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U.S. Money Reserve Highlights
- A+ BBB Rating
- Gold IRA Specialists
- AAA BCA Rating
- Free Investors Kit
- Buyback Guarantee
BBB
BCA
Contents
Should U.S. Money Reserve be a part of your retirement planning? If you're wondering that, it's actually a pretty good question.
It's also a rather informed question.
If you're asking it, then you might already know what gold IRAs are. You also probably know that you need a broker for such accounts. U.S. Money Reserve is such an option.
Gold IRA accounts are certainly great ways to save for retirement. Precious metals are an asset class that provides your portfolio with diversification since they are so different than stocks, bonds, and real estate.
An IRA lets you defer, postpone, or even avoid taxes on what you invest into the account.
U.S. Money Reserve is a gold IRA broker, as well as a dealer of gold and silver coins, bars, and bullion. You can start an account with them and fill it with precious metal products that they arrange to be stored in a safe depository until you are ready or even required to make withdrawals or distributions.
At that time, you can assume personal possession of your metals or liquidate them for cash.
Why choose U.S. Money Reserve over other brokers? To answer this, I'll help you learn about this broker. I'll also cover a few other options to consider.
What is U.S. Money Reserve?
As a company, U.S. Money Reserve deals with both gold and also gold IRAs. You can buy gold products through them for things you'd like to own as a private consumer.
However, you can also create a self-directed IRA for precious metal retirement investing through them as well.
The company president is Philip N. Diehl. His experience is quite relevant to operating a precious metal dealer. That's because he used to be the director of the United States Mint.
Extremely High Standards
This company stands by its products. If you buy coins as a regular consumer, you can get a refund for them for the first 30 days if you decide they're not right for your needs or collection.
Gold IRA clients get to enjoy a buyback guarantee at the end of their account that makes liquidating their holdings easy if they'd rather have cash instead of taking personal possession of their physical holdings.
Secure Shipping Options
Anytime you have something shipped from this company, you can enjoy peace of mind. They insure all of their shipments to protect the value included. Also, your signature is required for delivery.
Valuable Educational Resources
You can learn about buying and investing in gold through this company. They have free informational kits for anyone interested in learning more about buying gold.
Precious metal IRA clients also get access to educational resources through their website.
Get a Free Gold IRA Investing Kit
Want to learn more about the best gold IRAs? See why Goldco is our top choice:
IRA & 401k Investment Options
A gold IRA might not be where you want to start your investing for retirement. Stocks and bonds are often a better place to get going. You want early assets that have a high potential for growth.
However, once your portfolio is big enough, you want to do two things. First, you want to start diversifying it for balance. Second, you want to take steps to preserve your wealth.
Gold IRA Specialists
A gold IRA account can do both at the same time, and U.S. Money Reserve lets you do this. You can do a rollover of previous retirement accounts into a gold IRA. Fund one with your 401(k) or 403(b) plan. You can also do a rollover from a previous IRA, be it traditional, Roth, SEP, or Simple IRA.
Many investors who fill their portfolios might be familiar with IRAs for paper-based assets, such as stocks, bonds, and real estate. However, you can also buy gold and various other precious metals for the same tax advantages in a self-directed IRA. U.S. Money Reserve makes this easy to do.
Free Consultation
There are benefits to working with this broker. Even before you sign up with them, you can enjoy a free consultation with them via their toll-free number. You can also get a free informational kit sent to you about investing in gold.
Client Perks
Once you are a client, your rollover might qualify for over $18,000 in silver products. They also don't charge fees for the first year. At the end of your account, they will offer to do a buyback of your metals for simple liquidation if you want cash instead of handling gold products on your own.
Gold IRA Benefits
U.S. Money Reserve lists several major benefits of investing in a gold IRA through them. Some of them might already be obvious to you. However, some of them might also be things you hadn't considered.
Diversification
Once a portfolio is big enough, it needs to be diversified. Traditional IRAs have limitations due to the kinds of asset classes or assets permitted.
A self-directed IRA has a lot more options, particularly with alternative asset classes that operate very differently than stocks and bonds.
Wealth Preservation
Gold has been a means of preserving wealth for thousands of years. Gold and precious metals have historically served as a great hedge against dollar values going down, economic turbulence, and inflation.
Self-Determination
If you invest in a mutual fund, then the fund leadership decides what the investment mixes are. An index fund will surrender all control as it just tracks a particular market.
A self-directed IRA lets you choose your asset classes and the mixes you want within them. You can change your allocations anytime you want through your custodian.
Tax Benefits
If you fund your self-directed IRA with a rollover from another IRA or 401(k), then you can avoid taxes if the transfer is done right. That means you invest in precious metals with pre-tax dollars that have been allowed to grow tax-free.
