Gold IRA fees - what are you seeing out there?

• •Alright, so I’ve been kicking around the idea of upping my gold allocation within my IRA.
• •Currently sitting at around 8% of my 3.5m portfolio, which is mostly in precious metals trusts and a small physical stash.
• •Given the market volatility and some of the geopolitical noise coming out of Europe, I’m thinking about a direct physical IRA, specifically gold.

Alright, so I’ve been kicking around the idea of upping my gold allocation within my IRA. Currently sitting at around 8% of my 3.5m portfolio, which is mostly in precious metals trusts and a small physical stash. Given the market volatility and some of the geopolitical noise coming out of Europe, I’m thinking about a direct physical IRA, specifically gold. It's a nice hedge, and frankly, it just feels safer than some of the paper assets I'm managing for clients.

I’ve been doing some preliminary research into Gold IRA providers, and the fee structures are all over the place. Setup fees, annual maintenance fees, storage fees (segregated vs. unsegregated), transaction fees for buying/selling the actual metal… it's a labyrinth. I’m based in Greenwich, and frankly, my time is worth more than spending hours deciphering every single line item across a dozen different company quotes. I'm looking at places like Augusta, Goldco, Birch Gold, Regal, etc. – the usual suspects. For anyone who's recently gone through this, what were your final all-in fee percentages looking like? And did you find any providers with a more straightforward fee structure that wasn't trying to nickel and dime you to death?

My ideal would be something closer to a flat annual fee rather than percentages that just keep climbing as the value of the holdings appreciates. I've got a decent chunk I'm looking to roll over from an existing 401k, probably in the low seven figures range for this initial move. Does anyone have experience negotiating these fees down, especially for larger accounts? It feels like there should be some flexibility there, but I don't want to waste my time if it's pointless.

Also, completely unrelated but I've been using this Gold vs Stocks Comparison tool lately to show some of my partners the long-term trends, and it's pretty eye-opening how gold has performed against the S&P 500 over the last 10 years, especially with inflation concerns. Just a thought for anyone on the fence about asset classes. Anyway, back to the fees – any insights into who's offering the best value for a serious allocation?