Birch Gold for smaller accounts review

• •I've been in the market for a while, spent a decade in tech out here in SF before pivoting to a more diversified portfolio a couple of years back.
• •My precious metals slice is sitting around $300k currently, and I went with Birch for a good chunk of it.
• •My experience has been pretty solid.

Okay, so I've been seeing a few posts float around about Birch Gold and I wanted to throw in my two cents, especially for those of us who aren't dropping multi-millions right off the bat. I've been in the market for a while, spent a decade in tech out here in SF before pivoting to a more diversified portfolio a couple of years back. My precious metals slice is sitting around $300k currently, and I went with Birch for a good chunk of it.

My experience has been pretty solid. Like anyone, I was a bit skeptical at first – you hear all the pitches, right? But the account rep I worked with was actually really helpful, not overly pushy. They walked me through the whole IRA rollover process from an old 401k, which frankly felt like a labyrinth before their help. We mostly focused on physical gold and silver coins, which felt like the right move for my goals of capital preservation and long-term stability rather than chasing quick gains. My concern was more about getting sound advice for a portfolio that, while not tiny, isn't UHNW levels either.

The fees were upfront, no real surprises, which is always a relief. Shipping was discrete and on time, which is something you definitely appreciate when you're talking about tangible assets like this. I know some people on here focus heavily on spread, and while I keep an eye on it, for me, the overall service and peace of mind were higher priorities for this part of my portfolio. Has anyone else with a similar portfolio size (let's say $250k-$500k in precious metals) used Birch or another major player? What were your key takeaways?

I'm mostly looking at this as an inflation hedge and a way to de-risk from some of the more volatile parts of my portfolio. It's a long game for me, not a short-term trade. Curious to hear if others have had comparable experiences or if there are specific things I should be looking out for as my holdings mature.