Best Silver IRA Companies Guide

Choosing the best silver IRA companies is a challenging task. Many types of companies offer a variety of self-directed IRA options to people who desire to invest in silver through their retirement plans.

Many people will tell you that it’s essential to research precious metals IRA companies before making any decisions about your gold and silver investments, but how much time should you spend researching? In this article, we’ll go over some things that might help you find the company for you!

  At a Glance Rating:

Top 4 Silver IRA Comparison Chart

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Silver IRA Company Reviews

Augusta Precious Metals

Star Rating

Augusta Precious Metals is an award-winning gold IRA company and a clear winner of our top spot. They stay with customers throughout the life of their physical gold and silver accounts.

They are a leader in the precious metals retirement account community. They have had zero complaints with the BBB since they started a decade ago, competitive prices are just about 5% over cost for bullion, and Joe Montana endorses them after Augusta was recommended to him by his financial advisors as “the best silver IRA company in the United States.”

Most clients also like that Augusta Precious Metals, which does nothing but gold and silver IRAs and “cash accounts,” is committed to transparency. When you buy from Augusta, the entire staff ensures you know everything about the product — including what you’re paying. This company was voted “Most Trusted in the U.S.” by a top industry rating organization.

And before you buy, you can call the Augusta analytics team to learn more about gold and silver as portfolio assets.

Augusta Precious Metals specializes in helping investors set up silver and gold self-directed IRAs quickly and easily through a well-practiced, streamlined process. The company’s professional gold IRA agents also educate investors who want information about precious metals before they decide to fund a silver IRA. Augusta provides a lot of information on its website.

Its online resources include current market news, videos led by its on-staff Harvard-trained economist, and a required minimum distribution calculator. The company even has a unique free one-on-one (customized) web conference designed by that same on-staff Harvard-trained economist.

Pros

• Lifetime customer account support
• Zero complaints at BBB (Better Business Bureau) and BCA (Business Consumer Alliance) – and thousands of 5-star reviews; the support team really takes care of each customer, whether new or old.
• A streamlined approach to the account-opening process
• Most transparent and most competitive pricing
• Voted the most trusted gold IRA company in the U.S.
• Endorsed by hall of fame quarterback Joe Montana – an actual customer whose advisors judged Augusta to be the best silver IRA company in the U.S.
• Free one-on-one educational web conference designed and led by Augusta’s on-staff Harvard-trained economist (the only one of its kind we could find)

Cons

• No online orders

American Hartford Gold

Star Rating

American Hartford Gold Group, a family-owned company, sells precious metals (gold, silver, and platinum) and precious metal IRAs.

You can use a gold or silver IRA to help protect your retirement savings. Gold and silver IRAs are an alternative to a traditional IRA, which typically is used to access bonds, stocks, and other similar paper assets. Precious metals IRAs help diversify your retirement savings with the goal of improving your overall long-term portfolio returns.

American Hartford Gold Group will not charge you to set up your own individual retirement accounts. They also won’t charge for shipping your physical precious metals and do not charge for insurance and tracking.

Depository fees vary depending on the amount that you invest. American Hartford’s online catalog for precious metals doesn’t list prices, so you will need to talk to a company representative. American Hartford Gold’s website does provide price charts for gold, silver, and platinum.

Pros

• Buy-back guarantee
• Good customer service experience
• IRA experts ready to help
• No shipping fees

Cons

• It does not include prices in the online catalog

Goldco

Star Rating

Goldco is a gold company that sells precious metals to people who want to add them to their IRAs. Goldco was founded in 2006 and had offices in Woodland Hills, California. You can buy gold and silver from Goldco for your IRA instead of stocks or bonds.

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 allowed exceptions to the IRS’s “no collectibles in an IRA” rule. Precious metals IRA investment is possible because certain types of gold and silver are among those exceptions.

The exceptions are for those precious metals that meet a minimum fineness requirement. Goldco helps people open new accounts, and they help people who want to transfer their IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, or another qualified retirement account from other companies or financial institutions to Goldco.

The company has a good rating from the Better Business Bureau. They have a Triple-A rating from the Business Consumer Alliance, which means that they have been reviewed positively by customers and their business practices are ethical.

