Augusta Precious Metals is one of many precious metals firms in the U.S. that specialize in gold and silver IRAs. Augusta is one of the more widely recognized gold dealers with celebrity endorsements and advertisements popping up all over the internet.

But how does Augusta stack up against the competition? In this review, we'll tell you why we've made Augusta Precious Metals one of our top recommended gold IRA dealers for 2022.

Like every other gold dealer, Augusta claims unique expertise and commitment to client satisfaction. After doing a thorough assessment of all top gold IRA companies, we have decided to endorse Augusta because it has:

•  a unique education program with a one-on-one web conference designed by its staff economist 
• it provides ongoing service over the entire span of a customer's account 
• it has the best ratings and reviews on third-party websites - including a lack of complaints in the many years since its founding.

In this Augusta Precious Metals review, we'll look at the company's history, executive team, online ratings, and customer reviews.

We'll also look into the firm's IRA fees, and any other costs involved to open a precious metals IRA. Let's get started!

Augusta Precious Metals Background

Augusta Precious Metals was founded in 2012 by CEO Isaac Nuriani. He launched the gold firm with a mission not only to help American investors diversify their retirement savings into physical gold and silver, but to provide information that investors often can't get from their own financial advisors who don't deal in precious metals.

One area where this company stands out from some competitors is their commitment to education and transparency. They also have competitive prices and the best special offer in the industry (up to 10 years of fees paid for you to custodian and vaults).

Devlyn Steele, the company's on-staff economist (trained at Harvard business School's analytics program) and Director of Education leads a team dedicated solely to educating Americans about the importance of diversification in alternative assets.

While most precious metals companies have educational resources found on their corporate website, Augusta puts together very interesting and personal one-on-one conferences with individuals who request their gold IRA guide and information kit.

This approach of individually educating each potential customer is unique to what we see offered by some of their competition. Add to that, many resources online - especially a robust set of videos you can watch to learn about the economy and gold and silver accounts.

Joe Montana - Celebrity Endorsement

Many gold IRA dealers incorporate celebrity endorsements in their marketing efforts. Augusta Precious Metals now has hall-of-fame quarterback Joe Montana.  It is important to note, that Joe Montana is also a client of Augusta Precious Metals and bases his recommendation on his actual experience as a customer.

Interested in protecting his own nest egg from economic uncertainty, Montana asked his team of experts what he should be doing to protect his money for the future. They told him to invest in gold as an alternative asset, so he asked them to research gold dealers and find a company that he can trust. After performing due diligence, they recommended he work with Augusta Precious Metals.

Joe Montana requested Augusta's information kit, signed up for a web conference anonymously, and spoke with Devlyn Steele. He ended up buying gold and silver through the company and was so enamored of their mission that he wanted to become their spokesperson.

Related: TSP to Gold IRA - How to Convert a Portion of Your TSP to Physical Precious Metals

Online Ratings, Reviews, & Complaints

In their years of business, Augusta Precious Metals has built a strong reputation as a trusted gold IRA dealer. Below we've curated a list of their ratings across all of the trusted verified client review sites.

This is the only company we've found to have zero complaints with the BBB.

These ratings play a big role in our decision to rank Augusta at the top of our best gold IRA companies list for 2022.

Related: Visit Augusta Precious Metals Online to Request their Free Gold Investor Kit

One thing we like about the company is that Augusta readily links to the BBB, BCA, TrustLink, and Google My Business reviews directly on their website. Their youtube channel also displays endorsements and testimonials from some of their current customers.

The best way to position yourself as a leader and at the same time drum up new business is through customer referrals and building a reputation of consistent 5-star reviews.

Positive client reviews are what we look for before recommending a gold IRA company on our site. We can't usually say a company has no complaints, so in Augusta's case, that applies heavily to our recommendation.

Related: Research and Compare our List of Top Gold IRA Dealers For 2022

Products and Services

Augusta Precious Metals is almost exclusively a gold IRA company. The meat of their business focuses on helping Americans rollover or transfer 401(k) or IRA funds into precious metals - usually gold and silver. They do however, also facilitate direct purchases (outside of an IRA) with delivery to clients across all 50 states. 

One admirable thing about Augusta is that the company has built a streamlined process involving all departments - from the education department, to the IRA processing department, to the order desk, to the confirmation department - to ensure that your experience is smooth and efficient. You are assigned your own agent who will keep in touch through the whole process, keep things moving, and answer all your questions.

The company can supply clients with a range of gold and silver bullion such as:

• Gold or silver American Eagle coins
• Gold American Buffalo coins
• Gold or silver Canadian Maple Leaf coins
• Gold or silver Austrian Philharmonic coins
• Gold South African Kruggerand coins
• Silver America the Beautiful coins
• Gold & Silver bullion bars

Augusta Precious Metals does not specialize in other precious metals such as platinum and palladium, but can facilitate these investments if the client requests them.

Click here to visit Augusta Precious Metals' website now.

How Does a Gold IRA Work?

When opening a gold IRA, there are typically three parties involved. If you decide to work with Augusta Precious Metals, your situation would look like this - you would work with:

• the Gold IRA company (Augusta) - they help you set up the accounts and can act as a liaison with your custodian and storage company; they have gold IRA professionals in several departments who do 95% of the paperwork with you to make the process very smooth and easy.
• the self-directed IRA custodian (Equity Trust) - they officially administer your precious metals account as per IRS rules.
• the third-party vault storage company (Delaware Depository or Brinks) - they provide secure storage outside of the banking system.

