Augusta Precious Metals Review: All you Need to Know in 2023

In this Augusta Precious Metals review, I will outline why Augusta Precious Metals stands as one of the top names in the precious metals IRA industry. It’s a company I don’t mind recommending to anyone and it is currently our preferred provider vs its competitors. That being said, it is true that there is a gold IRA company for everyone.

What this means is that some gold IRA companies are better suited to catering to certain needs than others, so it is important to review and contact a few different companies before you commit. Check out our Best Gold IRA company review to get a feel for some of the other top players in the field. It’s pretty hard to go wrong with any one company so long as we’re talking these biggest names, which also prevents you from being scammed.

It is the small details that most often cause an investor to opt in a certain direction, my goal with this site is to clearly outline these small intricacies to help you and those interested in retirement investing pick the right provider to suit your individual needs.

Augusta precious metals does a lot of things well, but with every provider there may be a few points unique to them that may not suit certain prospective customers. We will be delving deep into these in this review, to line out the pros and cons to give you the knowledge you need to make the best choice for YOU.

To see Augusta’s competitors, check out our Best Gold IRA company review to compare with other top tier companies we recommend. It is important to always compare at least 2-3 different companies, materials and speak with their advisors before making the decision of which provider to partner with.

Quick Summary

We understand people are busy, and although we recommend reading the full review and comparisons guide. Sometimes we just want the quick hard facts without the fluff. Here are our findings and what contributed to us concluding Augusta Precious Metals as being our “go to” for Gold IRA investing.

• ZERO fees for up to 10 years. Everyone qualifies.
• A+ BBB rating. AAA from Business Consumer Alliance. 1000s of 5-star rankings.
• 2022 & 2023 Money magazine: “Best Overall Gold IRA Company.” Investopedia: “Most Transparent.”
• Elite VIP approvals: Mark Levin, Judge Jeanine Pirro, Ben Ferguson. Even hall of fame quarterback Joe Montana is a customer and superfan. 
• YOU choose your gold & silver. Select from the most popular products – you’re in charge.
• Best customer support
• Account lifetime service
• No pressure. Ideal for customers who are unhappy with their current gold IRA company.
• Compliant and transparent. Makes this a major part of its business for customer peace of mind.
• Best for ethics, overall customer experience. Proven caring, reliable, respected gold IRA company.
• Free guides. How to avoid gimmicks & high-pressure tactics used by gold IRA companies.
• Account lifetime service. A personal resource throughout your ownership of precious metals.

About Augusta Precious Metals

 

There’s no beating around the bush here: the older a precious metals IRA company is, the better. Should this factor heavily in your decision when picking your broker? Maybe, maybe not. Suffice to say that in this case, a little mileage is more than welcome.

Augusta precious metals has a bit of an advantage over quite a few good companies here, having opened shop in 2012. It’s not the oldest company of its kind, but it’s among the oldest and most reputable ones. Having been in business for 11 years already gives it a kind of credibility: after all, you want some kind of reassurance that your precious metals IRA will be active and well-managed decades down the line. And indeed, if you were to give the newcomer Augusta a try in 2012 or 2013, you wouldn’t have regretted it by all accounts.

The two big names that you’ll see mentioned often with Augusta are joined in a manner that might have you believe they’re co-founders, those being Isaac Nuriani and Devlyn Steele. In reality, Nuriani is the company head, acting as the CEO and founder. Some brief points on Nuriani tell us that he has over 20 years of experience in the precious metals industry and is passionate about the sector in general.

Augusta has taken a somewhat novelty approach by recently appointing a director of education in the form of Steele. It’s not often that a precious metals IRA company treats customer education this seriously, and you might have heard about how far Augusta takes things in this regard.

“When I met Augusta Precious Metals’ CEO and he mentioned his mission to educate and empower Americans by helping them add gold and silver to their savings, I knew I wanted to be a part of his mission.”

Devlyn Steele, Director of Education

What are Augusta precious metals online seminars like?

 

Steele, a Harvard-educated economist, holds one-on-one seminars with interested precious metals investors. Now, perhaps more decided by the size of IRA you’re opening rather than anything else, there isn’t any guarantee you’ll speak to Steele himself.

