Finding the best gold IRA companies to work with in 2021
At present Bullion.Directory lists 98 specialist gold IRA companies – bullion dealers, accountants and attorneys each specializing in providing gold IRAs or advising on investing in gold as part of a retirement plan.
This is on top of the over 700 US bullion dealers who are able to supply IRA-permitted precious metals directly to your account.
That’s a lot of choice – possibly even too much choice!
This is why we created our list of the 7 best gold IRA companies in 2021 as voted for by our users and rated or reviewed by satisfied customers.
Our Selection Criteria
In compiling our 2021 list of the seven best gold IRA companies, we look at 5 factors:
- Choice: While the gold permitted in an IRA is somewhat restricted, there are still a large number of bullion bars and coins available for IRA investment – even if they’re not available at all dealers. Most Gold IRA companies only carry a few of the best-known bars and coins and so tend to have lower than average scores for choice.
- Value: When it comes to IRAs, value means a combination of lower than average premiums, fees and storage costs. All costs and fees should be transparent and available up front, allowing clients to make an informed decision regarding overall costs.
- Customer Care: This is an area where Gold IRA companies shine because of the far greater need for discussion that comes with retirement planning versus more straight forward retail purchases. IRA specialists must be able to share sometimes complex information with customers in a friendly and non-overwhelming way.
- BD Reviews: Direct company reviews in Bullion.Directory carry significant weight when it comes to our selecting our top-seven companies. We must see a regular flow of genuine and detailed reviews for companies to be considered.
- Other Reviews: as we discus on this page, third-party reviews can be a tricky area to navigate due to the commercial incentives of small publishers to promote the best-paying bullion dealers. We only look at the larger more trustworthy review sites with robust systems in place for removing false reviews.
These varying factors are compiled in percentage terms and an average value is arrived at to arrange the best gold IRA dealers in order. Each section gives a link to our consumer reviews page for more detail, ratings and reviews of the company concerned.
First, a Warning for 2021 – and Why Gold Should be a Priority
For somebody looking to add gold to their IRA the choice of professionals and the options available can be overwhelming.
When faced with a bewildering level of choice it’s an unfortunate trait of human nature that we’ll simply shrug, and either put off making a decision – or in some cases forget all about it.
Normally this isn’t that big a deal. We may miss out on a sweet offer but it’s rarely life or death.
But in this case, in these unprecedented times, any delay in adding precious metals to an IRA could result in similar devastating losses experienced by over 71% of American retirement accounts back in 2008.
When the markets crashed, millions saw their IRAs drop over half their value – overnight.
On the other hand, some investors thrived!
Those who held physical gold and silver inside their IRAs enjoyed massive gains with gold seeing record price increases as other markets tumbled. Gold’s overall gain from a 2008 low to it’s 2011 high was an incredible 166% – more than making up for losses in well hedged accounts.
And silver? Thanks to silver’s volatility, during the same time period silver bullion saw a massive 448% hike, beating gold by almost 300%!
In many cases this was enough to minimize the crushing losses felt in stocks and real estate investments – and for some who were particularly heavy on precious metals it led to an overall gain at a time when markets were devastated.
But enough of history.
Back to present day, and as the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic continue to wreck havoc across the globe, gold has already beaten it’s 2008 record despite central banks best efforts to hold it back through their pumping of multiple trillions of newly created dollars into the economy.
This never before seen central bank intervention has so far managed to keep the worst financial effects at bay and in fact in early 2021 we’re seeing a relatively buoyant stock market…
Unfortunately this “buoyancy” is wholly fake.
There is no real value in these inflated stock market prices and if global governments stopped propping up the markets with newly printed cash these stocks would revert to their true value. And revert FAST!
Market analysts are now near universally agreed that a massive correction has become inevitable because we cannot continue as we are. At some point the magic money presses have to stop.
Whether this is part of an intentional “Great Reset” or more likely collateral damage from a domino effect of any single central bank taking their foot off the gas – it WILL happen.
It could be next month, it could be next week – but it is now absolutely inevitable.
At Bullion.Directory we are all about holding physical gold for it’s market hedging benefits and it’s opportunities for growth during times of financial crisis.
This is especially true as part of careful retirement planning – as to take massive losses in your retirement account will quite obviously have long-lasting and devastating effects on the quality of your future life.
For anyone to miss out on this vital component of a well-balanced portfolio due to indecision or inaction – would be heartbreaking for us – and so we want to make your decision as easy as possible.
For such an important investment, and especially one where it’s possible to make costly mistakes when listening to bad advice, it’s essential that the investor should only work with a trustworthy, knowledgeable and efficient professional.
Normally we’d suggest taking some time – looking at all the reviews and listings in our directory and then building a shortlist from there – but this is where the dangers of too much choice and indecision can creep in again.
And in 2021 time is of the essence!
A Second Warning – Are Those Top Gold IRA Companies REALLY Top?
