Safeguarding Your Future: A Comprehensive Augusta Precious Metals Review (2023)

In the aggressively volatile financial landscape, wise investing has become a crucial part of securing your retirement savings. While traditional investments such as stocks and mutual funds are subject to market volatility and economic fluctuations, Augusta Precious Metals offers a classic solution to safeguard your wealth.

In this Augusta Precious Metals review article, we will walk you through what the company is about, who should invest, and the pros and cons of its business model.

Here’s a summary and detailed review of the company to get you started. 

Augusta’s Gold and Silver IRA

The major investment option that Augusta Precious Metals offers is a gold and silver IRA.

Who Are Gold and Silver IRAs Best For?

Gold and silver IRAs are generally best for higher net worth investors who want to limit risk to their overall wealth. 

Gold and silver have been used as a form of decoration and currency for thousands of years. Today, they’re considered safe-haven assets because their value often remains stable or even increases during tough economic times. As a result, purchasing precious metals is a classic way to reduce risk in your portfolio.

If you’re a risk-averse investor who wants to preserve your wealth, buy gold and silver. However, keep in mind that many experts recommend limiting gold and silver to 5% to 10% of your portfolio for diversification purposes.  Therefore, less well-healed investors may find the $50,000 minimum unsuitable for optimum portfolio growth. Instead, these investors should consider other alternatives such as mining stocks or ETFs with bullion exposure of buying bullion outside of an IRA. 

Overview of the Investing Process

If you’re new to gold and silver investing, here’s how the process works.

First, you’ll open your IRA with one of Augusta’s trusted custodians, such as Equity Trust. They’re the nation’s leading self-directed IRA provider with over $25 billion in assets under management.

Your customer success agent will help you set up your account and fill out all the necessary paperwork, as well as assist you with the next step, which is funding your account. This is usually done by rolling over your existing IRA. You can transfer funds from a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), or 403(b).

Finally, you can buy IRA-eligible gold and silver through Augusta’s order desk. A few examples of coins you can purchase include Canadian Maple Leaf coins, American Eagles, and Australian Striped Marlin coins. The order desk will give you an overview of your investment options so you can pick the right assets for your situation.

Then the confirmation department will call you to confirm your purchase and your order will be shipped to a secure storage facility (such as the Delaware Depository). Your precious metals are insured, so you can rest easy knowing your investment is safe. If you ever want to see your metals in person, you can arrange a visit through your customer success agent.

Ongoing Customer Care

Augusta provides lifetime customer support and even assists customers with making withdrawals. Although the company can’t guarantee they’ll buy your silver and gold back, they haven’t denied any requests to date. So you probably won’t have any trouble liquidating your assets when the time comes.

However, keep in mind that gold and silver are considered long-term investments. It’s usually best to plan on holding your bullion and coins for a while.

Pros and Cons of Augusta Precious Metals

Here are some of the pros of investing with Augusta Precious Metals.

Low Management Fees

A major benefit of opening a gold and silver IRA with Augusta Precious Metals is that you won’t be charged any management fees because the account is self-directed. This means that you’ll be in charge of managing your gold IRA and making investment decisions such as when to sell your precious metals.

Since a financial professional won’t have to oversee your IRA, you won’t be charged any management fees. You’ll only pay a small, one-time fee of $250 for account setup. After that, you’ll owe just $200 per year for storage and custodian fees, making this an affordable investment option.

Robust Customer Education

Although managing your account may seem intimidating, Augusta Precious Metals provides lots of educational resources to help you make good investment decisions. The company has articles and videos that will teach you about important financial topics such as gold IRAs, the precious metals market, the economy, avoiding scams, and more.

You can also sign up to receive a free investing guide or attend a web conference about investing in gold and silver. It’s hosted by Devyln Steele, a Harvard-trained economic analyst who serves as the Director of Education for Augusta Precious Metals. If you need one-on-one support, the company has experienced customer success agents to assist you.

