Gold IRA Custodian - Who are you guys using and why?

• •Okay, so I'm finally pulling the trigger on rolling over about $150k of my 401k into a Gold IRA.
• •Been planning this for a while, especially with all the economic uncertainty swirling around.
• •Physical gold in a retirement account feels like the right move for some serious diversification and a hedge against inflation.

Okay, so I'm finally pulling the trigger on rolling over about $150k of my 401k into a Gold IRA. Been planning this for a while, especially with all the economic uncertainty swirling around. I'm a marketing exec here in Minneapolis, trying to eye an early retirement in the next 10-12 years, and frankly, I'm just not feeling warm and fuzzy about traditional markets right now. Physical gold in a retirement account feels like the right move for some serious diversification and a hedge against inflation.

I've done a lot of research on the dealers themselves, and have a pretty good idea of who I'll work with for the actual metals. The one piece I'm still feeling a bit overwhelmed by is the custodian. Seems like every dealer has a "preferred" custodian, but I'm getting a little wary of just going with their recommendation without hearing some real-world experiences. It's a significant chunk of my nest egg, so I want to make sure I'm picking someone reliable, transparent, and with decent fees.

So, to everyone else who has a Gold IRA – who are you using as your custodian? And more importantly, why? Any custodians you'd strongly recommend avoiding? I'm particularly interested in things like ease of paperwork, reporting, fee structure clarity (hidden fees are my worst nightmare!), and any experience with liquidating or taking distributions down the line (even though that's a ways off for me). Thanks in advance for any insights, this community has been incredibly helpful in my research so far!