Pros

• This company offers IRAs for gold and silver.
• You can get up to $10,000 in free silver by opening a qualifying IRA account with them (at the time of writing)
• Can help you with your gold or silver retirement portfolio
• Goldco has many years of experience and specializes in precious metals-backed IRAs
• This company has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
• Quality customer service

Cons

• Only offer gold and silver IRAs
• $50,000 minimum investment

Birch Gold Group

Star Rating

Founded in 2003, Birch Gold Group’s professional team is dedicated to educating customers on how best to diversify their savings, including within retirement accounts. They are also considered one of the country’s best precious metals IRA providers.

Birch Gold offers a wide range of precious metal investments and specialists with years of experience in the industry who aim to provide clients with quality customer service.

They have helped many Americans move their IRA, 401(k), and other tax-advantaged retirement accounts out of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds and into IRAs backed by physical gold or silver. Because of this, Birch Gold Group prides itself on being Precious Metal IRA Specialists.

Pros

• They offer a variety of precious metals
• Partners with depositories
• Customers work with an expert
• Diversifies your savings

Cons

• No guarantees (such as price guarantees, transparency, etc.)
• Have to pay for shipping
• It doesn’t work with conventional IRAs

Silver IRA: What You Should Know

A silver IRA is a special kind of retirement account that permits you to invest in IRA-eligible silver coins and bars. The IRS rules are very much the same as those for any other IRA, except you can purchase silver and other eligible precious metals in your account. In contrast, traditional IRA investments focus on stocks and other paper assets.

Like other types of precious metals IRA, silver IRA is flocked by investors due to its capacity to hold tangible assets. It is essential to choose a reliable precious metal IRA company in this industry because they will be the ones to help you secure your wealth.

Silver IRAs are good because they allow you to diversify your investment portfolio with different assets. You can own precious physical metals that you can utilize upon retirement.

Many people are familiar with more standard kinds of IRAs containing well-known assets such as stocks and bonds that you can open at a brokerage firm such as Fidelity or Schwab.

A less common option is to open a self-directed IRA with an independent IRA custodian administering these IRA accounts. This type of account has the same tax benefits and guidelines as other types of IRAs but with one difference — you manage the investments. This means you can choose your investments instead of being limited only to what the broker offers.

Self-directed IRAs enable investors to choose from a wide variety of asset options, including precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.

How Can You Open A Silver IRA?

When opening a precious metals IRA, you must first find out how you will fund the account. The standard thing people do is make a gold IRA rollover, which is using the funds from existing retirement savings to fund a silver IRA.

You can consult your custodian or financial advisor regarding these things. You can also reach out to several precious metal IRA companies and inquire about their services and what they can offer you. Your IRA custodian will be the one to submit the form, and the process may take up to 10 days.

You may use your existing 401(k) from your current brokerage for a direct gold IRA rollover. Most financial experts also recommend it. You can choose whether they will deliver the check to you or your custodian.

With an indirect rollover, the check is made payable to you while the custodian retains 20% of the total funds to cover potential taxes. After receiving the check, you have 60 days to deposit it in your new account to avoid paying taxes on the transfer.

Remember that most precious metals IRA companies have minimum investment costs for their IRA assets. Be sure to do your research before settling with one gold IRA company.

IRS-Approved Precious Metals For Silver IRA

IRS only approves silver bullion that has a minimum fineness of .999%. This is to ensure the quality and value of the precious metals in the long run.

Here’s a list of the approved silver bullion for precious metals IRA:

• American Silver Eagle Coins – 1 ounce
• Chinese Silver Panda Coins – 1 ounce
• American Silver Eagle Mint Case – 500 ounces
• Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Coins – 1 ounce
• Silver Britannia Coins – 1 ounce
• Austrian Silver Philharmonic Coins – 1 ounce
• Royal Canadian Mint Silver Bars – 100 ounces
• Johnson Matthey Silver Bars – 100 ounces
• Sunshine Mint Silver Bars – 1 ounce
• Johnson Matthey Silver Bars – 1 ounce
• Sunshine Mint Silver Rounds – 1 ounce

Remember that these are only some of the approved silver bullions. You can go for a wide selection of silver coins depending on the available offering of the precious metals IRA companies you work with.

