annually. The limit will rise to $20,500 in 2022.
The benefit of having a 401 (k) plan is that it helps to promote a culture of saving and investing for retirement. It is also a tax-friendly method of achieving that. For example, if you earn $70,000 per year and allocate $20,000 into a 401 (k), you will pay tax on the $50,000 that remains.
You can withdraw funds from your 401 (k) at any time. However, it is always recommended that you withdraw after you reach 59.5 years. All withdrawals before that time will lead to substantial taxes.
410 (k) rollover
Most people with a 401 (k) invest in stocks. Besides, in the past, these assets tend to have the best and most reliable returns.
However, at times, you might want to move your investments to another individual retirement account (IRA). This is possible and is known as an IRA rollover. The benefit of doing this is that it is usually a tax-friendly process and it allows you to take advantage of the other assets.
For example, you might do a 401 (k) rollover by moving your funds to a gold or silver IRA. These are IRAs that let you invest in assets like special gold and silver coins like American eagle, maple leaf, lucky dragon, and military guinea.
There are several benefits of doing this. For example, it is a good way of diversifying your IRA returns and hedging against inflation. It also allows you to make uncorrelated returns.
You can do a 401 (k) rollover by first finding a good company that has a track record in the industry. Most of these companies are available online. After this, you create your account and then select the assets that you want to add to your IRA. You can then cash them out later on by sending a redemption form. The firm will help you to convert the assets into cash.
Summary
A 401 (k) is a relatively popular plan in the United States. It is estimated that more than 60 million people are enrolled in a plan. In this article, we have looked at how these plans work, their benefits, and how you can do a rollover.
Traditional and Roth IRA Planning
Retirement planning is an essential part of all Americans. Besides, with the life expectancy rate rising, many Americans are living longer post-retirement. A traditional and Roth IRA can help you save money for retirement.
Traditional vs Roth IRAs
A traditional IRA is a retirement account that allows you to save for retirement while deferring your taxes. A Roth IRA is relatively similar to a traditional IRA but there are differences about the limit and how taxes are paid.
In a traditional IRA, there is no maximum income limit. This means that anyone regardless of their income levels can have a traditional IRA. With a Roth IRA, there are limits depending on the amount of money that you make. In 2022, the limit for singles will be $144k while for married couples filing differently will be about $241,000.
Another difference between a traditional and a Roth IRA is how they are taxed. In a traditional IRA, your contributions are tax-deferred. This means that if you earn $50,000 and you contribute $6,000, you will pay taxes on the $44,000.
Roth IRA is tax-deferred, meaning that you will not be eligible to deduct your taxes from your contributions. With a Roth IRA, your contributions will grow tax-free while with a traditional IRA, your contributions will grow tax-deferred.
There are also withdrawals differences. With a traditional IRA, you will pay a tax as you withdraw your funds after age 59.5. There are also mandatory distributions after age 72. With a Roth, there are no mandatory distributions.
Precious metals IRA
Precious metals like gold, silver, and palladium are great assets that can be added into either a traditional or a Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA). These metals have done relatively well in the past decades. For example, the price of gold rose from about $35 in 1972 to about $2,000 in 2020. Palladium and platinum prices have also done well.
Gold also offers uncorrelated returns. For example, its price did relatively well during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the Covid-19 sell-off.
Most importantly, the price will likely continue doing well considering that interest rates are expected to remain low for a long time. That is because the US budget and trade deficits are expected to keep rising in the coming decades. As a result, higher rates will make it expensive for the American government to service its debts. This makes gold and other inflation hedges as good investments.
Roth and traditional IRAs planning
Retirement planning is essential especially for people without experience in finance. An experienced professional will help you know how to choose the best type of IRA depending on your income, age, and future goals. This advice will also include the differences between a traditional and a Roth IRA.
The financial advisor will also provide more details about the need for diversifying your IRA by allocating some of your funds into precious metals like gold and silver.
Summary
A traditional and Roth IRA are two popular approaches of saving and investing for retirement. In this article, we have looked at the key differences between the two and how to invest in them. Also, we have looked at the importance of Roth and IRA planning.
SEP IRA Planning
Investing for retirement is an important undertaking if you want to live a better life in your golden years. One way for doing this is to use a Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEP) Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA). The SEP IRA is a popular product that is mostly recommended for people who are self-employed and small business owners.
What is a SEP IRA?
An Individual Retirement Account is a special savings or investment account that is meant for retirement purposes. These accounts offer several tax benefits to their holders and help them have a nest egg when they retire. There are several types of IRAs that are meant to cater for people in different careers or occupations.
