Custodian fees - who are you guys using and what's fair these days?

Brian Edwards

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Custodian fees - who are you guys using and what's fair these days?

brian_edwards🌟Ultra (5m+)

about 7 hours ago

Key Takeaways

•Been building this thing out for years since pretty early in my career, mostly as a hedge against the real estate swings.
•My existing custodian has been… fine.
•But I'm starting to wonder if I'm leaving money on the table with their fee structure.

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So, I've got a decent chunk of change sitting in a Gold IRA – well over $5M now, probably closer to $7.5M if we include the recent acquisition of some more platinum bars. Been building this thing out for years since pretty early in my career, mostly as a hedge against the real estate swings. Living here in Aspen, I see the market ebb and flow, and having that hard asset cushion just helps me sleep at night, especially with some of the more ambitious development projects I'm eyeing in the next few years. My existing custodian has been… fine. Not bad, not great. But I'm starting to wonder if I'm leaving money on the table with their fee structure.

I'm looking at their annual admin fees and storage costs, and for the amount of metal I've got, it feels a bit steep. They're charging a percentage fee, which obviously compounds as my holdings grow. I remember when I first set this up, it seemed reasonable, but with my portfolio size now, that percentage translates to a pretty significant dollar figure every year that just… goes. I’ve heard whispers about tiered structures or even flat fees for larger accounts, which would be a game-changer for me. My current setup is a pretty standard segregated storage, which I definitely want to stick with – not interested in commingled for obvious reasons.

So, for those of you with substantial Gold IRAs, who are you using for custodians, and what kind of fees are you seeing? Are any of you on flat-rate plans that you like? Or a tiered structure that caps out? I’m particularly interested in custodians that have a strong track record for high-value accounts and robust security, which I assume is standard for most, but you never know. I’m thinking about starting to shop around properly in the next quarter. Any recommendations or warnings would be super helpful. Trying to optimize every aspect of this portfolio as I look towards the next phase of investments.

5 comments

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Best Answer▲ 10 upvotes

jason_morgan💰Established (100-250k)

Wait, so you're including platinum bars in your Gold IRA? I thought IRAs for precious metals were pretty strict about only allowing gold and silver. How did you manage to get platinum in there?

Comments (5)

maria_campbell📊Growing (50-100k)✓ Verified•less than a minute ago

Wow, that's a serious stash you've got there! Congrats on the growth, always good to see those numbers going up.

I was in a similar boat a few years ago, though on a much smaller scale. My original custodian started hiking their fees when my account hit a certain threshold, even after I negotiated once. Ended up switching to Equity Trust and haven't looked back. Their fee structure was way more transparent and competitive for my situation. Definitely worth shopping around, especially with that kind of capital!

jason_morgan💰Established (100-250k)Real Investor✓ Verified•less than a minute ago

Wait, so you're including platinum bars in your Gold IRA? I thought IRAs for precious metals were pretty strict about only allowing gold and silver. How did you manage to get platinum in there?

robert_thompson💰Established (100-250k)Real Investor✓ Verified•less than a minute ago

Honestly, with that kind of capital, why are you even sweating the custodian fees? At $5M+, a few hundred or even a thousand bucks a year is a drop in the bucket. Focus on the security and efficiency of the custodian service itself, not just nickel-and-diming on fees. You're past the point where minor fee differences impact your bottom line meaningfully.

ashley_baker💼Starter (0-50k)✓ Verified•less than a minute ago

Hey, that's an awesome portfolio you've built up! For folks with significant holdings like yours, it often makes sense to look for flat-fee custodians rather than those charging a percentage of assets. Percentage fees can really start to eat into your returns when you hit those higher valuations.

You might want to check out some of the specialized IRA custodians like Preferred Trust Company or Equity Trust. They're often mentioned in discussions around flat-fee structures for precious metals IRAs. Definitely worth a comparison to see if they can offer better value for your account size!

nancy_hall💰Established (100-250k)Real Investor•less than a minute ago

Totally agree with you on the need to shop around for custodian fees, especially with that kind of capital. It really adds up.

I'm with XYZ Custodian and for a portfolio roughly half the size of yours (around $3.5M), I'm paying about $200 per year flat fee. No percentage, which I specifically looked for. There are some storage fees on top of that, but they're pretty minimal. Definitely worth exploring a flat fee option if you haven't already.

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