American Hartford Gold is a precious metals dealer headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It offers a comprehensive selection of precious metal assets like silver, platinum, and palladium coins and bars that can be directly sold to individual investors.
Business Insider's personal finance team compared American Hartfold Gold to the best gold IRAs and found it an industry leader.
Pros and Cons
American Hartford Gold Pros
- $5,000 minimum to open accounts
- Educational resources
- Offers a buyback commitment with no liquidation fee
- Free consultations are available
- Some fees can be waived with larger opening deposits
American Hartford Gold Cons
- Fees are not easily found on the website (Call a representative or enter your contact information to receive more details)
- High fees may eat away at potential gains (includes application, storage, and/or annual fees)
Open an Account
$5,000
$230 application fee and $200 annual fee for storage, insurance, and custodian services
- Invest in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins and bars
- Competitive gold selection
- Supports rollovers from traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, thrift savings plans, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and 457 plans
- Buyback commitment with no liquidation fee
- Free consultations are available
- Some fees can be waived with larger opening deposits
- Fees are not easily found on the website
- High minimums to make purchases: $5,000 in a cash account and $10,000 in a gold IRA
- You might be able to waive fees with a large opening deposit, but you must talk to a rep about your situation to find out
American Hartford Gold is perhaps best for investors who want to convert significant portions of their retirement assets to gold or other metals, as larger sums can qualify for certain fee waivers with AHG. For those who may be on the fence about investing in gold, want to find more educational resources, or prefer a more digital and automated experience, there are better options available.
- Open a cash account or gold IRA with American Hartford Gold
- Hold precious metals in your IRA and hold them in a storage facility; precious metals are shipped to your home with a cash account
- With the buyback commitment, AHG doesn't guarantee it will buy back your metals — but if it does, it will arrange payment/shipping and not charge any transaction fees
- Call AHG to open an account, or use an online form to open a gold IRA
Compare American Hartford Gold
$25,000
Call company representative for more information
- Gold and silver IRAs
- Supports rollovers for 403(b)s, thrift savings plans, savings accounts, and IRAs
- You can request to have gold directly delivered to you
- You can either receive distributions as physical gold, or have Goldco convert the gold into cash for you
- $25,000 minimum to purchase gold
- No mobile app
Goldco is the best overall gold IRA. It offers gold self-directed IRAs, as well as silver IRAs.
Goldco
Free Gold Investing Guide, $246 per year, flat rate fee for Gold IRAs.
- All American Assets lists its inventory and pricing online without having to speak to a specialist
- Annual subscription fee
- Offers free shipping and insurance
- Ability to roll over a 401k, IRA, or Annuity into Physical Gold & Silver
- Offers 24/7 customer service
- $246 flat rate yearly fee
$5,000
One-time $280 setup fee and $200 annual fee; free set-up and storage for certain users investing in limited mintage coins
- Gold IRAs and silver IRAs available
- Free IRA set-up and storage (for qualifying purchase amounts of limited mintage coins)
- Offers precious metal analyzer, portfolio comparison calculator, inflation calculator, and more
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android devices
- High set-up fees
Lear Capital offers both an IRA gold investment and silver IRA option, and you can take advantage of free IRA setup and storage
American Hartford Gold Overview
American Hartford Gold is one of the largest gold retailers in the US, offering a huge selection of investable gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins and bars. Investors can invest in metals within their retirement accounts to diversify their holdings and protect their portfolios against inflation.
Diversification is one of the most important aspects of investing. While stocks, bonds, and cash tend to be the most common assets to diversify your portfolio, precious metals like gold could also play an important role. American Hartford Gold allows investors to invest in gold and other precious metals.
AHG mainly caters to individuals with 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457 plans, Thrift Savings Plans, and traditional and Roth IRAs. Outside of the best retirement plans, AHG does offer a cash account, which allows you to buy and sell physical gold and silver assets and have them shipped to your home.
American Hartford Gold is generally best for investors who want to convert significant portions of their retirement assets to gold or other metals because AHG may waive certain fees with larger opening deposits.
A different precious metal retailer from our best gold IRA guide may be more suitable for investors who are on the fence about investing in gold, want to find more educational resources, or prefer a more digital and automated experience.
American Hartford Gold Services
American Hartford Gold offers a handful of services to investors. The main offerings are its gold IRA and the ability to buy and sell individual gold and silver coins, bars, and other precious metals.
Precious metal coins have the value of the commodity itself in addition to their unique country of origin and design. Investing in gold and silver bars is more straightforward and cost-effective, as bars generally have lower premiums than coins. Some IRA-approved coins and bars include:
- Gold St Helena 1-oz Boston Tea Party Coin (also available in silver)
- Queen Elizabeth and Lion Gold Coin (also available in silver)
- Australia Wildlife 1/4 oz Gold Coin (also available in silver)
- Sunshine Minting 1 oz Gold Bar
- Silver Canadian Polar Bear & Cub Coin
- Austrian Philharmonic Silver Coins
- Silver 100 Oz Bar
During the account opening process, AHG will guide you through rolling over one of your existing retirement accounts to serve as the initial funding method. Plans eligible for rollover include a 401(k), 403(b), traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 457 plans, and Thrift Savings Plans. You can also fund the account with cash via wire transfer.