A SEP IRA is an account that is meant for people who are either self-employed or those who have small businesses that have few or no employees. The criteria is important because if you have employees that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recognizes, you must contribute for them. According to the IRS, the maximum that you can deposit for your employees is 25% of their pay.
To enrol your employee for a SEP IRA, they need to be 21 years and above and have worked for you for about 3 years. At the same time, if you are planning to allocate about 15% of your compensation to yourself, you need to contribute the same amount to your employee.
Therefore, most people who go with the option of a SEP IRA are those who are self-employed or those who have a few employees and operate in seasonal businesses.
SEP IRA vs traditional IRA
There are several differences between as SEP IRA and a traditional one. In a traditional one, you can only allocate about $6,000 per year or $7,000 if you are 50 and above. With a SEP IRA, on the other hand, you can allocate a maximum of $58,000 in 2021. The amount will rise to $61,000 in 2022. The annual contribution cannot be more than 25% of your contribution.
There are several benefits of a SEP IRA. The account is easy to set up and administer and you can combine it with a traditional and Roth IRA. Also, you don’t need to commit to contribute each year.
Adding gold into your SEP IRA
Gold is one of the most popular investment assets in the world. It is owned by both individual and institutional investors who love it because of its positive historical returns and its hedge against inflation characteristics. Other precious metals like silver and palladium are also worth investments.
The process of doing this is relatively easy. First, you need to get a company that offers precious metal investment products. Then you should create an account and select the gold or silver coins that you want to invest in. The company will process the payments and hold your coins or bars in custody. You can then cash out later in life. Since a SEPA IRA is tax-deductible, you will pay a tax when you cash out.
Summary
A SEP IRA is a good retirement account that you can use in combination with the traditional and Roth IRA. It is easy to set up and operate and has relatively low administrative costs. Also, as an employer, it has flexibility if cash flow is an issue.
Simple IRA Planning
There are several types of small business retirement plans available in the United States. One of these plans is known as the Simple IRA and is relatively popular among companies with less than 100 employees. These small and medium-sized companies prefer a simple IRA because they are easy to file and have limited reporting requirements.
What is a Simple IRA?
The term simple stands for Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees. It is one of the several types of retirement plans that help small businesses and sole proprietors in the US. Workers and their employers can choose whether to contribute to their Simple plans while employers are required to do so.
When employees decide to save pre-tax income in their Simple accounts, they will report a lower taxable income for the year.
Opening a Simple IRA
An employer can open a Simple IRA if they have less than 100. The company can therefore contribute to these plans every year. They can do so by matching contributions up to 3% of the employees’ salary. Also, it can switch to nonelective contributions if it provides adequate notice to its employees.
An employee, on the other hand, can participate in a Simple IRA if they have received about $5,000 in payments during one of the past two years. Also, they should expect to receive the same or more in the future.
Still, there are several limits for the Simple IRA. In 2021, the employee contribution limit was about $13,500. The limit will rise to $14,000 in 2022.
Benefits of a Simple IRA
There are several benefits of a Simple IRA. First, the employer is required to contribute to employee accounts.
Another benefit is that the eligibility criteria for a simple IRA is very low. You only need to have worked in a company for about two years and earned at least $5,000. This is a relatively small amount since the average annual salary in the US is about $51,000 while the median is about $34,000.
In addition, the employee contributions vest immediately and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) lets individuals to contribute to other retirement savings plan.
Still, there are several drawbacks for s Simple IRA. For example, there is no Roth version of the IRA meaning that you cannot prepay the taxes. Also, there is a 25% penalty when you do a rollover to anything other than a simple IRA. Most importantly, the contributions limits are relatively lower.
A Simple IRA also charges a penalty when you withdraw the funds before you turn 59.5 years. You will pay about 10% in addition to any taxes that you owe. This penalty rises to about 25% if you withdraw within 2 years. You can avoid this fee if you have a major unreimbursed medical expense or have qualified for higher education. Also, you can avoid it if you withdraw to buy a home.
Simple IRA rollover
It is possible to rollover the Simple IRA to another one without paying a fee. However, if you decide to do the rollover to a non-Simple IRA, you will need to pay any incme tax and the 25% early withdrawal fees.
As far as their fee structure goes, Goldco recommends a minimum purchase of $25,000. At this level, they will reimburse you for your storage fees for one year in the form of the equivalent value of silver. They’ll even ship it to the account owner. Just remember that this silver isn’t part of your IRA and you must pay the storage fee up front.
