In times of economic uncertainty or high inflation, gold and silver often rally. Precious metals tend to preserve buying power far better than fiat currency.

But what if you’re worried about the hard-earned money you’ve put toward retirement?

Augusta Precious Metals helps you turn your current retirement funds into a gold IRA and/or silver IRA. You can buy coins, rounds, and bars for any occasion, as well, but its bread and butter is precious metals IRAs.

Here’s what you need to know about Augusta Precious metals.

What is Augusta Precious Metals?

Augusta Precious Metals is a gold and silver dealer primarily focused on precious metals IRAs. It also sells metals to own outside an IRA—but its specialty is helping you to open an IRA with gold and/or silver.

Augusta has been in business since 2012, exhibiting its trustworthiness as a business in an industry with commonly high dealer turnover. It’s one of the highest-rated gold companies around, receiving excellent reviews on Trustpilot and earning zero complaints with the Better Business Bureau in the past three years.

Augusta Precious Metals

TrustPilot rating:

4.8/5

Minimum deposit to start an account:

$50,000

View offer at Augusta Precious Metals

Company insights

- Year Founded: 2012

- Company Headquarters: Casper, Wyoming

- CEO: Isaac Nuriani

What is a precious metals IRA?

A precious metals IRA serves the same purpose as a conventional IRA: It lets you invest your retirement savings in a tax-advantaged account to grow (or preserve) your funds for after you retire.

The difference is that “alternative investments” like gold and silver require that you open a “self-directed” IRA. This will let you use your IRA money to buy precious metals. You can also use regular funds to buy gold and silver and deposit those into your IRA (up to the IRS-stipulated maximum each year).

When buying gold or silver for an IRA, you cannot hold the physical metals yourself. You must use an IRS-approved custodian to house your investment, instead.

Pro Tip

See our guide on six ways you can invest in gold.

How opening an IRA with Augusta Precious Metals works

Opening an IRA through Augusta is simple. Here’s a quick and dirty step-by-step:

- Peruse Augusta’s educational materials: The Augusta Precious Metals website offers free checklists, guides to precious metals IRA costs and risks, articles on scams to watch for, and more.

- Set up a self-directed IRA: Augusta helps you to find a trusted custodian to handle your precious metals IRA. If you’ve already got a self-directed IRA, you can typically transfer or roll over the funds without getting dinged.

- Invest at least $50,000: Augusta enforces a minimum investment of at least $50,000 to open an IRA. This will mostly have to come from your current retirement funds, as you can only add up to $8,600 in new funds per year, depending on your age.

- Choose your gold and silver: Augusta representatives will explain with patience and detail everything you need to know about the metals you buy, and they will help to narrow down the selection to products that fit your strategy.

Products offered by Augusta Precious Metals

Augusta Precious Metals sells more than 40 different coins, rounds, and bars—the overwhelming majority of which are IRA-eligible. Augusta clearly tags each eligible product with an “IRA approved” label to help those interested in funding a precious metals IRA clearly identify which bullion qualifies according to IRS rules.

Popular options for funding your IRA include:

- 1oz Gold American Eagle Coin

- Gold American Buffalo 1oz BU coin

- 1oz Gold Bullion Bar

- 1oz Silver Eagle Coin

- 1oz Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Coin

Unfortunately, Augusta does not list live prices on its website. You’ll instead have to call to get those numbers. It’s a bit of an inconvenience—but the company representatives are famously low-pressure, as they’re salaried and don’t get a commission from making a sale.

Pros and cons

Pros

- Stellar rating on Trustpilot

- No BBB complains within the past three years

- Well-established metals dealer

Cons

- Does not disclose price of metals on website

- Relatively few total reviews when compared to top competitors

- High minimum investment to open a precious metals IRA

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Augusta Precious Metals buyback program

No reputable precious metals company in the U.S. guarantees it’ll buy back the gold or silver it sells to you; if a deale

Augusta Precious Metals review: What to know in 2026