Lifetime Customer Support

That brings us to the next benefit of working with Augusta Precious Metals — lifetime customer support. You can call or email Augusta’s customer success agents if you have any questions about precious metals or want an update on market conditions.

Your agent will assist you with custodial paperwork and administer purchases and buybacks. Most customers rave about the company’s customer service, so you can rest assured you’re in good hands!

Here are some of the cons of investing with Augusta Precious Metals.

High Minimum Investment

Whether you’re opening an IRA or making a cash purchase, Augusta Precious Metals requires an investment of at least $50,000. This high minimum may be out of reach for some investors. However, remember that you can roll over an existing IRA to fund your new gold IRA, which makes it easier to pull together the money you need to get started.

Pricing Data Not Listed On The Website

Another thing to keep in mind is that you have to call Augusta for pricing information. Since gold and silver prices fluctuate, it doesn’t list any prices on its website or allow you to buy coins online. This could be a downside for digital natives who prefer to manage their money and investments online.

Pricing Markups

Pricing is subject to markups and is not always transparent. Per Augusta’s webpage, its pricing policy is sometimes based on internal factors not necessarily the market, or spot price: 

Readers should note that this kind of pricing is common in the precious metals industry. In fact, many coin dealers routinely charge a percentage over the spot price. This is typical to cover organizational costs such as salary, utility bills, etc. 

Why Should You Consider Investing in Precious Metals?

There are a number of reasons why you should invest in precious metals: diversification, appreciation, and inflation protection. 

Diversification

During turbulent economic times, precious metals are often considered a safe haven asset. Investing in gold and silver can help diversify your portfolio because precious metals aren’t strongly correlated with stocks, which means their value doesn’t always rise or fall in conjunction with the stock market.

Appreciation

Gold actually increased in value during the last three U.S. recessions when the S&P 500 fell sharply. As a result, investing in precious metals can help reduce the overall risk of your investment portfolio. Here is the price of 1 ounce of gold over the last five years. 

Inflation Protection

Another benefit of precious metals is that their value tends to rise as much or more than the inflation rate. This makes gold and silver a good hedge against inflation. However, remember that past performance isn’t a guarantee of future results. Although precious metals have a great track record, all investments have some level of risk.

It’s also important to keep in mind that precious metals don’t generate dividends or capital gains such as mutual funds. With that being said, precious metals are still a solid investment option if you want to diversify your portfolio due to the diversification.

Other Augusta Precious Metals Reviews

Augusta Precious Metals usually gets glowing reviews from customers. On Consumer Affairs, the company received 133 reviews and earned 4.9 out of 5 stars, a nearly perfect score. The company also has an A+ Better Business Bureau rating and earned 4.95 out of 5 stars from 121 customers on the platform.

Reviewers say that Augusta provides lots of support and education to potential customers to help them decide if a gold and silver IRA is right for them. Augusta’s agents are happy to answer questions and don’t pressure you to move forward. Customers also appreciate the fact that Augusta guides you through the account setup and investing process, which is streamlined and efficient.

The company has also received two Stevie Awards for customer service and sales. To learn more about Augusta’s great track record, check out its reviews page.

Signing Up With Augusta Precious Metals 

If you are a higher net worth investor and want to sign up, definitely do it. The process is like opening a bank account. There are a couple of packages of documentation you need to sign and you’ll have to provide some identifying information. There is also a set-up fee of $50. Then you need to transfer your funds into the Augusta account and buy your bullion.

It’s easy. You can sign up here or click on the button below.

You can also call their onboarding hotline: 1-800-700-1008. 

Would you consider investing in gold and silver? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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Vicky Monroe

Vicky Monroe is a freelance personal finance and lifestyle writer. When she’s not busy writing about her favorite money saving hacks or tinkering with her budget spreadsheets, she likes to travel, garden, and cook healthy vegetarian meals.