5 Dirty Little Secrets About Gold IRA “Spreads”

With so much geopolitical turbulence, more Americans are turning to precious metals like gold and silver to protect their retirement accounts.

Taking the financial high ground is appealing, particularly to the politically conservative who appreciate the benefits associated with using gold and silver as “hedge” investments. But this surge in interest has yielded a dramatic rise in competition within the Gold IRA industry.

There are two ways for precious metals companies to thrive today. The first is to embrace a prudent business model that keeps expenses low, eliminating the need for high spreads. Facilitating a Gold IRA is not inherently costly, which is why companies of high integrity like Augusta Precious Metals are able to maintain the lowest across-the-board spreads in the industry.

The alternative is to charge high spreads to their customers in order to fund massive sales and marketing budgets. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Gold IRA companies have chosen this second option because of higher potential profits.

There are “five dirty little secrets” that drive many Gold IRA spreads to 40% or higher:

Low Minimums

On the surface, having low minimum transaction levels may seem beneficial to the customers. After all, only needing $25,000 or less in a retirement account makes these companies seem “inclusive.” But the reality is these companies maintain low minimums because doing so allows them to justify extremely high spreads.

Augusta Precious Metals has a $50,000 minimum investment and their customers must have at least $100,000 in their retirement accounts. These minimums allow Augusta to keep their spreads as low as possible.

Boiler Room Sales Tactics

Many Gold IRA companies, particularly the largest ones, operate with a “boiler room” mentality. They utilize high-pressure sales tactics because their sales teams earn large commissions for trades they make.

The agents at Augusta Precious Metals are educators above all else. They are the only major company in the industry that does not pay sales commissions. This means their agents are incentivized to do what’s best for the customers instead of driving them to the products that pay the highest sales commission.

Augusta’s agents are paid salaries.

Celebrity Endorsements

When an actor or former Fox News host “endorses” a Gold IRA company, it’s because they’re paid to do so. They didn’t take their 401(k) and transfer it using the services of the companies they endorse. They are given a check and a script… and those checks are often very large.

Augusta Precious Metals knows that paying for celebrity endorsements means raising the spreads their customers would have to pay. That’s why they rely on the best endorsements possible — their customers — and the best marketing available: word-of-mouth.

“Free” or “Bonus” Silver Schemes

Of all the dirty little secrets in the Gold IRA industry that drive up spreads, the “free” or “bonus” giveaways are the ugliest. They aren’t really giving anything away for free. They’re simply raising their spreads so their customers end up paying for the “free” silver that gets sent to them.

Augusta does not insult the intelligence of their customers by pretending like anything is free. Instead, they just keep their spreads low and give their customers excellent value for their gold and silver.

Buyback Guarantees

The “free” silver scheme may be the ugliest of the dirty little secrets, but the buyback guarantee is the most devious. Yes, most Gold IRA companies have buyback guarantees, meaning whatever gold and silver they sell, they’re willing to buy it back at a later date. What they don’t mention is that they generally do not offer anywhere near as much money for the metals they buy back compared to the how much they sold them for originally.

Augusta Precious Metals doesn’t just have a “buyback guarantee.” They offer the “Highest Buyback Guarantee.” It’s just a one-word difference, but that word is by far the most important.

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