- 05 Jun 2021
- Bonds
- Reviews
- Comments: 0
Disclaimer: Many or all of the companies listed here may provide compensation to us. This is how we maintain our free service for consumers. Compensation, along with hours of in-depth editorial research, determines where & how companies appear below.
Schiff Gold is a New York company that deals precious metals like bullion, coins, and bars. There are also services offered to investors. Prior to 2014, Schiff Gold was known as Euro Pacific Precious Metals. The company was originally founded in 2010 and has rebranded since then.
Important to mention before we go more in depth with this review!
We know that picking a company to invest with is an important financial decision and we pride ourselves on providing accurate and reliable information! With our extensive research, we have compiled a list of our 5 highest recommended companies for this year!
==> See our full list of the top 5 precious metals investment companies here (for IRAs AND non IRAs)
See if Schiff Gold made it on our list this year!
Or Get A Free Gold Investing Kit From Our #1 Recommended Company Right Away Below!
Or continue on with this Schiff Gold review...
Owner of the Company
Schiff Gold is owned by an investment broker and financial commentator named Peter Schiff. He has several decades of experience in the financial industry.
Peter Schiff predicted the economic crash that left so many people in dire straits in 2008. He opened this precious metals brokerage to help investors secure their assets in metals like gold and silver. He's also frequently in the news because of his fearlessness when criticizing the government and talking about investing.
It's a good idea to secure a portion of your wealth in precious metals, as their value behaves inverse to inflation. Precious metals also tend to gain value when volatile markets like real estate lose value.
But there's a lot of uncertainty about which precious metals are best to purchase, which dealers can be trusted, and when the best time to buy is. Peter Schiff aims to provide a clear option. His name is a big part of the company's brand due to his financial expertise.
The man does have a good reputation in the industry. He's said to offer fair prices, honesty, and good advice. Several people credit him with saving them from the brink of financial destruction when the stock market crashed, since they had enough stability in their investments to ride out the wave.
The company also employs two executive directors, Matt Malleo and Jonathan Sosnay. The director of technology is Fabian Gambino, who is responsible for maintaining the website. All three of these individuals act as precious metals specialists for the company.
Two other precious metals specialists are River Allen and Joel Bauman. These individuals can talk to you about the market factors influencing precious metals prices. The accountant on staff is Valeria Alikakos.
Products and Services
There are a variety of products and services offered by the company. Precious metals are available in bars, bullion, and coins.
Numismatic coins are not available for a variety of reasons. They are an ill-advised investment due to factors like:
These types of coins are good for collectors who want to own them, but they're not the best choice for people diversifying an investment portfolio. Therefore, Schiff Gold doesn't offer them.
Some of the other metals available include:
Prices are competitive and fluctuate based on the changing market value of different metals.
One of the most appealing aspects of Schiff Gold is how easy it is to purchase precious metals. The company can help guide you through the process and make specific recommendations based on your investment portfolio needs.
Steps to Get Started
There are just four steps to the overall buying process.
The first step is to reach out and contact the company. This is especially easy to do thanks to the website's chat feature. You can simply start a chat with a representative or call a phone number to talk to a specialist who deals with precious metals.
The specialist will explain the purpose of the company, the potential benefits of investing, and what the precious metals market looks like now. They will talk to you about your current investment portfolio, budget, and long-term goals. Given this information, they'll provide recommendations for your order.
The next step is to place the order. Your specialist will handle the majority of this through your chat or over the phone. They will help you finalize your selection and then send you an email with the order details.
This email will include information such as:
After receiving this confirmation email, the third step is to make the order payment. Most payments are made using a check or a bank wire transfer. The company will send the metals once the payment has been received. Checks take five business days to process, while wire transfers usually clear within 24 hours.
The company itself handles the final step: shipping your items to you. All you need to do is determine where they're being shipped to. Products are shipped using UPS, FedEx, or USPS. All packages are insured for their full value using Lloyd's of London, so you can get your money back if it's lost in transit.
It takes anywhere from 1 to 2 days to process your order. Once it's shipped, your metals might arrive in anywhere from 2 to 5 business days, depending on your location.
There is also the option to pay for your order with cryptocurrency, although this can be a slightly complicated process. The company has been accepting crypto as payment since 2014, being one of the first to do so. Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Bitcoin Cash are all accepted.
If you want to pay using cryptocurrency, you will need to pay for your order immediately after placing it. The wallet you use must be BitPay compatible. Your order price will only be locked in for 15 minutes due to the fast-changing nature of cryptocurrency pricing.
When the payment goes through, you'll get an order confirmation.
Other Services
The company offers several other services to potential investors. If you want to store your precious metals or other items in a vault, you can pay a 150 dollar annual fee to do so with the company.
