Patriot Gold Group Review

The Patriot Gold Group (PGG) is probably one of the biggest names in the world of precious metal IRAs. The company has been in this business since the year 1986 (if their profile on the Crunchbase website is anything to go by). No doubt, this is a high-flying gold and silver merchant – but just how good are their services?

This review talks about everything you need to know about the Patriot Gold Group. From their fees, and minimum investment capital to (most importantly) their potential flaws.

An Overview of the Patriot Gold Group

This is a California-based precious metal investment company. The company stands out from the pack all thanks to its "no fee for life" claim which is basically a clever market tactic meant to attract the big investors.

The company enjoys a relatively wide market presence spanning the entire USA and that’s potential due to the many years of work they’ve put in.

For now, this company makes most of its cash helping clients set up new precious metal IRAs. They provide facilitation for first-time clients and also storage services for long-term storage. Besides that, they provide facilitation for anyone who prefers to store their own gold home.

Who Owns the Patriot Gold Group?

The company’s ownership structure isn’t exactly clear. A bit of background research about them shows that Jack Hanney has been their CEO and co-owner since 2016 – and that does not make sense at all considering that this company claims to have been around since 1986.

Another name that comes up when you conduct a background check of the company is that of Mike Celano. And according to his Linkedin profile, he’s been working with PGG since 2016.

So, either the company changed ownership that year or these are just employees rather than the real owners. 

Products & Services

There’s a wide variety of products available for purchase under the Patriot Gold Group. But in particular, this company specializes in the sale of gold and silver bullion bars and coins. Besides that, they do provide IRA set up assistance as well as storage services. Let’s break down these services a little further for you.

Gold

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 identified gold alongside platinum, palladium, and silver among the precious metals applicable in IRAs. And among those four, gold remains the most resilient one.

This precious metal is known for its ability to weather inflation and depression. In fact, statistics show that gold tends to perform best when the general economy is struggling. As such, it is always a good idea to invest your long-term wealth in form of gold.

The Patriot Group allows you to conveniently purchase gold bars and coins and either have them stored or shipped to you.

Their gold is rated at a purity level of .995 percent meaning it is as pure as pure can get. Some of the gold coins they have in store include:

• The Gold America Eagle
• The Canadian Gold Maple Leaf
• Gold Gyrfalcon from the Royal Canadian Mint
• Gold Arctic Fox
• Gold Polar Bear & Cub
• Gold Krugerrand from South Africa

The company sources its gold products from legitimate mints across the world including the Royal Canadian Mint, United States Mint, and the South African Mint.

Silver

Many believe that at some point silver will begin to outperform gold all thanks to its numerous industrial applications. And therein lies a huge opportunity for you to profit.

PGG has a wide variety of silver coins and bars all of which are sourced from legitimate mints. Some of those include:

• Silver Buffalo Rounds
• The Silver American Eagle
• Silver Rounds
• Silver Canadian Maple Leaf
• Silver Polar Bears
• The Kennedy Half Dollars

Besides coins, they have silver bars ranging from 1oz all the way to 100oz. Their generic bars are sourced from top-notch mints among them the Sunshine Mint, OPM, Engelhardt, and Johnson Matthey.

The coins are sourced from leading sovereign mints among them The Royal Mint, The US Mint, The Perth Mint, and the Royal Canadian Mint.

IRA Account Assistance

Opening a self-directed IRA can help you to tap into the wider benefits of investing in precious metals, real estate, or even crypto. Precious metals, in particular, are known for their dependability in the long run.

Picture this – between the 20-th century and 21-st century, the American dollar lost close to 98% of its value while gold gained at least 54 times its value.

So, as you can imagine, transitioning to a gold IRA can be a good idea.

Unfortunately, to do so, you need to fill up some paperwork and follow some strict rules. A simple mistake could expose you to penalties and even extra taxes and that is why it is advisable to work with a company that offers IRA rollover services – and that's where PGG comes in.

They have a handy guide that you can refer to, for free, to understand the dos and don’ts. Above all, they have a dedicated IRA rollover department ready to help. Above all, they not only help you transfer your 401(k) into IRA but also provide you with custodial services.

Precious Metal Storage Services

There are two main ways to store precious metals. You can either have them shipped home so you keep them at your safe at home or you can opt to have them stored in a storage vault somewhere.

Now, you’re not legally allowed to keep your precious metals at home if you’re running an IRA. The task of storage is supposed to be handled by an independent and certified depository.

