Gold IRA Kit Guide: How to Read a Free Kit and What to Do Next

Every company that sells metal for retirement accounts offers some version of the free kit. The names change (an information kit, an investor guide, a gold IRA guide), but the job is the same. You trade your contact details for a pack of reading, and the company gets a lead it can call.

That isn’t a trick, and the reading can be useful. It does mean the kit is written by the seller, so expect the seller’s case for metal in a retirement account. Check whether it says how much the company adds to the price of each coin: neither Goldco nor Augusta publishes a markup range on its website.

A kit is also not an account. Three separate parties are involved in a gold IRA, and it’s worth checking whether the kit tells them apart:

• The dealer (Goldco, Augusta and the like) sells you the metal and arranges the paperwork.
• The custodian is the IRS-approved firm that legally holds the IRA, sends statements and charges the annual fee.
• The depository stores the coins or bars and charges for storage and insurance.

The custodian is not your safety check. The SEC, NASAA and FINRA say in a joint investor alert that self-directed IRA custodians do not evaluate the quality or legitimacy of the investments you put in the account. That job is yours.

Whatever order a kit is printed in, read it in this one. Beyond their names, and Augusta’s description of its pack as four guides, we haven’t confirmed what either partner’s kit contains, so treat each item as something to look for, and note what’s missing.

1. The cost section. Look for setup, annual administration and storage fees, and who charges each one. Flat fees from the custodian and depository are normal. If the kit gives no figures, write that down; it’s a question for the call.
2. The minimum. Goldco says it generally requires $25,000 to roll over. Augusta’s standard minimum purchase is $50,000. A kit that doesn’t mention a minimum leaves you to find out on the phone.
3. The product pages. Note whether the coins shown are plain bullion or “premium”, proof or collector coins. The CFTC warns that numismatic coins typically carry higher markups than bullion and are much less liquid.
4. The buyback and cancellation terms. These decide what happens when you want out.
5. The market commentary, last. It’s the part written to persuade, and nothing in it changes what the account will cost you.

Keep the kit next to the company’s own website while you read. Fee pages online are often newer than the printed pack, and sometimes older; Goldco’s cost page, for example, still lists $100 storage, while Equity Trust’s current schedule says $110. When the two disagree, the custodian’s schedule is the one you’ll be billed on.

These are claims you may meet in a kit or on a dealer’s website. Each has a version you can check and a version you can’t.

“Low, flat fees”

For Goldco and Augusta, true in the narrow sense. Goldco’s FAQ says the fee is the same “whether you have $30,000 or $3 million”. With Equity Trust as custodian, the published schedule is $50 setup, $125 a year administration, and $110 a year non-segregated or $160 segregated storage. That puts a Goldco account at $285 in year one and $235 a year after ($285 with segregated storage). Augusta’s cost page gives $50, $125 and $110 for its accounts, without saying which storage type the storage figure covers.

What “flat” leaves out is the spread: the difference between what you pay for the metal and what it’s worth on the day. Neither Goldco nor Augusta publishes a markup range. Ask for the markup on each product, in writing, before you agree to an order.

“We buy it back at the highest price”

Goldco’s about page advertises a buyback program at “the highest price” with no fees when you sell; it doesn’t state the conditions. Augusta says a buyback is not obligatory on either side, it charges no separate liquidation fee, and Equity Trust charges a $30 processing fee. A buyback promise is only as good as its written terms, so ask how the price is set.

“Free silver”

Goldco’s FAQ offers up to 5% back in free silver on $50,000 to $99,999 of its premium coins, and 10% on $100,000 and up, for qualified orders. Augusta states that it doesn’t offer free silver or bonus metals. Free metal attached to premium coins is worth comparing against a plain bullion order of the same size; the bonus can be smaller than the extra markup.

“A+ rated”

Both companies hold an A+ from the BBB. The rating and the complaint count are different things: the BBB lists 72 complaints against Goldco over three years and 1 against Augusta. Read a few recent complaints and the company’s replies; they show you what goes wrong and how it’s handled.

