Costs
The IRS sets no minimum investment for a precious-metals IRA. Every minimum you have been quoted came from a dealer or a custodian, not from the tax code — which means minimums vary enormously, and a high one tells you something about the dealer's business model rather than about the rules.
Monday – Friday, 7am – 4pm Pacific
IRS minimum
None
Typical dealer minimum
$10k–$50k
Custodian minimum
Often $0
Where fees make sense
~$25k+
Nothing in the Internal Revenue Code sets a floor on a self-directed IRA holding metals. The annual contribution limits apply as they do to any IRA, and a rollover from a 401(k), 403(b) or existing IRA has no size requirement at all. If a salesperson tells you the IRS requires $50,000, that is not true.
A metals IRA involves the same paperwork whether it is funded with $5,000 or $500,000. Dealers that pay for expensive lead generation need a large enough order to cover that cost, so they set the minimum where their marketing maths works. That is a legitimate business decision — it just is not a rule, and you are allowed to ask why the number is what it is.
Annual custodian and storage fees are largely fixed in dollars, so they shrink as a percentage as the account grows. Roughly $200-$300 a year of combined fees is about 2-3% on a $10,000 account and about 0.1% on $250,000. Below roughly $15,000-$25,000, fixed fees start to consume a meaningful share of the return, which is the real reason to think carefully about a very small metals IRA — not a dealer's minimum.
If you are working with a smaller amount and want metal, buying coins or bars outright avoids custodian and storage fees entirely. You give up the tax deferral and take on storage yourself. Neither route is automatically better — they are different trade-offs, and a smaller balance shifts the maths toward direct ownership.
We publish our premiums, name our custodians, and will walk any size of account through the paperwork. We would rather tell you honestly that an amount is too small to be worth the annual fees than take the order and let you discover it on your first statement.
A specialist can answer this in two minutes. Monday – Friday, 7am – 4pm Pacific.
Leave your name and number. A Capstone specialist will answer your questions during business hours.
Most gold and silver firms can only talk to you about gold and silver. We have licensed advisors on staff, so the same conversation can cover your retirement accounts, your market holdings, insurance and estate structure alongside a completely private metals purchase — one fiduciary review of everything you own, not a sales call about one product.
Want a number rather than a conversation first? Request current gold pricing — itemized spot reference and premium, with the research and its limits sent afterwards.
Give us a number and we will show you the annual fees as a dollar figure and as a percentage — and say plainly whether a metals IRA or a direct purchase fits it better.
