About SafeOunce: The Independent Precious Metals IRA Guide and the 7 Rules We Follow

SafeOunce is an independent guide to precious metals IRAs, and as of September 2026 no gold IRA company, dealer or custodian it covers can pay to change what it says. Every rule, fee and rating on the site links to the document it comes from. So who writes it, and why should you believe it?

A precious metals IRA is an individual retirement account (IRA) that holds physical gold, silver, platinum or palladium instead of stocks or funds. An IRA is a savings account with tax breaks for retirement. The site explains how a precious metals IRA works, what it really costs, which IRS rules apply and how each company behaves on paper and in court.

SafeOunce covers 12 topics, from IRS rules to scams, and exists because of 4 documented problems with gold IRA information online. The SafeOunce Editorial Team writes every page under 7 rules on money, ratings, sources, conflicts, personal data, advice and corrections. You can check any statement in 5 steps, and the table below gives the short answers as of September 29, 2026.

What Is SafeOunce?#

SafeOunce is a website that explains how precious metals IRAs work, what they cost and how their sellers behave, using primary sources such as the IRS, courts and contracts. A primary source is the original document: the law, the court record or the contract itself, not a story about it.

If SafeOunce sells nothing, what does it publish? It publishes 3 kinds of pages. Rule pages explain IRS rules, taxes and rollovers. Cost pages show fees, markups and minimums, each with its date. Company pages review each seller with a 0-100 score, its complaints and its enforcement record.

SafeOunce is none of the 3 businesses that handle a gold IRA, listed below.

• Dealer (the company that sells the metal): SafeOunce sells no coins or bars.
• Custodian or depository: a custodian is the trust company that legally holds an IRA, and a depository is the vault that stores IRA metal. SafeOunce holds no accounts and no metal.
• Adviser: SafeOunce gives no personal investment, tax or legal advice.

SafeOunce cannot open an account for you or take an order for metal.

Which precious metals IRA topics does SafeOunce cover, and what does it leave out?#

SafeOunce covers gold, silver, platinum and palladium in US IRAs and retirement plans: IRS rules, taxes, rollovers, fees, companies, custodians, vaults and IRA-eligible coins and bars. IRA-eligible means allowed in an IRA under 26 U.S.C. 408(m)(3), the tax-code section on metals. A rollover moves retirement money from one account to another without tax. SafeOunce covers rollovers from 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) and pension plans, and from the TSP (Thrift Savings Plan), the federal workers' plan.

The table below lists the 12 precious metals IRA topics SafeOunce covers and where each one starts, as of September 2026.

SafeOunce leaves out the 6 topics listed below, because they fall outside metals in US retirement accounts or outside its rules.

• Crypto IRAs, which hold digital coins instead of metal.
• Other self-directed IRA assets, such as real estate, loans, private placements and business ownership. A self-directed IRA is an IRA that can hold assets beyond stocks and funds.
• Price forecasts for gold, silver, platinum or palladium.
• Personal advice on investments, taxes or legal questions.
• Coin collecting and jewelry.
• Non-US retirement accounts, such as the Canadian RRSP, the UK SIPP and the Australian SMSF.

Who is SafeOunce written for?#

SafeOunce is written for people near or in retirement who are deciding whether to move retirement money into gold or silver, or who want to check a purchase. It is written for readers aged about 50 to 70 who hold a 401(k) or an IRA and have just heard from a seller or already own a gold IRA.

Why write for this age group? The sellers do. Augusta Precious Metals' affiliate program page says: "Our ideal customer is between the ages of 55 and 75" (read September 29, 2026). The FTC's Endorsement Guides say that when an endorsement targets "older adults, 'ordinary consumers' includes members of that group" (16 CFR 255.0(f)).

SafeOunce aims for plain English at about a 9th-grade reading level, with every term explained at first use. It is also written for adult children checking a call or a quote for a parent.

Why Does SafeOunce Exist? 4 Problems With Gold IRA Information Online#

SafeOunce exists because gold IRA information online has 4 documented problems: "best" lists disagree, they measure the wrong costs, payments shape them, and rule errors get copied. The 4 problems are listed below, each with its date and source.

1. "Best" lists that disagree. Nine "best gold IRA" lists name 20 companies and five different #1 picks, in the latest versions SafeOunce could read on September 29, 2026. For two lists that version is older: Investopedia's update of April 29, 2025 and Forbes Advisor's page as saved on August 17, 2026. The picks are Allegiance Gold at Money, Silver Gold Bull at Forbes Advisor and JM Bullion at Investopedia. American Hartford Gold leads at Yahoo Finance and CNBC and is listed first at RetirementLiving. Augusta Precious Metals leads at CBS News, Clute Journals and TipRanks. Augusta appears on 8 of the 9 lists, and two of them, Clute Journals and TipRanks, list exactly the same companies. Gold IRA "best of" lists that measured the same thing would not disagree this much. See the gold IRA 'best of' lists compared side by side.