He does, however, have a team dedicated just to this. So, as an interested party, you’ll get quite a bit of information about both the company and precious metals investment with no commitment. This is a very nice touch, especially for a larger company, and probably why they have an investment minimum as high as they do. More on that later.

Regardless of how much you know about precious metals, chances are you might learn a thing or two during this presentation. And this approach ties directly into one of their main endorsements.

 

Who endorses Augusta Precious Metals?

Augusta precious metals seems to opt less for “who” and more on “why” when it comes to endorsements, though not exactly forgetting that the occasional celebrity mention can help. An endorsement you might have seen is that of Joe Montana, famous quarterback and precious metals enthusiast.

Montana claims to have approached Augusta precious metals somewhat anonymously to see what they’re about, and you can even see his review on one of the sites. Whether you want to believe it or not, these are the kinds of endorsements that Augusta obviously prefers: satisfied customers. On their website, they have quite a few interviews with their customers who aren’t celebrities or anything of the sort, that go into what it has been like doing business with Augusta precious metals. Unsurprisingly, they are very satisfied.

This is another nice touch that paints the picture of what you can expect once you getting involved with Augusta precious metals. It’s great to have a speaker or similar celebrity figure you like endorse the product you’re considering. But having an ordinary person do it, real people, can be just as valuable if not more. No dog in the race and all that…

Another name worth mentioning in regards to endorsements is Mark Levin, talk show host. Again, Levin’s endorsement emphasizes Augusta’s commitment to education as opposed to just selling precious metals. Overall, the approach Augusta has taken to positive feedback, celebrity or otherwise, definitely makes one more inclined to consider a long-term business partnership with them.

 

Augusta Precious Metals products

If I’m not mistaken, what Augusta Precious Metals offers has expanded considerably over the past few years. I seem to recall an inventory that was almost entirely IRA-eligible bullion, if not to call it of the dull variety, not too long ago.

These days, you can find anything from investment-grade gold and silver coins and bars to the kind of numismatics that would leave some dealers wanting. While the latter category can’t be included in an IRA, a larger inventory is always a plus. Augusta’s website makes it quite clear as to what is and isn’t IRA-eligible on each of the products’ individual sites, along with offering a fairly in-depth description.

Augusta precious metals functions as both a precious metals broker and an IRA company. That means you can go with Augusta to either purchase precious metals outside of an IRA or to open a retirement account. Because of their high investment minimum, though, the second is by far the more popular option. However, as I’ve noticed from the reviews, non-IRA customers are far from absent, and seem uniformly satisfied with what they’ve gotten.

Let’s go over what’s in the category of each of the four precious metals.

 

Gold

 

Silver

 

Platinum and palladium – available?

 

The gold and silver inventory is obviously impressive. However, there aren’t that many overt mentions of either platinum or palladium. One might interpret this as Augusta precious metals not selling either of these precious metals. This is further reinforced by referring to their precious metals account as either a gold or silver IRA, seemingly omitting platinum group metals completely.

Apparently, they can get them for you upon request for both non-IRA purchase and in the case of opening a retirement account with them. While it’s good to know that Augusta can facilitate these purchases, a little more clarity in this regard wouldn’t hurt. After all, both of these are exceedingly popular among bullion investors as more speculative bets. On that point, it wouldn’t hurt to see a few pieces in Augusta’s inventory, either.

 

Augusta Precious Metals fees

 

Augusta has a zero set up fees promise and one of the more transparent fee structures pertaining to markups you’ll come across, to the point of warranting expansion in a separate section. Overall, their investment minimums are among the higher you’ll come across for both regular purchases and IRA rollovers.

Here’s what you can expect from Augusta precious metals when buying gold and silver bullion from them in any capacity in terms of fees:

·        $50,000 investment minimum – this applies to both purchases outside of an IRA and opening a new account

·        $80 annual custody fee and $100 annual storage fee, both of which can be waived for up to 10 years

·        5% markup on all bullion products, a point I’ll soon cover in greater detail

·        No fees on insured shipping in case you are purchasing bullion from them outside of an IRA

 

 

Augusta’s custody and storage

 

Nearly every company I’ve come across leases out custody and storage, and Augusta precious metals is no different. Their preferred choice of custodian is Equity Trust, one of the largest and most reputable companies of this kind.