If you also wait until the minimum age requirements for penalty-free withdrawals, you can also avoid taxes even more on the backend.
Profit Potential
Precious metals don't just store wealth when the going gets rough. They also grow in value over time. That can happen because of not just investor demand but also industrial and commercial applications pressuring prices upward.
Whatever the reasons, holding on to gold can mean you have more wealth when you liquidate than when you first purchased.
How to Get Started with U.S. Money Reserve: Their Simple 3-Step Process
U.S. Money Reserve has a simple three-step process for starting a gold IRA account with them.
This makes it very easy for you to start enjoying the benefits of investing in precious metals. At the same time, you can utilize the tax advantages of IRA sheltering to preserve and even grow your wealth.
1. Open Self-Directed IRA
You will have a dedicated account executive assigned to you from this company. They will assist you in finishing the paperwork necessary to open your self-directed IRA. They'll also arrange for an IRS-approved custodian to handle storing your precious metals.
2. Fund Your Gold IRA
Once you open your gold IRA, you'll need to fund the account. One way of doing this is with new cash contributions.
However, you can also do a rollover from precious retirement accounts.
3. Buy Precious Metals
Once funded, your self-directed IRA will need precious metals in it. U.S. Money Reserve will provide you with IRS-approved options you can choose from.
Once you make your choices, they'll make sure they are purchased, insured, and securely delivered to the relevant depository for safekeeping.
Fees
Custodial storage and account management do involve overhead and expenses for both U.S. Money Reserve and their depository partners. Expect to pay $250 each year for these fees. Certain qualifying accounts can have fees waived for the first year.
What Makes Them Different Than Other Companies?
When it comes to investing in a gold IRA, you have dozens of different choices available. A lot of them even look the same on the surface, so why would you choose U.S. Money Reserve over other gold IRA brokers? There are two things that make them different than their competitors.
For starters, they've been in operation for approximately 20 years. There are not many gold brokers that started all the way back then. There certainly aren't that many that actually wound up staying in business all this time.
Secondly, their president has a unique experience in the precious metals industry. He used to be a director for the U.S. Mint. There are very few precious metal brokers whose leadership can claim that on their resume and background.
U.S. Money Reserve BBB Rating and User Reviews
The background of U.S. Money Reserve isn't totally pristine, but it might be something you view as a story of redemption. Several years back, they did get hit with a lawsuit about deceptive business practices.
As a result, they did wind up paying $5 million in restitution to various clients.
As you would expect with any business who has been around so long, they know how to learn from their mistakes, grow, and adapt. They've since become an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau. They also respond to complaints on that platform from unsatisfied customers.
There have been several dozen complaints lodged against them in the last three years. However, they've directly answered every single one of them. They've also impressively gotten over half of them resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
BBB users and their reviews average 3.95/5.00 stars for U.S. Money Reserve. The BBB themselves have looked into the company. Their rating is the highest-possible A+.
U.S. Money Reserve Complaints?
The best place, in my opinion, to look for customer satisfaction and complaints is through the Better Business Bureau. Also, known as the BBB, their website notes that there have been 24 customer complaints in the last three years. However, just under half have been closed in the last 12 months.
Five complaints were filed under the type of Advertising/Sales Issues. Of those, three were resolved. The other two were answered by the business in question.
Billing/Collection Issues were listed as the reason for two complaints. Both of these were answered by the business. A customer on one did not mark the issue as resolved, even though a full refund of the transaction in question was offered and accepted.
One complaint was filed under the category of Delivery Issues. The business did respond to this complaint. They noted that the particular coin on order was back ordered from the U.S. mint and then suffered delivery delays due to wildfires.
A single complaint was also filled under the Guarantee/Warranty Issues category. The company has responded to this query. The customer marked the situation as resolved.
Over a dozen complaints fell under the category of Problems With Product/Service. In all cases, the company answered the customer complaints. In approximately 70% of these particular complaints, the customer wound up marking their situation as resolved.
Taking Customer Complaints Into Perspective
U.S. Money Reserve has been in business for around two decades. If you've spent any time working in customer-oriented businesses, then you, unfortunately, know that keeping everyone happy is practically impossible. A few complaints are going to happen along the way.
I can tell you that the number of complaints through BBB about U.S. Money Reserve is higher than some other gold IRA brokers, there are two things I find really impressive about the company's response.
First, they answer every single complaint and don't ignore anyone who might be upset with them, as they really do care about their service and reputation. Second, many of the complaints wound up being resolved, which shows how determined the broker is to satisfy its clients.
Pros & Cons
Every business in any industry is going to be a mix of pros and cons. It's important to know what they are to make an informed decision.