Ask your gold IRA providers when purchasing precious metals regarding their available precious metal coins and other bullion such as gold bullion, gold coins, gold bars, silver bars, silver bullion, platinum coins, and more.

Individual Retirement Account Types

Self-directed IRAs have many types and come with different tax benefits and advantages. However, they are only sometimes available from traditional financial managers and brokerage firms.

Some other precious metals are also not available to some companies, as the most common bullions are gold and silver coins and physical gold.

The passing of The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 allowed people to invest not only in many kinds of assets like stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and ETFs in their investment portfolio but also in precious physical metals.

These precious metal assets can be in one ounce, a half, one-quarter, and one-tenth ounce of the approved silver and gold coins. They also have to be minted by the Treasury Department.
It was only in 1998 that precious metals dealers were allowed to offer other types of precious metals like palladium and platinum bullions.

These are the different types of precious metals IRAs that you can get:

Traditional IRA

Traditional IRAs are best for individual taxpayers. They come with tax-deductible contributions, and the withdrawn funds will be taxed at the ordinary income tax rate.
In this IRA, your annual individual contributions cannot exceed the amount of $6,000, while the contributions for people above 50 years old can reach up to $7,000 per year.

Roth IRA

This is the best precious metals IRA you can get, as some qualified distributions can be tax-free, leaving you with more funds. It is not tax-deductible, but your contributions can be given after tax, so your gains in the future during distribution will not be taxed.

Most people prefer this because you can withdraw during retirement without worrying about income taxes.

If you have an eligible income, you will also be eligible for a Roth IRA. This account has no age restrictions.

SEP-IRA

SEP stands for Simplified Employee Pension, an account mainly for self-employed individuals, small-business owners, and freelancers. The rules for a traditional IRA applied to this one as well. Its 2022 contributions are limited to 25% of the person’s compensation, or $66,000—whichever of the two is less.

Fees and IRS Restrictions

Before you buy precious metals and set up an account with a precious metals IRA company, it is important to understand the IRS restrictions and fees that come with it first.

Aside from the number of precious metals you wish to purchase, they come with minimum investment costs, storage fees, custodian fees, and more. These are the factors that you will need to consider:

• Storage fees
• Transaction fees
• One-time mandatory setup fee
• Annual custodian fees
• Premium coins cost
• Cash-out fee upon liquidation

The IRS sets these fees. If you cannot pay one of them, you can be at risk of penalties and additional costs. Keep in mind that storing precious metals at home is strictly prohibited.

When it comes to the contribution limits and withdrawals:

1. Exceeding contribution limits

People under 59 and a half can only contribute up to $6,500, while investors above that age level have a higher contribution limit of up to $7,000 per year.
Exceeding these limits is a valid cause for a 6% penalty.

2. Early withdrawal

One thing about IRAs is that there is a specific age at which you can withdraw your funds without penalties, which is 59 and a half years old—making distributions before age can be subject to a 10% penalty plus income tax.

Is Silver a Good Retirement Investment?

Silver is seen as a safety net asset in times of uncertainty. People use silver to protect their wealth in difficult times like our nation is experiencing when tensions are rising.

What Should You Look For In A Silver IRA Company

Only some silver IRA companies advertised today are trustworthy, and it’s essential to understand the strict regulations IRAs must follow with regard to storing precious metals.

Informative

IRAs are only sometimes easy to understand. There are many rules about what transactions you can do and which ones you cannot. With this in mind, we put together a list of companies that provide the most information about IRAs. They offer educational resources, but you should still inquire about their minimum investment costs.

Fair Marketing Tactics

Many companies that offer precious metals and silver IRA products and services make unsupported claims about “guaranteed” profits. Many also charge their websites with alarming headlines about impending economic disasters. Some companies try to trick or scare seniors into investing in precious metals without thinking carefully about it first.