GoldStar Trust Company and Kingdom Trust are also mentioned sometimes, and there is the option of choosing a custodian not on the list if you happen to have a preference. Whichever custodian you choose, you can expect them to manage the precious metals IRA for you year after year, filing annual reports and handling the paperwork side of things while you focus on investment decisions.

Somewhat curiously, Augusta tells you to ask them about the full and current list of depositories available, which would imply that they are perhaps expanding their offering. The Delaware Depository is mentioned as their depository of choice, though the locations they reveal on the website affirms that they work with others.

In general, it seems that there are quite a few states to choose from in regards to where you’ll store your bullion. Once it’s in the safe, you can have Augusta precious metals arrange a visit in case you feel like inspecting your physical gold and other precious metals, though it bears mentioning that not every depository allows this.

 

 

Does Augusta Precious Metals offer buyback?

 

It seems that Augusta precious metals can facilitate both the re-purchase of precious metals they sold to you and the purchase of physical precious metals they might be interested in. Though they can’t legally offer guarantees for either, this is an important feature whenever you’re considering a gold broker.

Furthermore, they have a one-week cancellation period in case you’ve purchased one of their “premium” products: this essentially refers to any non-IRA-eligible bullion. The period might extend even further depending on your state, but having this kind of return policy to begin with is another perk when it comes to choosing your bullion dealer.

 

What separates Augusta Precious Metals from the competition?

 

The more you get into reviews of precious metals brokers in general, the more you see a recurring theme of dissatisfied customers complaining about product prices. Though I’ll go over reviews in detail soon, the importance of having a clear markup can’t be overstated.

Augusta precious metals is the only precious metals company I’ve come across that has a straightforward and transparent 5% markup with no sales floor. Whether you feel that markup is high or not can be debated, but the transparency side can’t. I’ve heard companies slapping hidden fees and markups more often than I’d like, along with hearing of markups of anywhere between 20%-50%. That might be an exaggeration, or it might not be: the important thing is that it won’t be a consideration when working with Augusta and you knpw where you stand from the get go.

In an industry where the standard is to have every product listed with a “Call for pricing” tag, it’s obvious why having a clear markup is a selling point for a company. Besides that, I’d also like to mention Augusta’s approach to education. Some companies don’t pay too much attention to this part, others do it to an extent. In the case of Augusta more so than with most competitors, it feels like they go the extra step to educate customers on various aspects of precious metals investment, which also includes common scams to watch out for in the industry.

On the negative side, there’s no avoiding mentioning Augusta precious metals high investment minimum for both regular precious metals purchases and IRA rollovers. A $50,000 minimum for an IRA is possibly the highest you’ll come across: for a regular purchase, it’s astoundingly high. This investment minimum is likely the reason Augusta can allocate its company in a manner that makes them especially attentive to each customer. So it’s both good and bad, in a sense. If $50,000 is too much for you, then Augusta won’t be in the conversation to begin with. If it isn’t, it will be a non-issue and more than likely make for a better customer experience.

To see Augustas competitors with lower entry requirements, check out our Best Gold IRA company review to compare with other top tier companies we recommend. It is important to always compare at least 2-3 different companies, materials and speak with their advisors before making the decision of which provider to partner with.

 

Augusta Precious Metals reviews

 

You heard it from me in this Augusta precious metals review, and now it’s time to hear it from others. Are Augusta’s customers really as satisfied as the website portrays them? For the most part, yes. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) rates them with a 4.95 out of 5 stars based on 111 reviews, a fairly high number for the website. They’re accredited with an A+ since 2015 on the website, the highest mark.

The Business Consumer Alliance gives them a 5 out of 5 star rating based on 96 reviews, along with an AAA rating, the highest possible mark. On ConsumerAffairs, there’s more of the same, with the watchdog giving them a 4.9/5 star rating based on 129 reviews. The other notable website, the one where you can read Joe Montana’s review from 2020, is TrustLink. There, they have a 5 out of 5 stars based on 284 reviews, another fairly high figure.