2. Lists that measure the wrong costs. Money named American Hartford Gold "Best for Low Fees" (page dated September 25, 2026), judging account fees. American Hartford Gold's September 2026 sales agreement allows dealer spreads "up to 19.99%" on bullion. A spread is the gap between what you pay for metal and what it is worth. On $100,000, one point of spread costs $1,000. That pays 3.5 years of the $285 a year ($125 account fee plus $160 segregated storage) on Equity Trust's metals-only fee schedule FS-0004-05 Rev. 081726, read September 2026. None of the nine lists scores regulator actions, court records or contract terms. CBS News recommended Rosland Capital on August 7, 2026, 36 days after Rosland filed a liquidating Chapter 11, a bankruptcy that winds a company down. The page still listed Rosland when read on September 29, 2026. Rosland owed about $60.8 million to about 617 customers (case 2:26-bk-16650-BB, filed July 2, 2026).

3. Money that shapes what you read. An affiliate is a website that is paid when a reader calls or buys from a company it links to. Lear Capital's affiliate terms (SafeOunce earns nothing from this link.) (last updated August 1, 2025) say a paid partner "may not ... Claim or imply that You, Your site, or any content (including reviews and recommendations) are neutral or independent." Augusta's affiliate agreement bars claims about its products "unless Company has provided such Claims" (Appendix A, section 4). Section 8 bars any "technique that generates organic or paid search results" on its or rivals' brand names. The FTC says "such paid-for rankings are deceptive". Disclosing the payments "would be inadequate because the payments actually determine the ... relative rankings" (16 CFR 255.4(b), Example 3).

4. Rule errors copied from page to page. "IRS-approved" coins, dealers and vaults appear on ranking pages and in AI answers. Yet the IRS says "there is no list of approved investments for retirement plans" (Retirement Plan Investments FAQs, updated April 8, 2026). Its only approval list covers nonbank trustees, companies that may hold IRAs without being banks. That list had 73 entities as of April 1, 2026. The only metals business on it is Lone Star Tangible Assets, LP, approved November 30, 2023. CBS News also wrote that required withdrawals start "at 72". A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the yearly amount you must take out of a traditional IRA. It starts at 73, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later (IRS RMD FAQs).

SafeOunce was built to answer the same questions with the documents in view, so you can see where each number comes from. The lists also leave out enforcement actions by the CFTC, SEC, FTC and state regulators. Those regulator and court records are tracked in gold IRA enforcement actions.

Who Writes SafeOunce, and Why Is There No Expert Byline?#

• Name: "SafeOunce Editorial Team".
• Fact check link: "Fact checked", which leads to the method and fact-checking standard.
• Review date: the date the page was last reviewed.
• Source count: the number of sources the page cites.

The SafeOunce editorial policy sets the rules behind those 4 items. How sources are chosen and dated is set out in the SafeOunce editorial policy.

Is a team name less trustworthy than a named adviser? The CFTC's 2024 warning "Precious Metals IRA Lies vs Facts" lists this line as a lie: "You're speaking to an expert advisor or someone with inside information." Its fact: "Most likely you're talking to a telemarketer."

The CFTC adds that anyone who tells you "what to buy, how much, or when to buy or sell" is giving investment advice. That person must be registered with the SEC, FINRA or your state's securities regulator. Registered means listed with one of those regulators, so you can look the person up.

The team writes only about precious metals IRAs and the rules, costs and companies around them.

Who owns and runs SafeOunce?#

The SafeOunce Editorial Team writes SafeOunce, checks its facts and replies by email to messages sent through its contact form. As of September 2026, SafeOunce has no business tie to any gold IRA company, dealer, custodian or depository it covers. It sells no metal, holds no IRA accounts and cannot open one for you. No company SafeOunce covers can pay to change its rating or its place.

What Are the 7 Rules SafeOunce Follows?#

SafeOunce follows 7 rules on money, ratings, sources, conflicting sources, personal data, advice and corrections. In short: no money from the companies it covers, no ratings for sale, a source and date for every fact, and both sides when sources disagree. It also runs no sales forms, gives no personal advice and corrects mistakes in public. The 7 rules are numbered below so other SafeOunce pages can cite them.

