More people than ever before are moving away from paper money and stocks and are now investing in physical precious metals. In fact, it is considered to be a very smart strategy to invest in metals like physical gold since it is a wonderful way to act as a hedge against inflation, and it can preserve your wealth.
I have been investing in precious metals for many years, and I feel like investing in coins, bars, and bullion is a wise way to protect yourself in an economy with high volatility. It’s also a great way to diversify your portfolio.
In order to invest in precious metals, though, it’s a good idea to make sure you are working with the right dealer. Yes, you can go to your local coin dealer, but if you are looking for a company that offers gold, silver, platinum, or palladium online, you have a lot of choices.
One of these companies is Hard Assets Alliance, or HAA. You may have stumbled across this company as you have been exploring precious metals and wondered if it was the right company to invest with. I have taken a deep dive into Hard Assets Alliance, and I want to share my thoughts. Keep reading to find out more about what I think about Hard Assets Alliance’s products, services, and support.
You can reach them at 831-428-0104 for more details about opening an account.
Hard Assets Alliance – A Quick Overview of This Precious Metal Company
Established in 2010, Hard Assets Alliance is a precious metals company that allows people to get into precious metals investing in a simple and easy way. The company uses a single platform, and you can buy, sell, and manage your assets easily and with very little hassle. The platform allows investors to totally manage their accounts from an app or online, and even international customers can get into investing, as HAA allows for international buying, selling, and shipping for customers in Australia, Switzerland, and Singapore, in addition to the US.
Though all of that sounds fine and good, there are a few things that stand out to me about HAA. First, is this — the owners and directors of the company have never been publicly announced. Another thing that raises my eyebrows is that all of their precious metals storage options are managed by other companies.
None of this is a “make it or break it” trigger for me yet, but I definitely wanted to do a full deep dive into the company to learn more about the products and services they offer.
What Makes Hard Assets Alliance Appeal to Investors? – Does Hard Assets Alliance Stand Out?
After working in the precious metals industry for so many years, I really think it’s important to understand what stands out about a company. This helps me determine if a company can really cater to its investors, or if it is lacking specific services that are important. Knowing more about the company is crucial in determining if it’s a good way to invest in coins and bars.
Overall Product Offering from HAA
HAA has a number of options available for people who want to start investing in gold, silver, and platinum. It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced investor or just starting out in precious metals investing; HAA has made this very easy. With a user-friendly app and website, along with a broad range of products, I think that using HAA for precious metals investing could be a good option for those looking for an easy way to invest and avoid market volatility.
What does HAA offer? Let’s take a look:
Gold
You can buy gold coins and bars directly from the HAA website. Some of the options available based on the content on this website include:
- Gold Canadian Maple Leaf,
- Gold South African Krugerrand
- American Gold Eagle
- Gold Britannia
- Various gold bars
All of the prices are listed right there, so you will know exactly what you are paying. The more you buy, the cheaper the metals. For instance, when I was doing research for this review, I looked at pricing for a 1-oz gold bar. HAA is offering that gold bar slightly over spot price, which is common, but I also noticed that the company sells bars and coins at a lower price if you buy more than $50,000. These are very competitive prices.
Silver
HAA has some amazing silver options, too, including premium options. I am a fan of silver, and as a seasoned investor, I wanted to see more about what HAA is offering. Some of the silver products that stood out to me include:
- Silver Canadian Maple Leaf
- Silver Austrian Philharmonic
- Silver American Eagle
- Silver Great Britain Britannia
An investor’s silver is usually meant to be a support for gold, but I look at silver as a great investment in itself, especially because it’s affordable. Almost anyone can start investing in precious metals for less than $50, in fact, at least at the time of this review. Hard Assets Alliance offers a “Monster Box” filled with 500 oz of silver, too, which many investors might use to diversify their investment strategy.
I do think that HAA has the silver everyone wants, but they could also offer a bit more. Yes, it makes it easy to see what’s available, but they are missing out on some great silver coins, bars, and other options.
Open an account by calling: 831-428-0104.
Platinum
Though HAA enables investors to choose from a range of gold and silver, the only thing they offer in the platinum category is a 1-ounce platinum bar. Other companies out there offer more platinum options when compared to what is available with an HAA account.
Storage Solutions
Something that many investors don’t consider after they buy precious metals is how they will store the metals. Some people store metals at their home or in a local bank vault. Other people only want to work with a company that offers secure storage that is fully insured.
HAA has high-security vaults worldwide for investors who value the safety and security of their investments. It is important to mention that HAA, itself doesn’t manage this storage. Instead, it’s managed by third parties. Some of the storage locations to choose from include:
- United States (New York & Salt Lake City)
- Switzerland (Zurich)
- UK (London)
- Singapore
You can store your assets in the vault of your choice, and the providers are likely names that you are familiar with, including Brinks and Loomis. In all of these vaults, the providers audit the contents each quarter, at a minimum, and knowing that everything is audited regularly, really gives me peace of mind.
Knowing that my investments are safe when I invest with HAA is very important to me, and that’s why I keep recommending this company to investors looking for precious metal investments. However, do I recommend the company for precious metals IRAs?
