Augusta Precious Metals - My experience after 18 months, wondering about others

• •Been meaning to post this for a while.
• •It's been about 18 months since I opened my Gold IRA with Augusta Precious Metals, and overall, I'm pretty pleased.
• •Had about $700k in a traditional IRA that I rolled over.

Been meaning to post this for a while. It's been about 18 months since I opened my Gold IRA with Augusta Precious Metals, and overall, I'm pretty pleased. Had about $700k in a traditional IRA that I rolled over. The whole process was smooth – I half-expected some kind of hiccup, but their team was really responsive. My account rep, Mark, was super helpful. He walked me through the different gold and silver options, never felt any pressure to buy one thing over another, which I appreciated. Given my business (logistics, based out of Memphis, gearing up for succession over the next 5-7 years), I'm all about risk management and stability, so the diversification was key for me.

The pricing seemed fair and transparent. I've heard horror stories about massive markups with other companies, but Augusta’s got a good reputation for that, and my research backed it up. The metals arrived at the Delaware Depository without a hitch, and I got all the confirmation documents promptly. Haven’t needed to touch the account since, which is exactly what I wanted – set it and forget it, essentially. My main goal was wealth preservation and hedging against inflation, especially with all the printing going on.

One question I have for others who've used them, or any Gold IRA provider, really: What's your long-term exit strategy? I'm thinking about what happens when I eventually need to take distributions. Are buyback programs as straightforward as they claim to be? Planning ahead for the next couple of decades has me thinking about that end-game a lot more these days.

Also curious if anyone has had any issues with their annual fees or statements? Mine have been pretty clear, but always good to compare notes. I'm always looking for ways to optimize, especially when dealing with this kind of capital.