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Two of the top precious metals dealers online today are Goldco and Noble Gold. Both have amazing reviews and great ratings with investment experts, media personalities, and consumer watchdogs. But despite a lot of overlap, the companies also have some key differences.
What's the Same?
Both of these companies offer a number of high quality gold, platinum, and silver products. They both have inventories that change frequently, and they both offer IRA services. Both make it simple for people to sign up for self-directed IRAs and buy metals with their retirement funds.
Many of the products offered are the same. In addition, both companies have a small selection of collectible coins that aren't actually eligible to hold inside an IRA. You can buy these using your savings.
What's Different?
These are some key differences:
Available Services and Products
Goldco
Goldco has extremely basic and straightforward services. There are two main ways to buy gold: through an IRA, and through your savings. With an IRA, you don't have to pay taxes on the income until you take distributions later. As such, you have to comply with strict IRS regulations regarding the setup and storage of the products.
With your savings, you're just making a cash purchase. That gives you total freedom over where the package is shipped and how it is stored. Goldco even has free storage offers for people who invest in a personal portfolio. That's much safer and more stable than storing your items at home. Even bank deposit boxes are vulnerable to search and seizure, since they are connected to the central system.
If you do have the package mailed to you, it will be completely insured. You'll sign for it at the door. Should anything happen to the contents, you can be reimbursed through an insurance claim.
The IRA services are also simple, despite how complicated the setup might seem initially. That's because you connect to a single person who takes care of literally everything. They fill out the application, talk to your custodian, file the rollover paperwork, communicate with your depository, and help you settle on which products are best for you.
These services are so simple and convenient, in fact, that Goldco has been named one of the best gold and silver IRA companies in the entire nation. They sell a variety of silver, gold, and platinum. The availability of different items will depend on the day, as their inventory is constantly updating and changing.
Noble Gold
Just like Goldco, Noble Gold offers a variety of IRA-eligible products for people to create a precious metals IRA. They make it simple for investors to contact a custodian, and then the custodian handles the rest. Unlike with Goldco, you probably will need to work directly with your custodian. But the custodian should be able to coordinate everything.
Once you've worked with your custodian on opening your account and rolling over the appropriate funds, you'll discuss your options with a representative from Noble Gold. They will explain the available products and answer questions. Then they will be able to recommend certain items based on your unique plans for the future.
Like most of the top companies in this respect, Noble Gold has a personalized touch. They will assign you one person to handle your account and your purchases, from the day you make an IRA to the day you cash out.
Sometimes Noble Gold will have inventory that isn't capable of being kept inside a retirement account. There are multiple reasons for this. Circulated coins generally can't be kept, and neither can collectibles or numismatics. Metals also need to meet certain purity standards, and coins need to be from approved mints that create sovereign currency around the globe.
However, these items aren't Noble Gold's biggest focus. They aren't interested in collectors or in cash purchases. Unlike Goldco, they don't have a massive inventory that can be perused by any curious collector. Instead, they hold onto items that they believe are truly necessary to handle a serious situation.
Then they use these items to create Survival Packs. Have you been considering investing in gold just in case of an emergency, but you aren't sure where to start? That's exactly what this service is built for. Instead of researching endless products and agonizing over the right one, you'll simply invest a certain amount, and the Noble Gold team will hand-assemble the bullion for you.
All of the items inside the Survival Pack are popular bullion choices, and therefore easy to liquidate, even in times of extreme upheaval. Whether dealing with government issues, natural disasters, or other concerns, the Survival Packs are built to help you and your family discreetly live off the grid.
You can either store the pack in a depository or in your home. Home storage is shipped through Noble Express. The package is wrapped plainly without any indication as to the interior. It is insured for the full value of the items and will require a signature. Noble Gold prioritizes client confidentiality above all else, so they keep people's purchases private.
The Survival Packs start at a cash investment of $10,000, enough for an average family to survive for several weeks. There are basic tiers going up to $500,000, with the largest tier being for people who need to undergo extreme hardship.
Finally, there's the customized Noble Ambassador tier. Unlike the other items, you can pay for it using your dollars or your Bitcoin. However, the option is only available to clients overseas who want to keep precious metals inside the US for their future plans.
Fees and Promotions
Goldco
Goldco has very straightforward fees. They don't publish the prices of their products, nor do they say how they calculate their prices. But past customers have reported being given very reasonable quotes for their purchases, with the company attaining almost complete and total satisfaction.
All of the products offered, whether IRA-eligible or not, are meant for investors. If you're an avid coin collector, then you should also be creating a worthwhile coin collection. To this end, if you make a cash purchase, Goldco asks that you buy at least $3,500 worth of coins or other bullion.
If you're using the IRA services, Goldco asks that you invest at least $25,000. That can be a pretty big chunk of your retirement, depending on how long you've been saving. But hundreds of customers have said that the investment was worth it, thanks to the streamlining and the impeccable customer service.
To offset this, the price to get set up is relatively low. There's a cost of just $50. Many other companies either charge a percentage of your investment, or they charge upwards of $100. The top companies have flat fees of around $50 or allow customers to get set up for free upon meeting the minimum requirements.
