Gold Alliance Capital Review

After the recent economic turbulence, more and more people are interested in investing in precious metals for retirement. Gold and silver have been legal to hold in an IRA since 1997, when the IRS passed sweeping reforms. But the paperwork to do so can be complicated if you don't have a finance background.

That's why companies like Gold Alliance Capital were created. Precious metals IRA companies help people set up their accounts and purchase precious metals for them. But there are many companies that don't have legitimate practices. So does Gold Alliance Capital actually operate legitimately? And if so, how do their services compare to their competitors?

Here's everything that you should know when deciding whether this is the right precious metals IRA company for you to work with.

About Gold Alliance Capital

Gold Alliance Capital was first established in 2002, boasting two full decades in the business. The company functions as more than just a basic gold dealer. They try to cultivate long term relationships with each client, helping to maintain and grow your precious metals IRA over time.

According to the company website, the main goal is to help with financial security through precious metals. Because precious metals are not tied to a central bank, digital platform, or Wall Street, they have a level of stability that other investments don't. This allows them to act as a hedge against economic factors like stock market crashes and rapid inflation.

Gold Alliance Capital works with people all over the US on their IRAs. When you invest, you'll work with a dedicated account executive. This person will ask questions and get to know you and your goals. You'll continue to work with them throughout your relationship with Gold Alliance Capital.

There is also the option of buying platinum and palladium for an IRA. The regulations regarding what items can be held in an IRA are strict, so your account executive will help you decide. That way, they can make sure that everything you choose is compliant with the standards and guidelines available.

Opening an account requires a one-time fee. This fee covers the cost of having another person streamline all the paperwork for you. Not only will they make sure that you're compliant with the rules, but they'll also make the process go ten times faster than it would alone. After this, your account executive will also handle communication with your custodian and depository, making it even easier to get started with your IRA.

Gold Alliance Capital most closely works with the Delaware Depository, which is located in a state with multiple tax advantages. Just like every other part of the process, there are strict IRS guidelines regarding the storage of your precious metals.

The facility you choose must meet certain security and insurance requirements, which the Delaware Depository does. In fact, the Delaware Depository is one of the most popular choices for storing precious metals IRAs.

There are competitors that have partnerships with more storage companies. These are more likely to offer depository choices in other regions of the US, as well as potential international choices. So if you want your items to be stored overseas or in a different region than the East Coast, you might consider working with a different option.

Getting Signed Up

The signup process to work with Gold Alliance Capital is relatively simple. There will be the account fee to get you started. But compared to the competition, the ongoing maintenance fees in the future are much lower than with other companies.

You'll first call to speak with a representative of the company on the phone. When you determine that you do want to invest using Gold Alliance Capital, that representative will mail you an application. You'll fill out the information on the application, then mail it back with the pre-paid postage included in the envelope.

Once the application arrives and is processed, the account should become active in about 24 hours.

Keep in mind that snail mail isn't a requirement for this type of application. There are many other companies that will email you the relevant documents and have you sign electronically. So Gold Alliance Capital's system takes a little more time. But if you're more comfortable with hands-on paperwork than electronic, then you shouldn't have any trouble.

After you have had your account created and activated, the next step will be to talk to the account executive once more. You will have the option to fund your account using a transfer from your savings. Another option is to roll over the funds from an existing retirement account, which your account executive can help you with. This will just involve filling out another form.

The funding process usually takes about five business days. It partially depends on how quickly your custodian works, which is outside Gold Alliance Capital's area of control. But there are some competitors that claim to have shorter processing times because of how quickly and how frequently they contact the custodian.

Now that the money is in the account, you have the opportunity to pick the investments. This is another area that your executive can help you with. After you discuss your needs and plans for the future, they'll make suggestions. They can tell you about the advantages and disadvantages of different precious metals and specific products. You'll learn about the risk level and potential for growth over time.

As with any investment, there is some level of risk involved. But your representative will do their best to explain the risks before you make a purchase, so you can be confident that you're truly making the best choice for your needs.

Different Goals

The investment that you choose might be different depending on your goals, the amount of time you have, and the amount that you want to invest. For example, a beginning investor with a small amount of money will have different needs compared to a retiree who wants to secure a large portion of their funds against stock market instability.

One of the most common reasons that people invest in precious metals is to hedge against inflation. In these cases, there's no expectation of large returns. You're not trying to turn a profit. You just want to have a fallback in times of economic security, so you're able to wait things out until the economy stabilizes. That's an especially common goal for retirees and people close to retirement.

