Is American Hartford Gold a good Company to work with?
Table of Contents
American Hartford Gold Review
Conventional retirement wisdom says that you should aim for more risk early in your saving years. Stocks and bonds that offer the potential for high growth can help grow your investment portfolio in overall size and value. You’ll be exposed more to market swings, but you’ll have more time to get ready for retirement.
Later in life, you want to swing the pendulum back and focus more on preserving your wealth. As you get closer to needing to actually live off it, you don’t want to be as subject to market swings.
Precious metals are one such alternative asset class. Gold and silver tend to preserve their value over time and even grow. Doing a rollover into a gold IRA means you can keep your wealth tax-free.
You’ll need a gold IRA broker to do that. American Hartford is one such company. This is your chance to find out if they’re right for you or not.
American Hartford Gold
Bottom Line
American Hartford Gold is a company with years of experience handling gold transactions for clients. In that time, they have proved themselves to be trustworthy and dependable. Qualities that are absolutely necessary when dealing with sizeable investments like this.
At a Glance
- Minimum IRA Investment: $10,000
- 1st Year IRA Fees: $330
- Annual IRA Fees: $280
- Promotions: up to three years of waived fees
Standout Features: The price-match guarantee is rather unique in this industry. It’s easy to find a gold broker promising low prices. It’s rare to find one that will match better prices you find anywhere else.
The staff here is incredibly knowledgeable, but they can also talk to you in a language you can understand. You’ll learn what your options are but also why they work. Learn more here.
Pros
- This is the only gold broker endorsed by both Rudy Giuliani and Bill O’Reilly
- They feature buyback commitments and price match guarantees
- BBB rating of A+
- Hundreds of high ratings on Trustpilot
- Precious metals experts available to help you
Cons
- Website doesn’t list prices
- No international shipping
Company Overview
American Hartford Gold is also known as AHG or just American Hartford. This company is family-owned. It helps families and individual investors protect and diversify their wealth by investing in precious metals.
The specific products they offer include physical gold, platinum, and silver bars and coins. You can buy these as a normal transaction. You can also invest in them through a gold IRA.
A gold IRA account lets you create a tax-sheltered account the IRS approves of. Any gains you generate in terms of value will be tax-free as long as they happen inside the account. You can also avoid taxes in some cases when you start and end the account.
The AHG website has a lot of educational information that clients can benefit from. The company also puts out a lot of informative publications. You can also consult expert product specialists.
Precious metals investors, new and seasoned alike, can benefit from this education. American Hartford makes it all freely available so that any investor can make educated decisions without any sales pressure. This information contains both information about current market conditions and historical perspective.
The website for American Hartford Gold has numerous resources you can use. Any of them alone can be helpful. When taken together, it’s clear that AHG is focused greatly on client education.
One thing you might use a lot when investing with them is their weekly market blog covering gold and silver. Precious metals markets tend to move fast based on economic results, world events, and factors of supply and demand. AHG does a weekly report of investors so their clients can keep up with market movements.
Live-time market reports and data happen all the time. You can see your holdings prices and values anytime, day or night. There’s even a live-time debt clock for the United States if you want to monitor it.
There’s also an investor library with extensive guides on many topics. They include guides to gold IRA accounts, investing in precious metals, TSP rollover assistance, cybercrime reports, information about a potential collapse of the American Dollar, and a government debt survival guide. All these materials are free to company investors that ask about them.
One very helpful tool is the RMD estimator. It’s a tool that helps you calculate the annual withdrawal amount you’d need based on your age and your IRA account. You need to track this number every year to make sure your IRA remains in full compliance so you avoid taxes, fees, and penalties.
Being an investor with American Hartford Gold is not a case of “set it and forget it”. It’s certainly your prerogative if you want to put some percentage of your overall portfolio in precious metals here for diversification and then focus on other things. However, if you do so, you’ll be walking away from one of the industry’s better educational resources.
What Is American Hartford Gold Group?
AHG was started in Los Angeles in 2015. This company has over 20 years of precious metals experience among its family-owned leadership. This expertise is available to all clients.
Inc. Magazine lists this business as one of the fastest-growing privately-held finance companies across the country. AHG is a proud annual sponsor of NASCAR. It’s the only gold IRA broker endorsed by Bill O’Reilly.