Doing any type of web search for “top gold IRA companies” is going to result in some confusing and often contradictory advice.
This is because many gold IRA companies run high-paying “affiliate programs” – where they will literally pay website owners commissions for sending web visitors their way. This means websites are incentivized to list higher-paying companies ahead of companies who pay nothing.
In fact in a survey we conducted in November 2020, we discovered that for 106 search terms including “best gold IRA” or searches for gold IRA company names followed by “review” that in 97% of cases ALL of the top 10 results were sites being monetized by affiliate links.
And of these 1060 different search results, 1013 of the resulting web pages advised using a company that paid the site owners a substantial commission.
This means that 95.6% of these results contained content that was little more than an advertisement.
Can these results be relied on for trust and transparency? We’ll let you decide!
At Bullion.Directory it’s company policy to never promote companies simply as a result of what they pay us – but of course it’s all very well saying that. How can you know we stand by that? How can we be both a commercial operation and remain genuinely impartial?
When you first arrived on Bullion.Directory you’ll have been presented with a prominent notice declaring that certain companies pay us to be listed or to advertise on the site and that some of these are commission based. In our case we have financial relationships with less than 1% of listed companies and receive active commissions from 0.14%.
Over 99% of all site listings and recommendations earn us nothing at all. Ever.
When it comes to recommending gold IRA companies specifically, we list 98 gold IRA specialists in the directory but only receive regular payments from two. See those advertising banners? That’s them.
Are these 2 companies in our top 7? Yes they are.
Are they there because they pay us? Absolutely not.
Right from the start, Bullion.Directory has relied wholly on public reviews and ratings to help select our top choice companies and in 2014 we started running an annual public vote to find our Bullion Dealers of the Year. In past years we’ve seen upwards of 30,000 votes cast across several categories – with one of the most popular and tightly contented categories being that of Gold IRA Specialists.
The companies on this list are here because they’ve either won or been highly placed in these annual votes – and because they have overwhelmingly positive reviews both on Bullion.Directory and across other impartial consumer review websites.
In all cases we have direct experience working with these companies and have been impressed by high levels of professionalism, market knowledge and incredible standards of customer service offered.
If we subsequently become aware that a company we recommend has slipped in their duty of care or have become less than exemplary we will immediately cease to actively promote them – despite any financial losses we may incur as a result.
We stand by our commitment to only ever recommend companies based on their merit, so when you see companies in our recommended lists you can be assured they’re there because they are excellent – not because they’ve slipped us an incentive.
With that out of the way here are our 7 best gold IRA companies in 2021:
Overall Winner: Goldco Precious Metals
Goldco
★★★★★
BD Rated: 93.8%
Goldco are synonymous with gold IRAs – they were one of the pioneers in the industry when the IRS first allowed bullion in retirement accounts – and they continue as market leaders today.
Despite expanding to offer other alternative investments such as cryptocurrency, it is their gold IRA and 401k rollovers which still form the bedrock of Goldco’s business – something their team of over 60 expert advisors help thousands of Americans to achieve every year.
Being one of our top-rated listings and a specialist Bullion Dealer of the Year is a sure sign they do it well.
As of January 2021, Goldco reviews among the main consumer protection sites are:
Business Consumer Alliance: AAA
Scam Report: A+
Trustpilot: ★★★★★ (536 Reviews)
Consumer Affairs: ★★★★★ (328 Reviews)
We ask all customers to leave Goldco reviews on this page. Your reviews, good or bad, will help future investors make a decision when choosing Goldco for their IRA or investment gold.
Best For Service: Birch Gold Group
Birch Gold
★★★★★
BD Rated: 93.6%
Birch Gold Group may not be the biggest of America’s bullion dealers, but there’s one thing they do consistently: provide class-leading customer care, transparency and trust.
Best known for their Gold IRA services and free info kit – Birch Gold have long been a favorite with US investors looking to add metals to their IRAs or 401k accounts.
Their team of advisors and brokers are passionate in what they believe yet are never pushy or aggressive in the way so many gold brokers are. They use their deep market knowledge and expertise to best help their clients, working tirelessly to ensure your exact requirements are matched.
As of January 2021, Birch Gold reviews among the main consumer protection sites are:
Business Consumer Alliance: AAA
Scam Report: N/R
Trustpilot: ★★★★★ (98 Reviews)
Consumer Affairs: ★★★★★ (114 Reviews)
We ask all customers to leave Birch Gold Group reviews on this page. Your reviews, good or bad, will help future investors make a decision when choosing Birch Gold as a provider of Gold IRA services.
Best Small Company: Fisher Precious Metals
Fisher P.M.
★★★★★
BD Rated: 92.2%
Despite being one of the smaller gold IRA companies, family-owned Fisher Precious Metals are synonymous with top-end customer services and the kind of one-on-one care you will only achieve with a company where every employee is a stakeholder.