Precious Metals IRA
At some point in your investment journey, you might want to invest in a precious metals IRA. HAA offers that, too. One of the things that really cemented my belief in these accounts is the fact that Hard Assets Alliance partners with Equity Trust, one of the most respected and trustworthy custodians out there.
Equity Trust is a major custodian that works with many precious metals IRA companies, including HAA. In fact, this custodian has managed more than $25 billion in funds, and they will handle everything for you.
HAA’s precious metals IRAs are done in compliance with the IRS, and there is no minimum investment to open an account. Paired with Equity Trust, I think an IRA backed by precious metals is a great option for those who want to boost their financial strategy.
I will say this — holding gold and other precious metals in an IRA is a service available from other companies, too, like Augusta Precious Metals, GoldenCrest Metals, and Noble Gold, who are specialists in precious metals IRAs. Hard Assets Alliance is a specialist in helping investors to buy metals, not invest in IRAs.
Investing with Hard Assets Alliance – Step-by-Step
The ease of use of investing with Hard Assets Alliance really couldn’t be easier. You can buy precious metals in only a few minutes.
Step #1: Open Your Account
The first thing you need to do is open an account. I did the personal account, which almost immediately allowed me to start buying gold, silver, and platinum. I could see the prices of the coins and bars, as well as information about all the products.
Step #2: Fund Your Account
Once the account was open, I had to fund it. You can add money via bank wire transfer, check, and cryptocurrency.
If you want to open a retirement account, the process is a bit different. You can use cash, rollover a 401(k), or transfer from an existing IRA if you are opening a precious metals IRA with Equity Trust. They will help you through the entire process. When the process is complete, which usually takes a few business days, you can start buying metals to add to your IRA account.
Step #3: Invest and Manage the Account
When the account is fully funded, you can start buying. Since there is a lot of information on the site, and you have learned more about the company and process, you can make informed decisions about which metals might be right for you.
Buying metals from the site is like shopping at an online coin/bar marketplace, and it’s no different than buying anything else online. You can buy metals from all over the world, and these coins and bars come from trusted mints. You can also buy 24/7, which is something many other companies don’t allow.
Once you buy or sell precious metals, you can request delivery to your home or send the metals to one of the storage facilities, and since you can do this around the clock, there is no excuse not to invest!
Hard Assets Alliance Fees and Costs
In my experience, the platform’s prices and fees were transparent and reasonable. However, not everyone has had this experience, which I’ll address soon. For now, here’s what you need to know about pricing:
- There is a shipping and insurance fee that covers shipping. It is based on the value and weight of the metals, and it’s charged when you buy the metals.
- There is also a storage fee, which is charged every quarter. It’s 0.7% of the value of your gold and platinum, and it’s 0.8% of the value of silver.
- There is also a Trading Account fee, which is $5 per month.
Open an account by calling: 831-428-0104.
Hard Assets Alliance Rating on Consumer Review Sites
I have been praising Hard Assets Alliance, but before you start investing, it’s really important to know what other reviewers have said about the company, too.
Better Business Bureau
HAA is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, but keep in mind that companies must take this step themselves. The BBB won’t give an accreditation unless asked…and paid.
There is one review on the BBB website, and the customer rated it as a 1/5 stars. That being said, however, the review is based on an assumption that when the price of silver rose, the company suddenly had a “tech issue,” and couldn’t execute the customer’s order to sell. Again, this is based on the customer’s assumption. There is no proof of this.
TrustPilot
On TrustPilot, Hard Assets Alliance has a 4.5/5 star rating with more than 100 reviews. Most of the reviews are positive, and the majority of the people seem happy.
When we look at the negative reviews, there seem to be two main issues with the company: first, there are several complaints about shipping costs and the time it takes to ship. The other main complaint is that it takes a long time for orders to go through. The biggest issue people have is that they miss out on specific prices to buy or sell because it takes too much time for investors to execute the order.
It’s also worth noting that the parent company also owns GoldSilver.com, a leading platform for buying precious metals.
Pros and Cons of Working with HAA
Pros
- Gives you access to 24/7 precious metals purchases
- International shipping is available
- Easy-to-use buying and selling platform and app
- Competitive pricing
- Precious metals IRAs are available
- No minimum investments
Cons
- Not transparent about owners or management
- Reports of slow shipping and long execution times
My Final Opinion – Hard Assets Alliance Review – Reliability and Customer Support
Overall, I would definitely recommend HAA for physical precious metal investments. However, consider the shipping and execution times. It seems to be a very easy-to-use trading platform, and it supports diversification, and it will help you make the right investment decision based on your investment needs.
As for the precious metals IRA option, my advice is to look at other gold IRA companies and see what is available. HAA is not a top gold IRA company in my opinion. There are better options for those who are looking to invest for their future.
About Tim Schmidt Sr.
Tim Schmidt is an Entrepreneur and Serial Investor. Since 2012 he’s been an advocate of alternative investments using a Self Directed IRA. His work has been featured in Yahoo! Finance, USA Today, Business Insider, and Tech Times, among others.