With the Patriot Gold Group you get a powerful vault system like no other. In fact, unlike other storage service providers that keep in co-mingled facilities, this one keeps your coins and bars in segregated storage.

The main benefit of segregated storage is that your precious metals are kept privately and separate from those belonging to others. And that way, there is no tampering. You’re assured of withdrawing the exact precious metals you deposited (without compromise).

The Fees Charged by The Patriot Group

You might have read on their website that they maintain a no-fee approach to all their undertakings – that's however, not entirely true. The no-fee rule only works for those with particularly large accounts. So, you can expect to pay normal fees if your account is below $30,000.

Talking about fees, let’s break them down for you. The first payment you’re expected to make is an initial set up fee of $225. This fee can, however, be waived if your initial investment is above $30,000.

The second fee you’re expected to pay is the annual fee or the storage fee. This currently stands at $180 for all accounts under $100,000 but can be waived for accounts above that limit.

Other charges are likely to apply whenever you make new transactions but these fees have not been made public – pointing to a potential lack of transparency on this custodian’s part.

Lastly, it is important to note that there’s a minimum investment capital requirement of $5,000.

Benefits of Patriot Group

So, why should you consider this gold IRA company over any other available out there? Well, there are a few things we particularly like about Patriot Gold and these include:

Reputation

The company has been around for a long time and we are yet to see anyone flagging them as a scam. They seem to be enjoying a cordial relationship with their clients as well as the authorities.

If anything, they have even been endorsed by Dick Morris. Mr. Dick is a revered political commentator and a best-selling author with a great following. He previously worked with Bill Clinton before shifting sides to become a Republican in 2019.

Customer Support

As a top-tier company, PGG has made considerable effort to fine-tune its customer service. Their team is quite effective at responding to queries at each and every stage of the transaction.

They also have an entire department that handles matters to do with IRA. This, therefore, helps them to make it easy for anyone looking to rollover or transfer funds to have that done without any hitches.

Quality Storage Services

The kind of storage you opt for can have a significant effect on your overall experience as an investor. You don’t want to spend loads of cash on shared storage only to be told that your gold coins were switched with someone else’s.

Luckily, the Patriot Gold Group has taken care of that through their Fully Segregated Storage. In this kind of arrangement, your precious metals and set aside in a private box so you are sure that no one will tamper with them unless you authorize the same.

No Fee Policy

The company seems to favor investors who operate large-sized accounts over those who operate small accounts. For example, if you open an account worth more than $30,000, they’ll waiver your initial set-up fee. And if you get a bigger account with more than $100,000, the company will also waive your vault fees.

However, it is always important to read the fine print. The No Fee approach does not mean that this company gives its services at free cost. Whenever you transact, they will impose buy/sell commissions and spreads – forming part of their largely undisclosed costs.

Fully Insured Precious Metals

Insurance is a must-have especially when important goods are involved. Unfortunately, with most precious metal storage companies, you are required to purchase an insurance cover separately. PGG resolves that issue by providing cover as part of their storage deal. 

The main benefit of this is that it saves you the hassle of having to shop for third-party insurers and keep up with the premium payments.

The Downsides of the Patriot Gold Group

As much as there are numerous reasons why one should consider working with this firm, there are also quite a few reasons to avoid it. Normally, this is the kind of stuff no salesperson wants you to know. But as an independent company, we believe that it is important you have this information so you can make an informed choice.

Unfavorable to Small-Scale Investors

This company’s rules are designed to work against small-scale investors and to the advantage of large-scale investors. As long as your account is valued at below $30,000, they’ll require you to pay all manner of fees – as if to discriminate against you.

What’s more, if you don’t have anything above $5,000 to invest forget about this company. They have made it clear that they don’t approve accounts for anyone below such amounts.

Therefore, there is no way to start small here.

Unclear Ownership Structure

First off, according to its online profiles, the company claims to have been around since 2001 yet its CEO and co-founder aka the public face of the company claims to have started working at the company in 2016.

Upon further background check, we came across information that the company’s official name is Halt Gold Group. The name Patriot Gold Group is only a DBA (doing business as).

Don’t get us wrong – this information does not necessarily comprise any wrongdoing on the company’s part but we just feel that it points to a lack of transparency.

Lack of Transparency in Pricing

We literally had to comb through tons of articles on their website to come up with a list of the fees charged by the Patriot Gold Group. And even then, we were still left with unanswered questions on the actual commissions charged during buying/selling of precious metals.

Clearly, this company excels in many things but transparency is not one of them.