At the $25,000 level, Goldco’s annual fee is $175. This stays constant until an investment level of $100,000 is reached. The annual fee then increases to $225. These numbers compare very favorably to the competition.
Other fees include a one-time charge of $50 when you open a precious metal IRA account, and a $30 wire fee for fund transfers.
One important thing to remember is that Goldco regularly has promotions where many of these fees will be discounted or even eliminated altogether, so keep an eye out if you’re looking to take action in the near future. We’d also recommend asking your account executive if they have any special offers available at the moment.
What Do We Like?
As we touched on earlier, one of the things that stood out to us about Goldco was the amount of information they’ve made available to their customers. Educating their clients is clearly a priority for them, as evidenced by the “Knowledge Section” of their website. It starts with live pricing information for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the United States. Not only that, but they provide the investor with some details as far as how the metals are priced and what factors have an effect on the value.
Next is their eBook section, which deals primarily on IRA and precious metal-related content. Specific topics you can read about include “The Truth About Home Storage IRAs,” “How to Buy Gold and Silver,” “10 Reasons the Dollar Will Crash,” and “10 IRA and 401k Mistakes You Are Making.”
Rather watch a video instead? Goldco has you covered there, too. They have a fairly extensive selection of media, mainly on topics such as retirement preparation, wealth protection, and IRA strategy. Among the titles are “Five Threats to Your Retirement,” “Invest in Hard Assets,” “America’s Monumental Retirement Dilemma,”and “Can You Trust Mega Banks?”
They also have an FAQ section that should be particularly helpful if you’re just starting out. Overall, we really like both the variety and amount of information presented. Even if you aren’t a client, their website is worth checking out as an educational resource if nothing else.
If you’re considering doing business with Goldco, it’s definitely worth getting their free investors kit. Meant for new clients, it gives you the basics regarding their services and the steps for getting started. This goes hand-in-hand with their strong customer focus. They actually emphasize that their goal is to “maintain the highest standards for customer satisfaction.” As we touched on in the beginning of this review, their record speaks for itself.
We’re also big fans of the sheer amount of experience that Goldco brings to the table. Operational since 2006, they’ve seen it all, including major peaks and valleys in the precious metals markets. Their in-house IRA department is filled with experts that can help guide you, especially through the paperwork process. They’ll make sure every little detail is correct, so you can sleep comfortably knowing you won’t be getting a visit from the IRS.
Finally, we liked their fee structure, especially at the higher investment amounts. Their fees are still competitive at lower levels, but as we saw, $25,000 is really the sweet spot for investing with Goldco. If you’re buying in at that kind of level, then you’ll definitely save in the long run with Goldco versus their competitors.
How To Get Started
Want to get started with a Goldco Precious Metals IRA? Your first step should be to call Goldco directly. You can also fill out their application online if that’s easier. Make sure you have all of your personal details ready, such as your social security number.
One thing that they will ask you during the course of setup is whether or not you already have a custodian arranged. Since they do not provide this service themselves, they’ve joined forces with a few different custodian companies and will gladly help you get set up with one of them.
You’ll also receive a comprehensive guide that covers your various options for investing. Be sure to review this, as it will help further explain what your choices are and what precious metals are available to be part of your IRA.
The Bottom Line
After digging deeper into Goldco Precious Metals, we can see why they have consistently been a highly rated firm. Their customer satisfaction rate stands out, and Goldco’s high rankings on independent review sites demonstrates that they genuinely care about making their clients happy.
Retirement itself is a process that is carried out over many years. Decades, even. When you’re dealing with your savings, you want to trust it with someone that’s going to be around as long as you. Fortunately, Goldco has been helping investors since 2006 and is still showing very strong signs of growth. They aren’t going anywhere remotely soon, so we’d feel comfortable trusting our retirement accounts with them.
Their longevity has also provided valuable experience to their team members. Goldco boasts an expert staff that knows all there is to know about precious metal IRAs. One of the trickiest things about precious metal IRAs is making sure you’re following all of the IRS regulations and filling out the paperwork correctly, but their team will help you with this headache and handle most of the heavy lifting for you.
Overall, we saw a great deal to like and trust about Goldco, and would recommend them to anyone that’s considering investing in a precious metals IRA.
If you’re interested in learning more about Goldco, or are looking to set up a precious metals IRA, then visit them at www.goldco.com or call (855) 465-3472.
