A Gold IRA is a self-directed individual retirement account that allows you to invest in physical gold and other precious metals, such as silver, platinum, and palladium. Unlike traditional IRAs, which typically invest in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, a Gold IRA gives you the opportunity to diversify your retirement portfolio with tangible assets.

To set up a Gold IRA, you first need to choose a custodian that specializes in self-directed IRAs and offers precious metal investments. You can then fund your account through a rollover from an existing retirement account, such as a 401(k) or traditional IRA, or by making a new contribution. Once funded, you can select the specific precious metals you want to invest in, which will be stored in a secure, IRS-approved depository.

The IRS has specific requirements for the types of precious metals that can be held in a Gold IRA. Gold must be at least 99.5% pure, silver must be at least 99.9% pure, and platinum and palladium must be at least 99.95% pure. Acceptable forms include certain gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins, as well as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars that meet the minimum fineness requirements.

Some gold IRA companies indeed have BBB complaints. This is because they have a very large customer base, which leads to more complaints. For example, Apple has thousands of BBB complaints. Given the large customer base of these gold IRA companies, the number of complaints is really low, which tells how good these companies actually are.

In the gold IRA business, it is almost unavoidable not to have any customer complaints because it is a complex model. Therefore, I recommend educating yourself about gold IRAs so that you won't have any unpleasant surprises down the line just because you have misunderstood something.

Usually, complaints result from misunderstandings.