The Chief Executive Officer is Sanford Mann. His philosophy is simple and was taught to him by his father. Give the customer limitless education and honest deals.
This ethic is reflected in everything that Sanford does. The family was important to him growing up and is also important to him now. He sees AHG customers as an extension of his family and treats them as such.
AHG’s President is Scott Gerlis. His passion for precious metals was instilled in him by his father. He’s known from childhood that true wealth doesn’t happen without owning physical precious metals.
He helped Sanford found American Hartford Gold. He also shares Sanford’s passion for high ethics and customer service. Scott also makes sure that AHG is a great place for people to work at.
American Hartford Gold is a big believer in giving back to the community. They believe that businesses have a responsibility to the communities they are a part of. In that, they practice supporting various organizations and causes.
AHG has supported causes either by participating in the campaigns of others or doing direct donations. The causes they have supported have ranged from helping wounded veterans returning to civilian life to no-kill animal shelters.
Still, the primary mission at AHG is educating its clients about precious metal investments and the surrounding industry. They strive to offer unrivaled customer service. Total transparency, integrity, and trust are all fundamental to this.
They offer clients a buyback commitment for when they want to sell their metals. They don’t charge extra liquidation fees. AHG makes the liquidation process a three-step easy matter.
American Hartford Gold Services
American Hartford Gold believes in two things. One is educating their clients. The other is offering them honest transactions and deals.
Their gold IRA accounts are a great example of this because of how many different services you’ll get by having such an account. You can start one by doing a rollover of other IRAs or even TSP, 401(k), and 403(b) accounts. If your initial investment is large enough, you’ll even avoid fees for the first few years and get back a matching percentage in silver products.
It’s during your time there that their services really shine. Their educational database you can use at any time is a deep pool of very informative content. You can also check out live-time reporting and weekly blogs that help you keep up with how the industry is going.
You’ll always know how much your precious metals are worth. You’ll also know what direction they are headed in and why. There is no confusion about what’s going on when you invest with American Hartford Gold.
They’ll even help you keep an eye on how to do withdrawals from your account. That’s largely based on your age. However, they always want you to avoid taxes or fees from the IRS since the focus is always on making or keeping money and not losing it.
When it is time to close your account, you can always have your precious metal products shipped to you. They usually do that free of charge. Insurance is covered by them.
However, you can also have them do a buyback. They don’t charge extra for this. Their simple liquidation process means you don’t have to personally deal with physical possession and can instead take ownership of the funds and cash.
American Hartford Gold IRA Review
A gold IRA is how I think you should invest in precious metals. Anytime you can avoid taxes, you’re winning. With a gold IRA account, you can avoid taxes three different times if you do it right.
The first time is when you do a rollover to start the account. That might be an IRA account you already have or an employer-sponsored plan you terminate. Whatever the case may be, the account reps at AHG can help you set up a precious metals IRA.
If you do a rollover within 60 days, then you should be able to avoid taxes on that transfer. You can do both indirect and direct transfers. An indirect transfer sees the previous plan funds go to you first, whereas a direct transfer has the previous plan’s administrator send the funds right to American Hartford Gold.
I always recommend direct transfers for simplicity. You have less to deal with personally. You’ll also run a lower risk of getting hit with IRS taxes or penalties.
The second time you get to avoid taxes is after American Hartford Gold has bought the precious metal products you chose and put them in a depository for you. Historically speaking, precious metals are more likely to go up in value over time than down. The gains you generate while holding them won’t get taxed.
When left in place for years, the compound nature of this kind of growth can actually generate some impressive gains for you. That’s all while preserving some of your wealth against the turbulence that stocks and bonds might go through. That’s also wealth saved in a way that inflation is seriously unlike to take a bite out of.
The third time you get to avoid taxes, if done right, is when you take your withdrawals or distributions. The whole point of individual retirement accounts is to give aspiring retirees a way to avoid taxes so they can have more money to live off of during their golden years. You can put a lot of money into a gold IRA, watch it grow into more, and then count on it being there when you need it.
American Hartford Gold has excellent customer service available to you throughout this entire process. You’ll feel confident and safe dealing with them. That’s crucial when so much of your money is at stake, especially considering how the IRS mandates it get stored in a depository somewhere else instead of you watching it over yourself.
