Feeling burned by my custodian's fees on gold rounds

Diane Bailey

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Feeling burned by my custodian's fees on gold rounds

diane_bailey💰Established (100-250k)

about 2 months ago

Key Takeaways

•Okay, I need to vent a little and then also get some real advice.
•I've been investing in a Gold IRA for about three years now – mostly American Gold Eagles and Canadian Maples, which have done pretty well for me.
•I'm sitting on about $220k in my IRA, and I thought I had a handle on the fees.

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Okay, I need to vent a little and then also get some real advice. I've been investing in a Gold IRA for about three years now – mostly American Gold Eagles and Canadian Maples, which have done pretty well for me. I'm sitting on about $220k in my IRA, and I thought I had a handle on the fees. My business, a few vacation rentals down here in Savannah, has seen its ups and downs, so having some of my capital in physical gold just feels right, especially with all the talk about inflation and economic uncertainty. It’s been my buffer.

Here's the problem: I just got my quarterly statement from my current custodian (not going to name them yet, let's see if anyone else has a similar experience), and the storage and maintenance fees for my gold rounds seem significantly higher than what I anticipated or was initially quoted. It feels like they're nickel and diming me, especially when you factor in the value of the rounds themselves. I'm all for paying for secure storage, but this just feels...excessive. Like, are they charging me per coin or something? I tried to call to get a breakdown, and it was a whole ordeal to even get someone on the line who could explain it clearly.

So, to everyone else here with gold rounds in their IRA – who are you using for your custodian, and what's your experience been like with their fee structure, especially for rounds? Are there specific custodians known for being more transparent or having more reasonable rates for gold rounds? I'm seriously considering transferring my holdings if I can find a better option. Any recommendations for custodians you've had a great experience with, or even warnings about ones to avoid, would be super helpful. I'm tired of feeling like I need a magnifying glass and a lawyer to understand my statements.

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4 comments

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Best Answer▲ 10 upvotes

gary_stewart📊Growing (50-100k)

Honestly, you might be looking at this the wrong way if the fees are your main beef with the rounds. Even with a lower premium coin, you're still paying a premium over spot, right? And then the custodian fees on top. Is the liquidity of the rounds really that much more appealing than, say, a 1 oz bar if you're holding it long-term in an IRA? Just something to think about, since you're already locked into the custodian for the IRA itself.

You could also just eat the fee for the rounds if the market performance outweighs the cost, but that's a different risk analysis.

Comments (4)

jennifer_martinez💰Established (100-250k)Real Investor✓ Verified•about 2 months ago

Ugh, I feel you on this one. I had a similar situation with silver rounds a few years back. Thought I was being smart diversifying into different forms of precious metals, only to find my custodian was charging some seriously inflated storage fees for the "non-standard" items. It was a real pain to untangle. Definitely look into some of the custodians people are mentioning here; wish I'd done that sooner.

jason_morgan💰Established (100-250k)Real Investor✓ Verified•about 2 months ago

Ugh, that's rough. Fees can really eat into those gains. You mentioned mostly Eagles and Maples, but then also "gold rounds" in your title... are those different from the Eagles/Maples you're talking about, or just how you refer to them?

gary_stewart📊Growing (50-100k)•about 2 months ago

You could also just eat the fee for the rounds if the market performance outweighs the cost, but that's a different risk analysis.

mark_adams👑Elite (1m-5m)Real Investor•about 2 months ago

Ugh, that's incredibly frustrating when fees sneak up on you like that. It's tough to stay on top of all the little charges.

One thing I always recommend checking is the custodian's fee schedule for *storage* specifically. Sometimes they lump in admin fees and storage, but other times storage is a separate line item that can vary a lot depending on whether it's commingled or segregated. Also, some custodians offer lower storage fees for much larger balances, so if you're close to a tier, worth asking if they'd budge. Good luck!

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