The reviewers go to some lengths about what it’s like to do business with the company. It’s often mentioned in the reviews that Augusta sets up an entire presentation for you in an online meeting before even getting to your questions. Customers do indeed reveal that they’ve also spoken to Steele, who answered their questions in a very satisfactory manner.

Friendly and attentive staff, a quick setting-up process, quick delivery in cases of non-IRA purchases and so on. Again, a lot of customers mention how the online meeting went in a positive manner, which really helps support Augusta’s claim of commitment to education. There are a few other websites where you can get feedback from, and it’ll be very much in line.

 

Augusta Precious Metals complaints

 

Despite not having a perfect rating on every single site, there aren’t any complaints I’ve come across on any of the watchdog sites, even ones that would be resolved to the customer’s liking. The closest to a complaint seems to be some 4-star reviews and one or two 3-star ones, the details of which don’t seem to be showing up.

It’s pretty rare for a company of this size to not have any complaints. It’s not a huge deal if it does, as customers can be hasty when it comes to making a complaint sometimes. But, obviously, not having any is even better.

 

 

How to open an Augusta Precious Metals IRA?

 

Augusta promotes its simple and straightforward 3 steps process to open an account.

In actual reality, and breaking down the details within the 3 step process from start finish can see the following 5-steps being taken:

The confirmation of the order doesn’t necessarily happen as your account is opened. It can take weeks for all the paperwork to be sorted on the custodian’s part, and avoiding oversights here is important. However, most reviewers mention a quick opening process.

The new IRA is primarily funded preferably by inactive employer-sponsored retirement plans and IRAs, though active plans and accounts might be eligible as well. After selecting the bullion, it’s shipped to the depository of your choice in allocated storage, meaning that it won’t be grouped together with other precious metals in the facility.

Once the account is opened, your interactions with Augusta will vary based on your preferences. Some precious metals IRA investors want a completely hands-off approach, while others like frequent updates or changes to the portfolio. Augusta is plenty comfortable with both, judging by the feedback.

Though the representative can change down the line, you’ll have one for as long as you open an account, which is something Augusta calls a lifetime customer support guarantee. It’s important to note that some companies offering gold IRAs and silver IRAs have little or no customer support of this kind, whereas Augusta almost gives you a kind of portfolio manager to go with the account.

 

Augusta Precious Metals review pros and cons

 

Pros

• ZERO fees for up to 10 years. Everyone qualifies.
• A+ BBB rating. AAA from Business Consumer Alliance. 1000s of 5-star rankings.
• 2022 & 2023 Money magazine: “Best Overall Gold IRA Company.” Investopedia: “Most Transparent.”
• Elite VIP approvals: Mark Levin, Judge Jeanine Pirro, Ben Ferguson. Even hall of fame quarterback Joe Montana is a customer and superfan. 
• YOU choose your gold & silver. Select from the most popular products – you’re in charge.
• Best customer support
• Account lifetime service
• No pressure. Ideal for customers who are unhappy with their current gold IRA company.
• Compliant and transparent. Makes this a major part of its business for customer peace of mind.
• Best for ethics, overall customer experience. Proven caring, reliable, respected gold IRA company.
• Free guides. How to avoid gimmicks & high-pressure tactics used by gold IRA companies.
• Account lifetime service. A personal resource throughout your ownership of precious metals.

 

Cons

•  High investment minimum inside of an IRA
•  High investment minimum outside of an IRA
•  No platinum group metals in their inventory

 

Augusta Precious Metals review – Verdict

 

There’s not a whole lot to be said about Augusta precious metals bad sides. That they’re obvious is a kind of good side of its own. If an investment minimum of $50,000 is too high for you to open a Gold IRA account, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. And if platinum or palladium interest you more than gold or silver, or if you have a strong interest in them in general, another company might likewise be better-suited.

If not, Augusta Precious Metals is everything else you’d want and expect out of a precious metals IRAs dealer. The kinds of guarantees that Augusta offers are exactly the kind retirement investors need. You’ll open a long-term oriented account and will receive the same customer support 5 or 10 years down the line as you would on the first day.

Anyone wanting a quality precious metals IRA should definitely give Augusta Precious Metals a consideration, as they’re undoubtedly one of the top companies in an industry with no shortage of competitors.