The client education is where AHG is a real winner. Their commitment to customer information is more thorough than most of the competitors they have in the industry. In fact, only a handful among the very best does it just as well or better.
The minimum investment of $10,000 is lower than a lot of the industry players, though not all. Combining that with high-level client education makes AHG a great place for many investors looking to explore potential precious metals.
Gold IRA Numbers
The general purpose of any gold IRA is to preserve some of your wealth in an alternative asset class known to hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty. Doing so in an IRA lets you enjoy serious tax benefits. However, those gains only matter if they’re not offset by what it costs you to participate.
American Hartford Gold Prices
It’s hard to quote you AHG prices because the market fluctuates all the time. In fact, their own website won’t list specific prices, so you have to contact them directly. Having said that, their website does offer live-time tracking of many precious metal values.
American Hartford Gold Fees
You’ll have to pay a one-time setup fee of $50 when starting your precious metal IRA account with AHG. After that, you’ll likely face $180 in annual fees for custodial services. Accounts with a high-enough investment might have a lot of these fees waived.
Considering how much money is often involved with a gold IRA account, these fees aren’t likely to wipe out your profits. In fact, AHG seems to fall within industry standards here. Their fees are either average or below-average.
You should also note that they don’t charge extra fees if you use their buyback service. They can’t legally guarantee that they will do buyback when you close the account. However, they usually do, and that makes liquidation much simpler on the back end.
American Hartford Gold Minimums
You can use them to buy gold, silver, and platinum products outside of an IRA account. That will set you back at least $2,500. However, there will be no tax benefits whatsoever if you go this route.
The minimum investment for a gold IRA account is $10,000. That’s obviously much higher. However, you’ll enjoy tax perks.
How to Open Gold IRA with American Hartford Group
Doing a gold IRA rollover with AHG is a simple process that only involves a few steps.
1.
Consult a Specialist: Contact one of their IRA product specialists to fill out the paperwork required.
2.
Fund the Account: In just three days, your self-directed IRA can have funds transferred from an existing retirement account that qualifies for a rollover. You don’t typically need to call the current custodian. When your new IRA has funds, you can pick the precious metals products that suit you.
3.
Buy Precious Metals: Once you make your purchase decisions, AHG will make sure that storage happens securely at one of the IRA-approved depositories. This includes the DDSC in the state of Delaware. You can also use various Brinks depositories.
AHG lets you deal in gold, silver, and platinum. The IRS specifies what kinds of coins, bars, and bullion are permitted in a gold IRA. AHG will have products that meet these criteria.
Gold is a common precious metal to invest in and has been used as currency across many civilizations for many millennia. Going back 50 years or more, the overall growth in the value of gold has matched or surpassed various stock indices. Demand is high, and there’s not a lot of it that shows up new each year.
Gold holds its value much better than fiat currency, so it’s a great hedge against inflation. Its ability to retain value also puts it in stark contrast to stocks and bonds, as paper assets might lose significant value overnight in times of economic turbulence.
Interestingly, gold might not have done so well that last decade or so. Silver is a good thing to invest in, too, since its growth rates have been better than gold in recent years. Platinum is also a good option that many gold and silver investors overlook.
American Hartford Gold Group Reviews & Complaints Online
Individual consumers and third-party watchdogs alike give American Hartford consistently good reviews online.
- Better Business Bureau: The BBB looked over this broker and rated them as A+.
- Business Consumer Alliance: This organization as rated Americn Hartford with a rating of A.
- Consumer Affairs: The organization itself has accredited American Hartford. Reviewers on this platform average their ratings at 4.9/5.0, indicating serious levels of trust and satsifaction.
- Trustpilot: Reviews on this platform average a rare 5 stars overall.
- TrustScore: Reviews here average an impressive 9.6/10.0
High marks from official organizations, such as BBB and BCA, speak volumes about how professional industry critics think of American Hartford. The ratings from actual customers are also extremely high. This shows that this business knows what it’s doing and impresses nearly everyone who deals with them.
Alternatives to American Hartford Gold
Augusta Precious Metals
Goldco
Augusta Precious Metals builds its entire brand around client education. They might honestly do it better than Regal Assets. In fact, they might even do it better than anyone, although Birch Gold Group is a great place for client education, too.