Storage costs depend on whether you purchase a non-segregated or segregated account. Segregated storage costs $150 annually, which is the same as Noble Gold. But if you want to save money, non-segregated holdings are only $100 for every year. These accounts have the same amount of insurance and auditing and security, so they are still extremely secure.
Goldco does have multiple promotions available to new customers, as of writing this. Their active offers might change on a monthly basis, so it's important to touch base with your representative. But they have an offer to waive the initial fees for your first year if you meet a certain minimum, including the storage and maintenance costs.
There's another offer to give people back part of their investment in silver. You can get five percent back in silver bullion that is shipped to your door, up to a cost of $10,000. This is investment grade silver that you'll hold outside of your IRA and can use as you please.
Noble Gold
Noble Gold's fees, minimums, and promotions all vary depending on the services that you're using.
Collectors can expect coins to be marked up with an extra commission when compared to the pure bullion. That's because collectible coins are more of a speculative investment, with more potential to grow past the melt value. But this also makes them risky. because you never know if the value will remain steady.
If you do get the collectible coins, they will all be graded and independently certified by a respected organization like the NGC or the PGCS. But there are other numismatic companies that have much broader selections of collectible and historic coins.
For those who are using the IRA services, there is a minimum investment. If you contribute to your IRA with cash from your savings or make a direct purchase, you have to spend at least $2,000. But if you are rolling funds over from another retirement account, then you need to meet a minimum of $5,000. That helps cover the extra paperwork and communication with the custodian.
There is no setup fee to take care of the paperwork. That's part of why you have to be willing to spend more if you're financing your purchase using a rollover. Despite the lack of fee, you will be expected to pay your storage and custodial fees for the first year once your depository vault is established.
Both of the storage options with Noble Gold use segregated storage. As such, it's a slightly more expensive option than the lowest Goldco tier, coming in at a flat $150 each year. You'll typically pay an additional $80 for the custodian to maintain the account, so the total comes to $230 each year.
With the Survival Packs, the lowest tier for the investment is $10,000. That's enough to get you hand-selected bullion based on the best easily-liquidated choices for the current prices. The tiers increase until you get to a maximum of $500,000. People outside the US can use the Ambassador service to create a custom US vault and pay with Bitcoin or US currency.
Noble Gold does not appear to have any active promotions right now. But you can ask the representative whether there are any deals to have your fees waived or get part of your purchase back. It's possible that they'll be willing to create a custom deal if you meet certain investment requirements.
Educational Tools
The more that you understand about your investments, the more empowered you are to make the right decisions. Both Noble Gold and Goldco strongly focus on teaching clients about the importance of silver and gold. They believe that you need to understand why these investments are important if you want to make the most informed decision possible.
Goldco
Goldco offers a wealth of educational tools to potential new clients. You aren't under any obligation to invest, either. You can peruse all of their resources at your leisure. These resources help you learn more about the industry, and they can help you to trust in the expertise of Goldco's staff.
One of the biggest things that Goldco does is offer an investment kit in the mail. You can have it mailed to you with no cost whatsoever, including having the shipping covered. Inside you'll find the following information:
These tools are built to teach you the basics of investing, no matter what type of learner you are. You don't have to worry about dense paragraphs or heavy jargon. The kit has something for everybody, whether you're a total beginner or a seasoned pro.
On the website itself, there's also an entire section set aside for articles and news. There are articles on basically every topic that you can think of. If you want to learn about storage options, government probes, current events, mining history, or just about anything else, all you have to do is search a quick keyword. There are frequently new news pieces that break down what's happening globally and how it can potentially affect your future.
Noble Gold
Noble Gold has multiple educational resources available. You can access these for free, like with Goldco's resources. The idea is that clients should know that precious metals are the right investment choice for them. They should feel like they've found a solution, not like they've been talked into something they don't want to do.
The website also makes it easy to navigate to these different pages. As soon as you visit the homepage, you can click on "Learn" and see tons of different menus. You can learn about IRAs, precious metals themselves, the economy, and current events. The company makes an effort to stay up-to-date on important economic news and offer insights.
If you want to get a guide to investing in gold and silver, you can download Noble Gold's free guide directly from their website. Unlike Goldco, these resources are sent in email form, not by snail mail.
There's also an entire library dedicated to education. You can browse educational tools and articles about protecting your retirement from government overreach, using gold during natural disasters, and optimizing your retirement assets for maximum security and comfort.
All in all, it's a robust helping of information. And when you call to speak to someone, you can also ask them your questions. Past customers say that they've been pleased by how patient and understanding the representatives are.
Who Wins?
Each company being compared has a great reputation. They both do as much as they can for their customers, and they both make the IRA process painless and simple. So the real question is whose services will benefit you more.
If you're looking specifically for a gold IRA, we recommend Goldco. It's simply impossible to beat their services. They also have more flexible storage options, where you can choose highly secure vaults or non-segregated affordable options. When you sign up, you don't ever need to talk to your custodian yourself.
There are also promotions for new customers with Goldco, which Noble Gold doesn't seem to have. You can find out whether you meet the requirements to get silver back for your purchase, or to have your fees waived.
With all of that said, Noble Gold works best if you specifically want to invest in survival bullion for a cash portfolio. They have an entire service dedicated to this, which Goldco lacks.