1. No money from the companies we cover#

Money cannot buy anything on SafeOunce: the gold IRA companies, dealers, custodians and vaults it covers cannot pay for a rating, a place on a list or a link. SafeOunce takes no money from any company named on this page. As of September 29, 2026, SafeOunce has no affiliate links, no paid placements, no partner buttons and sells no reader contacts.

Company review pages carry only a plain link to the company's official website, marked nofollow so it passes no ranking credit (as of September 2026). If the money position ever changes, the advertiser disclosure is updated first, and every paid link is labeled where it appears.

What SafeOunce would disclose, and what money cannot buy, is set out in full.

2. Ratings follow one published method and are never for sale#

SafeOunce rates gold IRA companies with one published method, a 0-100 score from 7 criteria, and no company can pay to change its score. Points go to price paid (30), regulator and court record (20), contract terms (15), account fees, complaints, and product mix and sales pressure (10 each), and custody and delivery (5).

Anything a company will not disclose scores zero. If a company sends no documents within 10 business days, its page says "requested, no reply," and the company is listed as "Not rated: would not disclose."

BBB grades and star ratings are shown with their dates but not scored. The weights, gates and evidence rules are all in how SafeOunce rates gold IRA companies.

3. Every fact names its primary source and its date#

Every rule, fee, price and rating on SafeOunce names the document it comes from and the date it was read, so you can open the source and check it. Fees, minimums, prices, ratings and complaint counts carry an "as of" date, because they change. Legal statements carry their citation: a statute, a regulation, an IRS notice, or a case with its court and year.

A company's own claim is attributed and dated, such as "according to Augusta's FAQ, last updated September 23, 2026." SafeOunce pages are compiled from the 12 kinds of primary sources in the table below, each shown with one real example read in September 2026.

4. When sources disagree, you see both#

When two sources disagree, SafeOunce shows both and says which is which, and a claim it cannot confirm from a primary source is left out. What does that look like? Noble Gold's own website showed two fee sets on two live pages on September 29, 2026.

Noble Gold's support FAQ listed $80 setup plus $275 a year, and its gold IRA page listed $50 setup plus $285 a year. SafeOunce prints both, not the one that looks better. An attributed claim is one printed with its source's name, because no second source confirms it. Augusta's $50,000 minimum appears only as "according to Augusta's FAQ, last updated September 23, 2026."

The phrase "IRS-approved" is replaced with "IRA-eligible under 26 U.S.C. 408(m)(3)", because the IRS says "there is no list of approved investments for retirement plans." These conflict rules are part of SafeOunce's editorial policy on sources and corrections.

The full order of trust between sources is in our editorial policy on sources and corrections.

5. No free kits, lead forms or sales calls#

SafeOunce has no free kits, no lead forms and no phone-number fields, and it never passes a reader's details to any company. A lead form is a form that collects your contact details so a seller can call you.

As of September 29, 2026, the only form on SafeOunce is the contact form. It asks for your email address, a topic and a message, and, if you choose, your name and the page concerned. It has no phone field, and the site collects no leads, subscriptions or quote requests.

Free gold IRA kits work the other way. Birch Gold Group's kit form, read September 29, 2026, marks "Phone Number (Required)". It also asks you to authorize "ringless voicemails, and auto-dialers." A separate page explains what happens after you request one of those free gold IRA kits.

6. No personal advice and no price forecasts#

SafeOunce gives general information, not personal investment, tax or legal advice, and it never predicts where gold or silver prices will go. It publishes no price forecasts for gold, silver, platinum or palladium.

Investment advice means telling a person what to buy, how much, or when to buy or sell. The CFTC says anyone who does that must be registered with the SEC, FINRA or a state securities regulator. SafeOunce gives no such advice. It does not say which company you personally should use or how much metal you should hold.

Past returns appear with their dates and their costs. They are never presented as a promise of future returns.

7. Mistakes are corrected in public#

When SafeOunce gets a fact wrong, the page is fixed, a dated note says what changed, and the correction is listed in a public log. A corrections log is a public list of every fix, with its date and page. The dated note on the page tells a reader who saw the old version exactly what changed.

Rating changes also go into the ratings changelog, a dated list of score changes and the reason for each. Readers and companies report errors through the contact form, under the topic "Correction or factual error". A link to the primary source helps. Every change is listed in the corrections log.

How Can You Check SafeOunce's Work Yourself? 5 Steps#

You can check any SafeOunce statement in 5 steps: open the source, read the date, spot "up to" and "according to", compare pitch and contract, and report errors. Why should you have to check at all? A retirement decision is worth ten minutes of checking. The CFTC says the same in its advisory "10 Things to Ask Before Buying Physical Gold, Silver, or Other Metals". It tells buyers to get "all fees, costs, commissions, and agreed retail price in writing BEFORE signing".

