High storage fees for Platinum IRA - is this normal?

Steven Mitchell

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🔲 Platinum IRA

High storage fees for Platinum IRA - is this normal?

steven_mitchell🏆Advanced (250-500k)

about 5 hours ago

Key Takeaways

•I'm relatively new to the Platinum IRA space, though I’ve had a significant chunk of my retirement savings in a Gold IRA for a few years now.
•I'm a manufacturing exec here in Cleveland, and hard assets just make sense to me, always have.
•Put about $70k into it, figuring it would be a nice hedge.

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I'm relatively new to the Platinum IRA space, though I’ve had a significant chunk of my retirement savings in a Gold IRA for a few years now. I'm a manufacturing exec here in Cleveland, and hard assets just make sense to me, always have. My Gold IRA is sitting around $300k now, which is great, but I wanted to diversify a bit more within precious metals, so I opened a Platinum IRA with a different custodian a few months back. Put about $70k into it, figuring it would be a nice hedge.

What's really catching my eye, and not in a good way, are these storage fees. With my Gold IRA, I pay an annual flat fee that comes out to well under 0.1% of my total account value – which feels reasonable for what it is. For this new Platinum IRA though, they're charging me a percentage based on the value of the platinum, and it’s feeling closer to 0.75% annually. On a $70k account, that’s almost $500 a year just for storage! My Gold IRA costs me less than that on a portfolio over four times its size.

Is this difference in storage fees typical for Platinum vs. Gold IRAs? I know platinum is less common, maybe requires different storage, but this feels excessive. My Gold IRA custodian uses a well-known vaulting service, so it's not like I'm comparing a shack with Fort Knox here. I remember when I was first researching IRAs, I used the Retirement Planner tool quite a bit to understand the different costs associated with various precious metal options, but I don't recall such a drastic difference being highlighted for storage.

I’m wondering if I just picked an expensive custodian for the platinum, or if this is just the reality of holding platinum in an IRA. For those of you with Platinum IRAs, what are you paying for storage, %-wise or even a flat fee, and what's your account size? I'm open to moving the platinum to a different custodian if this is far off the mark. Thanks for any insights.

4 comments

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Best Answer▲ 10 upvotes

patricia_miller📊Growing (50-100k)

Hey there! Storage fees can definitely vary, especially with platinum. It's not uncommon for platinum to have slightly higher fees than gold due to some different handling and insurance considerations, but "high" is subjective.

You might find this comparison of precious metals storage fees helpful. It gives a good overview of what to expect across different metals and providers, so you can see if your current fees are truly out of line. Good luck!

Comments (4)

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

Hey, I've been looking into platinum myself for diversification, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. When you say "high storage fees," what kind of percentage are we talking about? Like, what's a ballpark figure for what you're seeing?

kenneth_parker💎Premium (500k-1m)Real Investor✓ Verified•less than a minute ago

Totally get where you're coming from. I had a similar "sticker shock" moment when I branched out from my Gold IRA to add some Palladium. The storage fees for the Palladium were significantly higher than for the gold, and I was genuinely wondering if I'd made a mistake or if my provider was just fleecing me. Turns out, it's pretty common for less common metals like platinum and palladium to have higher storage costs due to lower demand and specialized handling. Still, it's always good to shop around and make sure you're not getting ripped off!

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

It's interesting you bring up storage fees for platinum specifically. While it's true that precious metals in an IRA generally incur storage fees, sometimes the *perceived* "high" fees for platinum come down to the lower volume held compared to gold. If someone has, say, 100oz of gold vs. 10oz of platinum, the platinum's storage fee might seem higher per ounce, even if the actual percentage is comparable, simply because it's a smaller total asset value being stored. Not saying your fees aren't high, just something to consider when comparing apples to oranges!