Long-term ratings leaders at Bullion.Directory, Fisher’s two main services are the provision of precious metals IRAs and specialist offshore vaulting services – either as part of an IRA or within a decentralized or internationalized portfolio.
The fact they won Bullion Dealer of the Year while up against multi-billion dollar international companies speaks volumes for both their reach and passionate customer loyalty.
As of January 2021, Fisher Precious Metals reviews among main consumer protection sites are:
Business Consumer Alliance: N/R
Scam Report: N/R
Trustpilot: N/R
Consumer Affairs: N/R
We ask all customers to leave Fisher Precious Metals reviews on this page. Your reviews, good or bad, will help future investors make a decision when choosing Fisher for their IRA or investment gold.
Early Adopter: American Bullion
American Bullion
★★★★★
BD Rated: 91.8%
One of the larger IRA specialist companies American Bullion have always been at the forefront of new services, being among the first bullion dealers to offer Gold IRAs as a primary function.
As with many IRA specialists they are known for their comprehensive gold IRA info kit – and are responsible for helping thousands of Americans add metals to their IRAs or 401k accounts.
Past specialist and overall winner of our Bullion Dealer of the Year award, American Bullion are an excellent choice for a trustworthy and knowledgeable company for anyone new to gold investments as part of a retirement strategy.
As of January 2021, American Bullion reviews among the main consumer protection sites are:
Business Consumer Alliance: AAA
Scam Report: N/R
Trustpilot: ★★★★★ (98 Reviews)
Consumer Affairs: N/R
We ask all customers to leave American Bullion reviews on this page. Your reviews, good or bad, will help future investors make a decision when selecting American Bullion to provide Gold IRA services.
Best For Choice: Money Metals Exchange
Money Metals
★★★★★
BD Rated: 91.8%
Another family-owned company to make it onto our list, Money Metals Exchange are known as much for their vocal campaigning for “sound money” as they are for selling precious metals.
Although not specifically a gold IRA company, as a firm so passionately devoted to the ownership of real money it’s inevitable that they will promote any opportunity to own precious metals, especially when those metals can be bought in a highly tax-advantaged vehicle.
Having previously won our US Bullion Dealer of the Year, Money Metal’s famously excellent service can be put to good use opening a gold IRA.
As of January 2021, Money Metals Exchange reviews among main consumer protection sites are:
Business Consumer Alliance: N/R
Scam Report: A+
Trustpilot: ★★★ (1 Review)
Consumer Affairs: N/R
We ask all customers to leave Money Metals reviews on this page. Your reviews, good or bad, will help future investors make a decision when choosing Money Metals as a Gold IRA provider.
Highly Commended: Advantage Gold
Advantage Gold
★★★★★
BD Rated: 90.2%
Advantage Gold may be one of the smaller national gold IRA specialists but they have grown rapidly thanks to excellent levels of customer care coupled with fair pricing and a no-nonsense approach.
For prospective buyers looking to hand over a not inconsiderable sum it’s important not to feel part of a massive machine; a feeling that can be all to common at some of the bigger brokerages. This is absolutely never the case at Advantage Gold.
Their small team of friendly advisors and brokers are never pushy or aggressive and use their deep market knowledge and expertise to genuinely help buyers achieve the best result they can in any circumstances.
As of January 2021, Advantage Gold reviews among main consumer protection sites are:
Business Consumer Alliance: AA
Scam Report: N/R
Trustpilot: ★★★★★ (950 Reviews)
Consumer Affairs: ★★★★★ (66 Reviews)
We ask all customers to leave Advantage Gold reviews on this page. Your reviews, good or bad, will help future investors make a decision when picking Advantage Gold as your Gold IRA partner.
Highly Commended: Noble Gold
Noble Gold
★★★★★
BD Rated: 88.6%
Noble Gold started as an offshoot of another well-known gold IRA company, where individual brokers wanted to offer IRA services with the level of dedication and care that can be difficult in a larger firm.
Having grown rapidly in their first few years of operation, Noble Gold never lost this dedication and have grown a passionately loyal following in what is a highly competitive market.
Shortlisted for our Bullion Dealer of the Year public vote just before Covid led to a temporary postponement of the event, Noble gold are definitely a company to watch in 2021.
As of January 2021, Noble Gold reviews among the main consumer protection sites are:
Business Consumer Alliance: AA
Scam Report: N/R
Trustpilot: N/R
Consumer Affairs: ★★★★★ (72 Reviews)
We ask all customers to leave Noble Gold reviews on this page. Your reviews, good or bad, will help future investors make a decision when choosing Noble Gold as a provider of Gold IRA services.
Please note: While Bullion.Directory generally tries to avoid making direct recommendations, we are more than happy recommending any of the seven gold IRA companies listed above. We should also point out that not being on this list in no way suggests any of our other US-based bullion dealers are not up to the job!
To view all of our listed Gold IRA Companies click here
