Precious metals firm Lear Capital has tailored its services to provide the optimum customer experience for investors who want to purchase coins or add physical precious metal assets to an IRA account, according to founder Kevin DeMeritt.
Since its 1997 start, the Los Angeles-based company has processed more than $1 billion in IRA-related transactions and served tens of thousands of satisfied customers.
If you’re wondering what specific services Lear Capital offers — and what the precious metal investment process involves — we’ve got answers to your questions below.
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Why Do Physical Precious Metal Assets Appeal to Investors?
Because precious metals like gold have historically provided different returns than assets like stocks during difficult economic and global conditions, when other investments may not fulfill investors’ performance expectations, precious metal assets are often regarded as an option that can potentially help offset losses and provide balance within a portfolio.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, for instance, stocks, which had already been declining due to inflation and interest rate concerns, fell on a global scale. Gold, on the other hand, steadily increased, with prices reaching their highest level in over a year — more than $2,000 per 1 troy ounce — in March 2022.
“Gold typically has an inverse relationship to stocks and other types of assets,” Kevin DeMeritt says. “The volatility of gold is not going to be the same as other investments; it typically is going to give you more stability.”
Buying mining company stocks isn’t the only way you can invest in precious metals like gold and silver. Investors can also obtain an exchange-traded fund that’s backed by physical gold — or they can hold physical precious metal assets, such as gold or silver coins or bars, with a certain purity level in a self-directed individual retirement account like the Lear Precious Metals IRA.
Physical precious metal asset-based investments may present less third-party risk, Kevin DeMeritt says, than precious metal-related mining stocks, which have a value that’s dependent on internal company operations investors aren’t directly involved in. Exchange-traded funds, where the related assets may be held in a different country, can involve a similar amount of uncertainty.
“If something goes wrong with [the] bank, you have a problem,” DeMeritt says. “How do I get the gold back over here? In most of [the] documents for exchange-traded funds, it says, ‘If there is an issue, we can give you a like-kind asset.’ I don’t know anything that’s like gold, so I don’t know what other asset you’re going to give to me.”
While the storage requirements for physical precious metal IRA assets involve keeping them at an IRS-approved private storage facility like the Delaware Depository, the provider Lear Capital relies on to safeguard assets, you physically own the items — giving you complete control over the gold, silver, or platinum coins or bars.
Unlike the somewhat complicated plan administration, service, and other fees traditional IRAs and 401(k)s can involve, self-directed precious metal IRAs offer a simple, transparent payment system.
Because precious metal coins can draw interest from both collectors and investors who want to add them to their portfolio, the demand for the items can be significant — potentially helping to increase their value and investors’ return on investment, Kevin DeMeritt says, particularly if the type of metal used to make the coin also increases in value.
“If you go to the U.S. Mint as a dealer and purchase a silver 1-ounce American Eagle, usually you would pay $2.50 over the spot [silver] price for that coin,” he says. “Any time there are huge amounts of demand for the metals, usually the mints have a very difficult time keeping up, so [coin] premiums go up. If they have these limited mintages and an increase in demand, you not only get the price of silver moving up, you can get the premium on that coin moving up because there’s just not enough of them out there — investors can get this double-play profitability.”
How Does Lear Capital Assist with the Investment Process?
Investors can purchase precious metal coins from Lear Capital via its website 24 hours a day. The list of available coins spans from billions that were produced by government-operated mints in countries around the world, which contain value due to their precious metal content, to limited-mintage coins that feature a design that was only available for a specific amount of time.
Lear can also assist with the various steps involved in establishing a self-directed precious metal IRA account and transferring funds into it. Once a new account has been created, Lear Capital can arrange for a portion of the investor’s retirement funds to be promptly rolled over to the new account, typically within five business days or less.
“It’s a pretty easy process,” Kevin DeMeritt says. “Simply give us a phone call; talk with one of the representatives, [who] will get you the paperwork to transfer whatever portion of that IRA, 401(k) or 403(b) [you] would like over to a physical precious metals IRA. We use Equity Trust, one of the largest self-directed IRA custodians in the country. You can purchase, sell, and liquidate those precious metals at any time.”
Can Work with Lear Capital Offer Any Advantages?
Lear Capital is committed to providing excellent customer service and thorough information to ensure investors understand what the investment process will involve — and how their investments are performing.
To make sure investors know what to expect, Lear Capital — which has received a five-star Excellent rating on the Trustpilot consumer review platform and an AAA Business Consumer Alliance rating — clarifies each asset acquisition process step. Investors receive both a written account agreement and confirmation of the purchase details in writing and by phone.
Because the company wants to make sure the investors it works with are completely satisfied, it offers a risk-free purchase guarantee policy that allows investors to cancel their transaction at no cost within 24 hours after receiving their invoice if they aren’t ready to invest at that point.
In addition to pairing investors with a dedicated account representative when they begin working with Lear, investors can speak to a customer service representative from the company about any questions they have via phone from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST.
If investors are ever thinking about selling their precious metal holdings, they can also reach out to the company to obtain a customized, up-to-date estimate of what their assets are worth at that time. They can also register to receive a notification when a type of precious metal reaches a specific price to ensure they’ll be prepared to promptly buy or sell the asset.
To further assist investors, Lear Capital has also established a number of helpful online resources — including precious metal industry news updates and information about the status of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium prices in the past 24 hours, month, and year, which investors can use to monitor market activity that relates to their potential or existing precious metal investments.
In the current economic environment, where the U.S. faces continuously elevated inflation, higher interest rates and other challenges, a growing number of consumers may consider making precious metal-oriented investments like a self-directed IRA, according to Kevin DeMeritt.
“Gold and silver have historically performed very well in times of inflation,” he says. “With inflation and recession looming, precious metals [can possibly act as] a hedge against some of that economic uncertainty. It may be a great time to add at least some portion of their portfolio into that asset category.”
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