However, you should also consider that not all of these factors may be as important to you as others are.
U.S. Money Reserve Alternatives
U.S. Money Reserve obviously has a lot of good things going for them. Those can also be good things for clients whose needs and financial objectives align with those strengths.
However, they might not be the best fit for everyone. Your comparison shopping should include looking at a few other alternatives, based on what you might be looking for.
1. Goldco
Goldco has earned some of the highest marks across the industry for customer service and integrity, including an A+ Rating from the Better Business Bureau.
- A+ Better Business Bureau Rating
- AAA Rating via Business Consumer Alliance
- Up to $10,000 in Free Silver with Qualifying Purchase
- Easy 3-Step Process to Get Started
"The crew at GoldCo are professional and accommodating, extremely helpful and very easy to work with. My service rep, Tony Pino, was always available and willing to answer/explian any questions. Highly recommend them." -Mark G.
If the lawsuit and millions of dollars in restitution from the U.S. Money Reserve give you pause, then they're BBB membership and recent track record of answering and resolving many complaints might not be enough to give you peace of mind. They've certainly turned the corner, especially with being accredited by the BBB and getting an A+ rating.
However, if you want a company that is famous for stellar customer services, then Goldco is worth a look.
Goldco has been around just as long as U.S. Money Reserve. Their track record of customer service isn't just stellar now, as it's been high-caliber the entire time they've been around.
To be honest, their customer service levels are the measuring stick to the rest of the industry is compared to.
2. Augusta Precious Metals
Augusta Precious Metals has some of the highest marks across the industry for customer service and integrity.
- A+ Rating and Zero Complaints Registered with Better Business Bureau
- No High-Pressure Sales Tactics
- Welcome Webinar from Harvard-Trained Economist
- Simple 3-Step Process to Get Started
"I diversified my retirement with precious metals from Augusta. You can count on them."-Joe Montana, Hall of Fame Quarterback
If U.S. Money Reserve appeals to you because one of its leaders used to be a high-level executive at the U.S. Mint, then you might want to look at Augusta Precious Metals for client education.
Not only do they provide copious amounts of content for you to use anytime, but you will also get face time with their actual analysts.
Their lead analyst trained at Harvard, and you can ask them questions directly and learn from serious experts.
This facet of Augusta's business operations was what convinced Joe Montana to trust them with his business, and they didn't even know it was him at the time. They treated him like any other client.
3. Noble Gold
- Leadership has more than two decades of experience
- The leaders are focused on helping people grow their own wealth
- The company has a strong emphasis on education so you always know what's going on
- Multiple services are provided and not all of them are IRA accounts
- You can buy your own physical gold
- Noble Gold does have a few things that might make you think twice.
- They're a more recent entry into the industry
- Fees aren't always obvious
U.S. Money Reserve requires a minimum of $25,000 for a gold IRA investment. If you're far enough into your retirement investing, then that might not be a huge hurdle to clear.
On the other hand, younger or newer investors might have trouble with that.
There's also the possibility of just not wanting to invest that much in precious metals even if you have them available.
Unfortunately, many other gold IRA brokers also mandate $25,000 as a minimum. Others go even higher at $50,000, but some go lower at $10,000.
If you want low hurdles to access a precious metal IRA, then look at Noble Gold. Depending on the account, their investment minimum might be anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000.
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Key Takeaways
A diversified portfolio for retirement serves you better in the long run. Not all asset classes are going to grow all the time. Even if they are, they'll grow at different rates.
Investing in gold can be a great option for preserving your wealth and enjoying serious tax benefits. Its importance will grow as you get closer to retirement. It can protect your nest egg when even a mild recession close to your golden years could otherwise disrupt your plans.
You need a gold IRA broker to do this. U.S. Money Reserve is one such option. A lot about them is about what you'd expect from other industry options. However, having a former U.S. Mint director and the possibility of over $10,000 in free silver products for select accounts are both factors worthy of your consideration.
Get a Free Gold IRA Investing Kit
Want to learn more about the best gold IRAs? See why Goldco is our top choice:
FAQs
Information on the ownership of this company seems to be pretty well hidden, which can be expected of a company that isn't traded publically. The CEO is Angela Koch, assumed to be the only woman heading up a gold IRA brokerage in the entire industry.
Yes, the gold products that U.S. Money Reserve sells are real precious metals. IRS requirements for gold IRA accounts have minimum standards that products must meet to be included.
A lawsuit was filed some years back on behalf of a family member. The lawsuit alleged deceptive marketing practices and a high volume of sales calls to an elderly woman who wound up buying many gold coins at prices deemed to be above market rates. The lawsuit seems to have been since settled with the U.S. Money Reserve paying millions of dollars in restitution to customers impacted by their actions.