In short, most traditional IRA or 401(k) custodians cannot facilitate alternative investments like physical gold and silver. So you can't just buy gold and have them delivered to your 401(k) or employer-sponsored retirement account. This must be handled via a self-directed IRA (SDIRA), with a custodian that specializes in physical precious metals IRA accounts.

The IRS also prohibits direct possession of IRA investments - so you need a gold depository or vault storage company in order to buy precious metals without triggering a taxable event.

Augusta Precious Metals has established relationships with Equity Trust and Brinks or the Delaware Depository for storage. While they can work with the custodian and vault company of your choice, the dealer works with these two companies every day, making the whole process streamlined and simple. 

Related: Visit Augusta Precious Metals to Request their Free Gold Investor Kit

Gold IRA Fees

Many of the top gold IRA companies work with Equity Trust and Augusta Precious Metals is one of them. I believe this is because of Equity's excellent reputation and low annual fees.

Equity Trust's fees include:

• Account set-up fee: $50 (this is a one-time fee)*
• Annual maintenance fee: $80*

*Augusta will cover 100% of your IRA fees for up to 10 years. Make sure to ask about this.

The Delaware Depository is Augusta's vault storage company of choice, widely used by many gold IRA dealers. The storage company offers both commingled and segregated vault storage in either Delaware or Nevada, both business and regulatory-friendly states.

Segregated vault storage will costs are slightly higher than commingled storage. Ultimately, it's your decision which of the two options you prefer.

The Delaware Depository's annual fees:

• Commingled storage: $100 (or)*
• Segregated vault storage: $150*

*Augusta will cover 100% of your IRA fees for up to 10 years. Make sure to ask about this and other ongoing promotions.

Note: Consult with your Augusta agent to discuss which storage option makes the most sense for your situation. You may find that it's worth the additional $50 for segregated storage - especially if Augusta is covering these costs!

Between Brinks and the Delaware Depository, Augusta offers clients IRA storage solutions in the following cities:

Augusta Review: Pros and Cons

No gold company is perfect - and an Augusta Precious Metals review would not be balanced if we didn't discuss both the pros and the cons...

What I Like About Augusta Precious Metals? 

Their one-on-one approach is truly unique, and it shows me that they are serious about providing really rich customer service - not only before you buy, but after (they say for the entire life of your account).

If you're serious about investing in gold, we suggest that you request your personally tailored presentation and educational webinar. This is not a replay of a pre-recorded presentation. You're treated exactly the same way they treated Joe Montana.

We also found overwhelming positive reviews for the company online and were surprised to see zero complaints since the company was founded. Their clients verify that Augusta's prices are very competitive, and having up to 10 years of IRA fees covered by Augusta is an excellent promotion (depending on how many years you're qualified for).

With the volume of business they do, it's expected to find anecdotal situations where there are unhappy clients. The internet is your friend and with sites like the BBB, Trustlink, and google, it's quick to see when a company is not performing at their best.

Even if it's one out of ten thousand clients, that ONE negative review ends up all over all of the verified client review sites! The good news about Augusta Precious Metals reviews is that at the time of this writing, the company's client feedback is excellent.

The company is transparent with this and links directly to third-party review pages directly from their site.

What I Don't Like About Augusta PM

The minimum purchase with Augusta Precious Metals is $50,000. This is for both, gold IRA and direct delivery purchases. 

Some of Augusta's competitors will facilitate a gold IRA rollover for as low as $10,000.  If you are planning to invest $50,000 or more in precious metals, this won't pose a problem. Request your free informational kit.

But many Americans haven't saved enough in retirement and are priced out of working with Augusta.

Also, the company doesn't specialize in platinum and palladium products. While the majority of investors are interested in gold and silver, I believe a gold IRA company should offer a wide a selection of IRA-accepted precious metals and have them displayed on their website.

Note: We reached out to Augusta Precious Metals about this. The company can facilitate platinum and palladium if asked. They focus almost exclusively on gold and silver because this is what their customers typically are looking for.

Augusta Precious Metals Review

Gold IRA dealers are a dime a dozen, so how do you sort out the good from the bad? We do this for our readers by researching company reviews.

There is a great deal of information about these companies on third-party review sites. After researching many gold IRA companies, we decided to choose Augusta Precious Metals as one of our top recommendations for these reasons:

• They have had no complaints whatsoever with the BBB and BCA in the entire time they have existed
• They have made a clear commitment to personalized service with their one-of-a-kind, one-on-one web conference designed by their on-staff Harvard-trained economist and delivered by the company's professional education team
• Third-party review websites show almost perfect ratings (it's hard to find one that is not a 5-star review)
• They were voted "Most Trusted in the U.S." by one of the most well-known review sites in this industry.
• They have competitive prices, transparent business practices, and the best special offer to cover fees that we've found

Augusta Precious Metals' previous customers rate them well, they're established leaders in the gold IRA industry, and they've been around for a decade. If you're looking at investing at least $50,000 in precious metals, they're worth contacting for more information.

Be sure to request Augusta's information kit, get on the phone with one of their agents, and don't be shy about asking a lot of questions. Don't forget to ask about their one-on-one web conference like the one Joe Montana did, and ask them to put all fees and costs for opening and maintaining our gold IRA in writing.

Regardless of who you end up working with, always request information kits from at least two or three gold companies, get on the phone with a few of the higher rated firms, and compare everything. Get all fees and costs to opening and maintaining your gold IRA in writing. 

Opening a gold IRA might be a smart move for your finances - especially if you work with a reputable company like Augusta Precious Metals. Take the time now to get to know this company and find out how you can use gold and silver to help you protect your retirement accounts. With all the economic pressures going on at this time in history, you'll be glad you did.