Augusta is slightly friendlier in terms of fees. Their annual fees are a bit lower than AHG. You can also get up to a decade of fees waived with qualifying accounts.
What gives American Hartford Gold a potential edge over Augusta is the lower investment minimum. If you invest with Augusta, you can get live interactions with Harvard-trained analysts on their staff, but you also have to invest $50,000 to join the club. That’s five times as much as AHG mandates for you to get started.
If you’re looking for great customer service, then American Hartford Gold is a sound option that won’t let you down. If you’re looking for “white glove” levels of service, then Goldco is where you want to be. Their customer service is the industry standard, and no one is getting close.
Having said that, Goldco might not make you as informed an investor as American Hartford Gold will. Goldco does educate its clients as part of its customer service, but AHG’s educational resources are probably superior at this time.
AHG also has two things Goldco doesn’t. First, the $10,000 minimum investment level is much lower than Goldco’s $25,000. Also, AHG lets you deal in platinum products, whereas Goldco is gold and silver only.
- Minimum Investment: $50,000
- Annual Fees: $250 first year/$200 recurring
- Promotions: up to 10 years fees waived
- Minimum Investment: $25,000
- Annual Fees: $230 first year/$180 recurring
- Promotions: first year fees waived with qualifying purchase
Alternatives to American Hartford Gold
Augusta Precious Metals
Augusta Precious Metals builds its entire brand around client education. They might honestly do it better than Regal Assets. In fact, they might even do it better than anyone, although Birch Gold Group is a great place for client education, too.
Augusta is slightly friendlier in terms of fees. Their annual fees are a bit lower than AHG. You can also get up to a decade of fees waived with qualifying accounts.
What gives American Hartford Gold a potential edge over Augusta is the lower investment minimum. If you invest with Augusta, you can get live interactions with Harvard-trained analysts on their staff, but you also have to invest $50,000 to join the club. That’s five times as much as AHG mandates for you to get started.
- Minimum Investment: $50,000
- Annual Fees: $250 first year/$200 recurring
- Promotions: up to 10 years fees waived
Goldco
If you’re looking for great customer service, then American Hartford Gold is a sound option that won’t let you down. If you’re looking for “white glove” levels of service, then Goldco is where you want to be. Their customer service is the industry standard, and no one is getting close.
Having said that, Goldco might not make you as informed an investor as American Hartford Gold will. Goldco does educate its clients as part of its customer service, but AHG’s educational resources are probably superior at this time.
AHG also has two things Goldco doesn’t. First, the $10,000 minimum investment level is much lower than Goldco’s $25,000. Also, AHG lets you deal in platinum products, whereas Goldco is gold and silver only.
- Minimum Investment: $25,000
- Annual Fees: $230 first year/$180 recurring
- Promotions: first year fees waived with qualifying purchase
Celebrity Endorsements
The website front page for American Hartford has a rotating carousel of faces and names that they say “trust” their brand. Over a dozen individuals are in the rotation, but there are some notable and popular figures on the list. If they trust American Hartford enough to be listed there, then maybe you can trust them, too?
American Hartford seems to be popular among many conservative figures who are either personalities currently at or formerly with Fox News. Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly are on the list. So, too, are Lou Dobbs and Rudy Giuliani.
Rick Harrison also makes the list. He’s famous for the History Channel show Pawn Stars, as he’s the majority owner of the World Famous Gold & Silver pawn shop in Las Vegas. Mr. Harrison is certainly someone who knows about precious metals, given how he buys and sells them on a daily basis.
Final Verdict
If you look at every gold IRA broker in the precious metals industry, I think you’ll see that American Hartford Gold is one of the better ones. They’re easily in the top 10 among all firms. They even make a strong case for being in the top five.
The low investment minimum of $10,000 is a big appeal to me. It opens up precious metals investing to more people saving for retirement. The ability to get $1,500 in free silver and fees waived also makes this firm a good bet for people with more money.
The client education is the real driver with American Hartford Gold. If you find yourself looking at Birch or Augusta for similar reasons, then you need to also consider AHG as a possibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sanford Mann is the owner, founder, and CEO.
AHG is located in Los Angeles, California.