For a deeper look at one company’s record, Gold IRA Companies Ranked publishes a fuller Goldco review with the court docket and complaint history.

Expect a phone call soon after you ask for a kit. Goldco’s representatives usually ring after a request, and Augusta locks the price of an order on a recorded order-confirmation call, so the phone is part of both processes. Treat it as an interview you are running, not a pitch you are receiving.

Know who you’re talking to. The CFTC points out that precious-metals salespeople typically are not qualified or legally allowed to give investment advice, and that commissions often drive their recommendations. Augusta says its staff are salaried and paid no product-specific commissions. Ask Goldco the same question; the answer tells you how to weigh the advice.

Three habits make the call more useful:

• Have your questions written down before the phone rings, and take notes.
• Ask for every figure by email afterwards. A number you only heard is hard to hold anyone to.
• Don’t agree to an order on the first call. A company that won’t wait a day has told you something.

We keep a full call script, grouped by topic, on questions to ask a gold IRA company.

If the call goes well and you decide to go ahead, the order of events is roughly the same at every company:

1. Read the kit and the online terms side by side.
2. Take the call, ask your questions, get the answers in writing.
3. Open the self-directed IRA with the custodian (the dealer usually sends the forms).
4. Move the money from your existing IRA or old employer plan.
5. Choose the metal and confirm the order and its price.
6. The metal ships to the depository.
7. Check the custodian’s first statement against your order.

Step 4 is where tax mistakes happen. The IRS describes two routes: a direct transfer between institutions, or a payment to you that must be deposited in the new IRA within 60 days. The IRS also limits IRA-to-IRA rollovers to one in any 12-month period, a limit that doesn’t apply to trustee-to-trustee transfers. A payment made to you can also carry withholding, and not every distribution can be rolled over. Talk to a tax professional before you start.

Each step, with what to check at each one, is in the seven steps from kit to funded account. Gold IRA Companies Ranked also has a walk-through of gold IRA rollover steps for 401(k) and IRA money.

These are the two companies that pay this site, so here they are on published facts only.

	Goldco	Augusta
The kit	Free 'Gold & Silver Kit' / Ultimate Guide to Gold & Silver	Free Gold & Silver IRA Info Kit (2026 Gold IRA Guide, 4 guides)
IRA minimum	$25,000	$50,000
Custodian	Equity Trust is one of several; no full list published	Equity Trust
Depository	Features Delaware Depository; not stated as the only one	Delaware Depository
Promotion	Free silver on qualifying premium-coin orders	No free metal; up to ten years of eligible fees paid for qualifying accounts
Cancellation	Ships 5 to 14 business days after good funds, up to 45	Some purchases have a 7-day money-back period

The practical split is the minimum. From $25,000 to just under $50,000, Augusta is not an option and Goldco is. Below $25,000, neither company’s published minimum is met. From $50,000 up, the choice comes down to whether you prefer Augusta’s single named custodian and salaried staff or Goldco’s promotion and price match, which says it will match a competitor’s lower price on the same coin or send a 5-gram silver bar, and which Goldco says it may change or end at any time.

The full side-by-side, including buybacks and complaint records, is on Goldco vs Augusta. If you’d rather see how other free kits stack up, Gold IRA Companies Ranked compares how other dealers compare.

Some things should end the conversation, whichever company is on the line.

• Pressure to decide today. The CFTC lists invented urgency, such as claims of limited supply, as a persuasion tactic.
• An offer to store IRA metal at home. The IRS excludes IRA bullion from the collectibles rule only when a bank or approved non-bank trustee holds it. Metal in your safe is treated very differently.
• Financing. The CFTC warns against buying metal with borrowed money or “equity”, where a price fall can wipe out the account.
• No written prices. If a company won’t put the markup and fees in an email, you can’t compare it with anyone.

Stopping is also a fine answer for reasons that have nothing to do with the company. Metal pays no income, its price can fall for years, and a small account pays the same flat fees as a large one. Is a gold IRA right for you? goes through those tests, and gold IRA red flags lists the regulator warnings in full.