Similar to traditional IRAs with stocks and bonds, there is a limit to how much you can contribute in a tax year. The limit for 2024 is $7,000 if you're under age 50 and $8,000 if you're 50 or older.
American Hartford Cash Account
A cash account with American Hartford Gold allows you to purchase physical gold or silver directly from the company without opening an IRA. This option may appeal to investors who are not interested in holding precious metals within their retirement accounts, prefer to store them independently, or wish to buy more than the amount allowed with an IRA.
If you want to sell a portion or all of your holdings back to American Hartford Gold, you can call its service line to receive a price. Then, AHG will send you the proper packing and shipping materials.
How to Open an Account with American Hartford Gold
To open an American Hartford Gold IRA or cash account, call the company at the number listed on its website. After completing the required paperwork via DocuSign, the account is typically open within three to 10 business days. There is an intake form to open a gold IRA on the website if you want to skip the phone lines.
After the account is opened and funded, you can select the metals that best fit your portfolio and risk profile. You can also schedule a meeting with a representative to discuss all the different metal offerings at no charge.
If you open an IRA, those metals will be physically shipped to a storage facility under your name. American Hartford Gold will ship the metals directly if you open a cash account.
American Hartford Gold Fees
American Hartford Gold charges a $230 application fee and $200 annual fee for storage, insurance, and custodian services. You will need a minimum of $5,000 to start investing with a cash account with American Hartford Gold and $10,000 to invest with your gold IRA.
The price of individual precious metal coins and bars varies. You must call AHG for pricing.
American Hartford Gold Trustworthiness
American Hartford Gold has an A+ rating and is accredited by the Better Business Bureau. Since the BBB rates companies using an A+ to F range, this suggests that AHG displays excellent business practices and interacts well with its customers.
Though ratings aren't the same for every company, the BBB assesses all companies by reviewing licensing information, advertising, government actions, and more.
American Hartford Gold is free of any major public scandals or lawsuits.
American Hartford Alternatives
American Hartford Gold is one of many options for investing in precious metals. Let's compare how AHG stacks up against other major companies.
American Hartford Gold vs. Rosland Capital
Rosland Capital is a low-cost gold IRA company that offers a similar selection of precious metal coins and bars as American Hartford Gold.
Both companies offer gold IRAs and the ability to receive physical gold and other metals directly. Rosland Capital requires a minimum purchase of $2,000. Other than slightly different fees and minimums in some areas, investors may not see a big difference between Rosland and American Hartford.
However, Rosland Capital is slightly more transparent about its setup and maintenance fees than AHG. It charges a Rosland Capital $50 one-time set-up fee, $100 annual maintenance fee, a storage fee of $100 or $150, and a $40 paper statement fee (if you choose to receive paper statements). It also has a smaller minimum purchase requirement.
American Hartford Gold vs. Goldco
Goldco is a reputable and trusted gold and silver metal dealer offering a huge selection of precious metal assets through a self-directed gold IRA and silver IRA option. Both gold dealers offer a robust selection of investable gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins and bars.
Beginners may prefer Goldco's "education first" approach to helping clients expand their knowledge of gold IRAs. You can even receive a free gold IRA kit with introductory information on IRAs, gold assets, and wealth protection. However, the minimum investment for Goldco is $25,000.
American Hartford Gold is the cheaper option as it only requires a $5,000 initial deposit to start investing. Moreover, investors with larger account balances may prefer American Hartford Gold since certain fees can be waived or reduced after talking with an AHG representative.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed American Hartford Gold
We evaluated American Hartford Gold using Business Insider's methodology for rating investing platforms. We examined account options, fees, customer service experience, and investment options and rated them on a scale of 0 to 5. Some investing platforms are better suited for more advanced investors, while others cater to newcomers. American Hartford Gold was examined with a focus on how it performed in each category.
Business Insider's American Hartford Gold Rating
| Feature | Our rating (out of 5) |
| Liquidity | 4.50 |
| Customer Support | 4.75 |
| Security | 5.00 |
| Ethics | 5.00 |
| Access | 3.75 |
| Fees | 3.80 |
| Investment selection | 3.80 |
| Overall rating | 4.32 |
American Hartford Gold FAQs
American Hartford Gold is a precious metal dealer for individuals to invest in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins and bars to diversify their retirement portfolio or receive directly through an AHG cash account. American Hartford Gold is solely a precious metal dealer and gold IRA platform. It offers a handful of beginner-focused educational resources about investing in gold and other metals.
American Hartford Gold stands out from other precious metal dealers as one of the best gold IRAs for large balances. Not only does the company offer a competitive selection of gold, silver, and other precious metals, but investors with larger opening deposits may be able to have some of their account fees waived or reduced after talking with an AHG representative.
Fees associated with American Hartford Gold include a $230 application fee and $200 annual fee for storage, insurance, and custodian services. You may be charged additional fees based on account sizes and the specific precious metals in your account. For more information, you'll have to call an AHG representative. You may even get some of your fees waived or reduced.
Anyone interested in investing in gold directly or through an IRA can find American Hartford Gold's platform suitable. Still, beginner investors may be put off by the website's lack of resources and pricing information. Purchasing precious metal coins and bars is fairly straightforward, but you'll have to call a company representative to learn about pricing.