If this is your goal, then the best thing to do is to purchase products that retain their value over time. These involve common and stable investments like Canadian Maple and American Eagle coins. No matter what type of precious metal you purchase these coins in, they are from sovereign mints and perform well in the precious metals market.

Keep in mind that there are no guarantees when it comes to investment. These examples are just based off the existing price history of the coins, which isn't necessarily an indicator of future performance.

The other reason that people might invest in precious metals is to grow their savings. For this, it's best to look for items that sell at a low markup and have the potential for rapid growth. As with any investment that involves potential for rapid growth, there is a larger amount of risk.

In addition, you should know that numismatic collectibles cannot be held in an IRA. These items often have the largest potential for growth, since their pricing is more speculative. But they have the largest risk as well, because if there isn't a huge demand for the coin, then it could lose its market value.

The experts at Gold Alliance Capital recommend that people who want to grow their savings invest in historic coins, which have more potential value in the future. But not all of these historic coins are also available to hold in an IRA. You might need to make a personal purchase using cash instead of retirement funds.

Is Gold Alliance Capital a Scam?

Gold Alliance Capital is not a scam. The company has been well reviewed across multiple third party platforms. There have only been four complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau in the past four years, all of which have been resolved. None are available to view on the BBB website following the resolution.

Customers will often request that their complaints be removed after issues are resolved. This indicates that they were happy enough with the service to protect the company's reputation.

In addition, there is a customer service number published on the BBB website. Anybody with issues can call that to have them resolved before needing to file a complaint. It seems like this has served the company well, given that the number of complaints is a mere fraction of the positive reviews.

The BBB shows a rating of 4.96 out of 5 stars with 173 customer reviews. That shows that over 99% of customers have had excellent feedback.

The reviews talk about how patient, helpful, and encouraging the employees are. Several of them mention specific employees by name. Customers say that they were very happy to have Gold Alliance Capital walking them through the IRA process, especially beginners.

So based purely on the reviews, customer satisfaction seems like a high priority. There are perks with this company that you won't get with others, like having your storage fees covered. Since the storage is free, you don't have to pay as much to maintain your IRA.

Another advantage is the lack of investment minimums. No matter how much or how little you have to invest, you can get started with an IRA through Gold Alliance Capital. Other companies require you to meet investment requirements of several thousand dollars before getting started.

But there are a few potential drawbacks.

One of the major potential issues is the pricing of the precious metals themselves. In order to cover operating costs, Gold Alliance Capital marks up the metals past the spot price. That's standard practice in any company, but the markups here may be larger than with some of the competition. Some reviews indicate that the markups can be over 17 percent of the spot price at any given time.

If you're planning to buy a lot of metals at once, it might actually be cheaper to purchase through a company that makes money in maintenance fees instead of product markups.

The application process can also be an issue. There's nothing wrong with the application itself, and it costs nothing to get started. But the process is inconvenient and time consuming. Most of the gold IRA companies online have a way to get started over the phone or through an online form. But that's not the case with Gold Alliance Capital.

Instead, you'll have to request an application to be mailed to you. When the application arrives, you'll fill it out, then put it into the pre-paid envelope and send it back. Though the actual application takes just a couple of minutes, the postage time means that it can be several days before your account information is approved. Comparatively, some of the speedier competitors might set up an account for you within 48 hours.

Despite all this, though, there is absolutely nothing to indicate that Gold Alliance Capital is a scam. As mentioned, all complaints have been amicably resolved, and the majority of the customer feedback is positive in the first place. The company appears to be well managed and to have good policies in place to ensure consumer satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

There are many precious metals dealers that have plans to help people invest in an IRA. Gold Alliance Capital is just one of them. This company does have a number of advantages, the biggest of which is the positive reviews. The vast majority of past customers indicate that they are happy with the service and would have no hesitations about using it again.

In addition to making purchases for a retirement account, you can buy gold and silver with cash for your at-home portfolio. But the majority of the services are focused on opening and maintaining an IRA.

Gold Alliance Capital has lower overall fees for storage and maintenance than many of the competitors. In fact, you might end up getting free storage, which frees up a lot of the cost of maintaining a precious metals IRA. However, there are some reports that indicate that the purchase price of the metals themselves is marked up higher than the competition.

There will be a spread between the purchase and sale price of metals, no matter what. It's just a matter of whether that spread is small enough for you to earn your investment back as the price of metals goes up over time.

You might find lower overall product prices with some of the competitors. But for people who are looking for a company that doesn't have any investment minimums, this is a good choice. Gold Alliance Capital doesn't have any minimum requirements, making it ideal for this purpose.

But if you do have a few thousand dollars to invest, we have a few other companies that we'd recommend more highly due to their low spread and stellar customer service.