Goldco vs American Hartford Gold

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If you are on this page, you are probably confused about which company between Goldco and American Hartford Gold is the best for precious metals IRA. We understand your dilemma, as these are among the top gold IRA companies in the US.

We’d like to make things easier for you and have done an extensive review of both companies, highlighting their similarities and differences. This way, it will be clear what each one of them has in store for you – and hopefully this will make it easier for you to make a final pick.

The Faces Behind Goldco and American Hartford Gold

You probably are itching to know who is behind these two companies. Here’s a breakdown of who calls the shorts in Goldco and American Hartford Gold respectively.

The Goldco Precious Metals Team

Goldco was founded in 2006 by Trevor Gerszt, who moved to the US from South Africa in 1976 together with his family (he was only six years old then). He came from a family of avid coin collectors and he picked up this interest too. This boosted his understanding of precious metals and his curiosity led him to make it his career.

Even though he had already started dealing with precious metals early on, it was during the 2008 economic turmoil that he realized the full potential that they bear. He committed himself to educating anyone with an interest on the benefits of investing in precious metals.

In the course of his engagement in precious metals, Trevor encountered numerous non-ethical dealers and this pushed him to insist on Goldco precious metals to have strict ethical standards.

Trevor has dedicated team behind him who aim to make things easy for the customers. The staff are constantly attending development program to build their skills. This may explain why the company has maintained favorable ratings over the years.

The American Hartford Gold Team

Sanford Mann is the CEO of American Hartford Gold. He is no stranger to the precious metal industry mainly due to his work ethic and professionalism. Apparently, he picked his cue from his dad, who taught him the importance of constantly empowering his customers with investment education and pursuing honest deals.

Sanford is an alumnus of Connecticut State University, where he graduated with a degree in Economics. He held senior ranks in financial institutions in New York before deciding to pursue entrepreneurship. 

Another key figure in the company is the president, Scott Gerlis. Like the CEO, he picked his interest in precious metals from his dad, a dedicated coin collector. 

Scott shares Sanford's values on customer support, making the customers comfortable and keen on working with this company. Besides being in charge of the company's operations and back office, Scott also heads an in-house team of precious metal specialists at American Hartford Gold.

Goldco vs American Hartford Gold: The Similarities

As key players in the precious metals industry, these two companies have some similarities, which we have highlighted below:

1. The sourcing

Both companies source their metals from across the globe, and you can find this information clearly stated on their websites. As such, both companies are highly transparent in their dealings. This is indeed crucial if you’re looking for a reliable gold dealer.

2. Rollovers

Another similarity is that both companies support the rollover of funds. This way, you can roll over funds from your 401K account to your self-directed IRA. This is good as it allows for a seamless transfer of funds thereby helping you to avoid penalties and delays.

3. Customer Support

Upon reading customer reviews about both companies, you'll notice that they are highly rated for their customer support. We had first-hand experience with this when we visited the American Hartford site; a chat pop-up window emerged with a company representative who responded to our queries one-on-one. 

Similarly, when we sent a query to the Goldco support team via email, we received a human response within two minutes which is pretty outstanding.

4. Setup Time

In both companies, setting up the accounts takes roughly seven days. For instance, American Hartford's position is that it takes them five business days to set up your account. When you factor in the weekend, it takes roughly a week, which is still a pretty reasonable timeline considering all the paperwork involved.

Differences Between Goldco and American Hartford Gold

Much as they share a long list of similarities, there are quite a few things that set these two firms apart. Let’s break them down for you.

1. Year of establishment

Goldco was founded earlier, i.e., in 2006. This means that the company experienced the 2007-09 recession without going under, proving that it is a resilient company while also showing that precious metals are actually worth banking on during tough times.

That said, even though American Hartford came about later on in 2015, it is still commendable that it has remained stable over the few years it has been around.

But if experience is what you’re looking for, we think Goldco has been around longer and logically would have more to offer in that regard.

2. Depository Services

When it comes to precious metal IRA storage services, Goldco only works with the Delaware Depository. On the other hand, American Hartford deals with both the Delaware Depository and Brink's Global Services in LA.

As such, American Hartford gives you a bit of flexibility when choosing a depository unlike Goldco. That said, none of these two come close to the kind of flexibility provided by Augusta Precious Metals which partners with a variety of depositories spread across the nation.

3. Buyback Program

One outstanding feature of Goldco has to be the aggressive buyback policy that it has in place. They guarantee that they’ll buy back your precious metals anytime you need to sell them no matter the prevailing prices.

American Hartford Gold, on its part, has a rather lackluster buyback policy whereby they don’t offer any guarantee to buy back your precious metals. So, if the buyback policy is your deal-breaker, Goldco wins it for you.

4. Minimum Initial Investment Requirement

Goldco has an initial investment requirement of $25,000, while American Hartford Gold has zero minimum contribution amount. Yup, you read that right.

As we shall soon see, you will only meet the usual charges, such as storage, setup, wiring fees, and so on.

So, it is cheaper and easier to get started with American Hartford Gold than with Goldco with respect to the minimum initial investment requirement.

5. Other fees

Right off the bat, Goldco seems more transparent with their fees and charges unlike American Hartford Gold which has some of these details curiously missing – you have to do a bit of digging to get the right answers.

That being said, here is a breakdown of Goldco’s fees:

• One-time setup fee of $50
• One-time wire fee of $30
• Annual maintenance fee of $80
• Storage fees- $150 for segregated and $100 for non-segregated storage

As for American Hartford Gold, the charges are as follows:

• Annual maintenance fee of $75 for accounts below $100,000
• Unsegregated storage fees starting from $100

Which one is better?

First, these two are excellent precious metals companies, and you wouldn't go wrong by settling for either one of them. If anything, they have attracted favorable ratings from websites, regulatory bodies, media outlets, and even celebrities. 

Above all, they have swift and cooperative customer support staff who are available by email, phone calls, and live chats whenever you need them.

However, Goldco seems to have an upper-hand in things like fee transparency, buy-back program, and experience. American Hartford Gold provides you with a bit of variety in terms of depositories but they still have a long way to go in terms of their buyback program.

Overall, we’d go with Goldco because we feel it offers a slightly more comprehensive package than American Hartford Gold.