Reputable

It would help if you looked at companies that have a history of service and a good reputation in their communities. Removing companies from your list with unclear origins or negative reviews from reputable rating organizations is essential.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Silver IRA Company

It would be best if you considered these things in looking for a silver IRA Company:

Track Record and Reputation of the Company

Check with state regulators for any problems. You can do background checks to see if the people who are running the company have done anything bad in the past. You can also do a Better Business Bureau search and see if there are complaints against the company and find out how they were resolved.

Ratings are a number that tells how well companies are doing. These ratings come from people who have bought from the company before. The more people say good things, then the better the company is doing.

The best ratings are from the Better Business Bureau, TrustLink, and the Business Consumer Alliance. Consumer information websites can help you learn about a company’s service quality and professionalism. These websites tell you what other people have said about the company and let you know if there are any complaints.

Upfront and Reasonable Individual Retirement Account Fees

Experts say that you should only consider firms that offer a flat fee for their yearly fee. Firms that have fees that go up with the size of your account are just taking unfair advantage of you because they know you have more money. Investors with a medium-sized account ($50,000) or larger should be careful to always get fees in writing before making a transfer into silver.

Investors with plans to increase their account size over time should also be careful. Some firms charge customers a fee merely for having a balance. They might charge this even if the customer doesn’t deposit money. These firms have been known to assess thousands of dollars in fees each year.

It is suggested that you choose a silver IRA company with flat fees and offers to pay some for you. Augusta — the #1 choice silver IRA company in this list — pays your fees for up to 10 years, depending on what kind of account you have.

Silver Storage Safety

You need to know the policies of each precious metals IRA storage depository. They might have different rules.

Some have blended storage, which means that different customers’ metals are stored together in one place. Some depositories have segregated storage, where individual customers’ metals are kept separate from others and stored in their place.

Commingled storage of metals is when the vault holds one place of metals that belong to many different people. Segregated storage is when silver is put into a locker system with individual lockers inside the depository.

Also, with segregated storage, the coins or bullion bars stored are the same ones you originally purchased. But with commingled storage, even though the metals are the same kind you purchased originally, they might be different coins or bars transferred there on your behalf after you bought them.

Again, segregated storage means your metals have their place in the vault. This means that no one else’s metals will be near yours, and they won’t mix together.

If you want to sell your silver, gold, and other precious metals in the future, storing them with segregated storage firms is promising. That makes it easy and fast if you need to sell them, and you’ll know the exact condition of the metals you want to sell.

You should be careful how much storage firms charge for international storage or segregation.

Generous Company Buyback Policies

If you anticipate wanting to sell your silver in the future, make sure you find a company willing to buy it back (no company can guarantee it by law, but they should have a buyback program). If they cannot buy it back quickly and easily, you can’t take advantage of the best spot prices at the time of sale.

You should pick a precious metals company willing to buy back anyone’s silver at the current market price. That way, you can sell your silver quickly at fair market value.

Sincere ‘Trust Signals’ From the Provider

A well-rounded silver IRA company should be able to offer other precious metal investments besides silver. These can include gold and platinum. They are different from silver in some ways, but they might be something you would want in the future when the market changes.

If you want one of these different types of precious metals, be sure the company you want to go with will handle them — they often will, even if they don’t advertise it. This is true of Augusta, the #1 company, for example.

It is essential to choose a silver IRA company that is trustworthy (has a positive track record with customers and the industry) and knows about the current trends in the market. They can help you decide which type of silver IRA to invest in.

Final Thoughts – Best Silver IRA Companies

Choosing a silver IRA company is essential to your retirement and your future. Consider the company’s reputation and integrity before entrusting them with your money.

You should also choose a company that can show transparency, has competitive pricing, and will take time to talk with you about investing and precious metals like American Hartford Gold. They are certainly a good choice for precious metals IRAs, and many investors continue to trust their reliable services.

If you are unsure about American Hartford Gold, you can always check out the other companies listed above. Just be sure that you understand the company’s buying processes and do your research.

Investing in gold and silver IRAs gives you a lot of benefits, such as stability in your future investments and protection from the market’s ups and downs. If you can find diversification from the usual kinds of assets, like stocks, then if anything goes wrong, you’ll have a backup that helps you keep the value of your accounts up as high as possible.

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