You can also purchase products for a precious metals IRA rollover. This allows you to secure part of your retirement funds in precious metals. The company will help you store your assets in facilities that meet IRS guidelines.
Selling Precious Metals
There are dozens of companies that offer to buy precious metals from people who need to liquidate their assets quickly. Schiff Gold offers to purchase precious metals from anyone, whether those metals were originally bought through their company or not.
If you're selling something that Schiff Gold doesn't have in its marketplace, you can contact a sales representative and ask whether the company will take it.
Steps to Sell Your Metals
The initial step is to contact the company about what you're selling. You can get in contact by using email, the live chat feature, or the contact number.
You'll be put in touch with a company employee who can guide you through the process. They will give you a quote for the precious metals you're selling, or they'll tell you that the company can't buy them right now.
The next step is simply to package up the metals and ship them. It's a good idea to insure the package so that you can be compensated for the value if it gets lost in the mail. There is also the option of dropping the metals off in person at one of several national and international locations.
After the precious metals have arrived, the company will send the quoted price to you through a check or bank wire transfer.
Company Standards
Most of the content on the company's website comes directly from Peter Schiff. The entire company runs based on his investment principles and personal principles. He claims that he wants to offer precious metals at reasonable prices so that people can hedge against inflation.
The specialists at the company are committed to treating every person with respect, regardless of the size of their purchase. Authenticity and purity level are both guaranteed when making a purchase.
Competitive pricing is a company standard, although it's difficult to tell how competitive the pricing is since prices aren't listed on the website. According to Peter Schiff, costs are kept low through certain practices:
Another company standard is the trustworthiness of the products. Schiff Gold doesn't sell any products that Peter Schiff believes are risky investments. As such, it will never sell collectible items or coins, as these are subject to serious problems in the market.
The company is also opposed to high pressure sales. The representatives don't upsell products to try to earn higher commissions. Instead, they offer a selection of products that best suit your budget and investment goals. If you have questions about the market, the team will answer them.
According to Peter Schiff, the company staff is made up entirely of people who are passionate about gold investing. They are committed to the model that allows them to help people diversify their portfolios instead of chase high commissions. They will also give you advice about how much of your investment portfolio should be put into precious metals.
Each specialist on the team places a high emphasis on long-term client relationships. The company tries to create one-on-one relationships that will last for many years. Whether you're making your first purchase or your twentieth, a specialist will be there to guide you through it.
Similarly, if you set up a precious metals IRA, there will be a specialist with you for every step of the process. They will help to streamline the setup to make things as easy as possible. You'll pay an annual storage fee and in return receive updates about the value of your metals.
Lack of Reviews
There is something a little odd about the company. It's impossible to find consumer reviews online. The business has never been accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and it doesn't have any reviews on Trustlink. There's no way to find out what experiences customers have had in the past.
This is especially puzzling because of how long the business has been operating. It has been around for more than a decade, even if it's only operated under the Schiff Gold name since 2014. Despite the lack of reviews, the company does have a trusted reputation due to Peter Schiff's expertise.
There are a variety of consumer testimonials that are published through the website. It's just strange that no third party watchdogs have gathered any information about the business practices.
Another odd thing is that prices aren't listed on the website. You need to work directly with a precious metals specialist if you want to make a purchase. This might be due to limited inventory, but it's still odd. Also odd is that you need to be emailed with your order details before paying.
All of this can make it difficult to compare the price against other dealers. So it's difficult to say whether the company actually offers prices as low as they say. You can find much more transparent business practices by working with other brokers.
Final Thoughts
The biggest driving force behind Schiff Gold is Peter Schiff. He is an investment expert who frequently publishes his thoughts on the economy, the government, and investment advice. The company abides by his investment expertise by selling only the most reliable precious metals.
However, the company is not very transparent. There is no online marketplace to purchase goods. You don't have any information about the pricing via the website. You can't pay until you've talked to a representative and received an email confirming your order details.
This means that it's difficult to compare the pricing to market value. It's also possible that different people will be quoted different pricing amounts based on arbitrary criteria.
In addition, there isn't a lot of information about the company's buying practices. A representative will give you a quote when you describe the metals being sold, but since there are no customer reviews online, we can't reliably say whether the offer will be a fair market price.
If you want to liquidate your precious metals quickly, there are dealers that offer far more transparency up front. The same is true of buying precious metals. While Peter Schiff's expertise is valuable when learning how to invest, this company simply doesn't have enough information to stand up to industry competition.
Although we do think that Schiff Gold is a decent company, we believe that there are better companies out there to make your investment with.
You can get a free gold investment kit from our #1 recommended precious metals investment company above, or you can checkout our top 5 recommended companies below...
===> See our top 5 recommended companies here (for IRAs AND non IRAs)
Or, continue with Schiff Gold...