The 5 steps are listed below in the order you use them.

1. Open the source link next to the number. It goes to the IRS, a court, a regulator or the company's own document.
2. Read the date in the sentence. Fees, prices and limits change: the 2026 IRA limit is $7,500, or $8,600 at 50 or older. The 2027 limit was not announced as of September 29, 2026. Old text can hide under a new title: CNBC Select's gold IRA list shows a September 2026 title in search results, but its text says "Published November 9, 2023."
3. Look for "up to" and "according to". "Up to" marks a contract cap, the highest markup the agreement allows, not what everyone pays. "According to" marks a company's own claim that SafeOunce could not confirm elsewhere.
4. Compare the sales pitch with the contract. A seller's phone promise counts for less than the agreement you sign. American Hartford Gold's September 2026 agreement, for example, allows bullion spreads "up to 19.99%". You should get the contract before you sign.
5. Tell us if we are wrong. Use the contact form, name the page and the sentence, and link the source.

The same 5 steps work on any gold IRA website. You can check a gold IRA company the same way, through its regulator and court records. The full routine is how to check a gold IRA company.

How Can You Contact SafeOunce?#

You can contact SafeOunce through the form on its contact page to report an error, ask about a page, report a company practice or reach the editors for press. Use the form on contact SafeOunce; it asks for your email address, never your phone number.

The form offers 5 topics: "Correction or factual error", "Question about a page", "Report a company practice", "Press" and "Other". SafeOunce cannot open an account, take an order or give personal advice through the form.

How can a gold IRA company send documents or dispute its SafeOunce rating?#

A company can send its customer agreement, a written quote and its fee information through the contact page, and documents SafeOunce can verify are used at the next rating update. The quote covers a $50,000 purchase of 1 oz gold bullion coins, with the spot price used and the same-day buyback price.

Under the SafeOunce methodology, if a company sends nothing within 10 business days, its review page says "requested, no reply," and the company is listed as "Not rated: would not disclose." Nothing else changes a score: not a phone call and not an offer of payment. The 10-business-day document rule is part of the SafeOunce methodology.

About SafeOunce: frequently asked questions#

The 8 short answers below cover what readers ask about SafeOunce itself.

Is SafeOunce a gold IRA company or a bullion dealer?#

No: SafeOunce sells no metal, holds no accounts and cannot open an IRA for you; it only publishes information about the companies that do. A gold IRA company sells the metal and sets up the account with a custodian. SafeOunce reviews those companies from their contracts, fee schedules and court and regulator records.

Does SafeOunce earn money if you contact a company from this site?#

No: as of September 2026, a company review page links only to the company's official website, and that link carries no referral code or payment. No company can pay to change its rating or its place.

Any change to how SafeOunce is paid would appear first in the SafeOunce advertiser disclosure.

Why does SafeOunce not list phone numbers to call?#

SafeOunce does not send callers to sellers: a company's review page links only to its official website, and you choose whether to contact it. The CFTC tells buyers to get prices and fees in writing before signing. A website lets you read a company's own terms before anyone calls you.

Can SafeOunce tell you which gold IRA company to use?#

No: SafeOunce gives no personal advice, but it lists 12 questions to ask any company and the answers that should stop you. Those 12 questions help you choose a gold IRA company on your own terms.

The questions and the answers to watch for are in how to choose a gold IRA company.

Does SafeOunce rank the best gold IRA companies?#

Yes, on its best-of pages, but only by the published 0-100 score and by reader situation, and no company can pay for its place. Every ranked company is scored with the same 7 criteria, whether or not it lands among the best gold IRA companies.

The ranking by score and situation is in best gold IRA companies.

Does SafeOunce use BBB grades or Trustpilot stars in its ratings?#

SafeOunce shows BBB grades and Trustpilot stars with their dates but does not score them, because 90 of the 100 positive points behind a BBB grade relate to complaints. Customer reviews are not used in a BBB grade at all, and an A+ needs 97 to 100 points.

BCA is the Business Consumer Alliance, another business rating group. The page on BBB, BCA and Trustpilot ratings explains why these signals cannot separate the companies.

Where can you see every change to a SafeOunce rating?#

Every score change and its reason is listed in the public ratings changelog. Each entry shows the date, the criterion that moved and why. A change to the method gets a new version number.

The full record is in the SafeOunce ratings changelog.

How do you report a gold IRA company that misled you?#

Report a price or markup lie to the CFTC at 866-366-2382 and to your state securities regulator. To report a gold IRA company for other problems, the right agency depends on the problem.

Which agency handles what is set out in report a gold IRA company.