In the realm of precious metals investment, discerning individuals seek not only quality products but also trustworthy service from reputable dealers. Among the myriad options available, Cornerstone Bullion stands out as a notable contender.
In this comprehensive review, we delve into the various facets of Cornerstone Bullion, from its product offerings to its fee structure and customer reviews.
By examining the company’s strengths, such as its partnerships with reputable custodians and storage providers, as well as potential areas for improvement, such as the need for more transparent pricing information, prospective investors can gain valuable insights into whether Cornerstone Bullion is the right fit for their investment goals.
What is Cornerstone Bullion?
Cornerstone Bullion is a precious metals dealer based in Castle Rock, Colorado. The company entered the industry in 2009 and has received an A+ rating on BBB.
Apart from offering precious metals products to their customers, the company also offers gold IRAs. Their catalogue consists of a large variety of gold, silver, platinum and palladium coins band bars.
Also, the Castle Rock firm has put in a lot of effort into educating consumers with free resources.
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They provide multiple guides and publish articles regularly on their website as a part of their client education efforts. The company has partnered with multiple storage providers including Dakota Depository and Delaware Depository.
Cornerstone Bullion is a member of the Industry Council on Tangible Assets and is a family-operated company. According to the company, they leverage strong relationships with primary suppliers and their low overhead to offer their customers the best price.
The company insists on 100% customer satisfaction and assures consumers that it doesn’t ‘hard sell’ its products.
If you’re wondering if you should invest with them, the following Cornerstone Bullion review should help:
About the People Behind Cornerstone Bullion:
The owner of Cornerstone Bullion is Chad Roach. He shares that he launched this precious metals firm when he couldn’t find a reliable dealer that would give competitive pricing with top-notch service.
Chad has a lot of professional experience in tangible assets, real estate and metals. His background has helped him grow Cornerstone and run it since 2009.
He shares that as a seasoned finance professional, he looks at gold and silver as strategic investments that allow you to hedge against the uncertainty of flat currency.
Certainly, he is a highly experienced entrepreneur as he is also the founder of Cornerstone Capital, a real estate firm and Navitas Global, a data centre facility provider.
Before founding this bullion firm, Roach ran Integrity Payment Services for 17 years.
Chad Roach has a CLA in Law from Oak Brook College of Law and Government Policy.
Cornerstone Bullion is a family-owned and family-run company. According to them, it helps them maintain security and privacy by following this model.
The company promises to treat its clients like a part of their family.
How to Signup with Cornerstone Bullion:
The signup process with Cornerstone Bullion is rather simple. With them, the first thing you’d have to do is choose your custodian and storage facility.
Some of the options available here include Idaho Armored Vaults and Dakota Depository.
Once you have chosen your custodian, the representatives at Cornerstone will assist you in funding your IRA. If you have an existing IRA, they can help you rollover funds from it into your new gold IRA.
After funding your gold IRA, you can add the precious metals you want. Cornerstone Bullion has a significant product selection and you can choose any IRA-eligible products to add to your IRA.
That’s it.
Now, you have a fully-funded precious metals IRA.
Cornerstone Bullion Products:
The product selection of Cornerstone Bullion is impressive. They offer IRA-eligible gold, silver and platinum products along with several numismatic coins for non-IRA storage.
Although the catalog doesn’t feature a large selection of IRA-eligible products, it’s varied enough to help you create a personalized gold IRA.
One of the biggest pros of Cornerstone Bullion is that it offers investors platinum and palladium products to add to their IRA. Not many gold IRA providers offer these precious metals.
With platinum and palladium, you can diversify your precious metals portfolio further as both of these metals have shown good performance in the past.
Gold Products:
At Cornerstone, you can get 4 kinds of gold coins and 6 kinds of gold bars:
- American Buffalo Gold Coin
- Austrian Philharmonic Gold Coin
- American Eagle Gold Coin
- Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Coin
- 1 oz Sunshine Mint Gold Bar
- 1 oz Republic Metals Gold Bar
- 1 oz Perth Mint Bar
- 1 oz PAMP Suisse Bar
- 1 oz Elemetal Gold Bar
- 1 oz Credit Suisse Gold Bar
Popular coins like American Gold Eagle are available in multiple sizes such as 1 oz, 1/10 oz, ½ oz, and ¼ oz.
Apart from these IRA-eligible coins, you can find several numismatic coins in their collection as well. These include British Sovereign coins, Mexican Peso coins and Corona coins.
However, you cannot add numismatic coins to your precious metals IRA. They are only suitable for personal investment.
Silver Products:
Their selection of silver IRA products is rather small. You will only find the following silver IRA products in their catalog:
- Canadian Silver Maple Leaf
- American Silver Eagles
- Austrian Silver Philharmonic
- Silver Bars (1 oz, 10 oz, 100 oz)
Cornerstone Bullion features a few rare coins in their silver catalogue as well. However, the selection is much smaller than their collection of gold coins.
Platinum Products:
Their platinum collection only features the following products:
- Australian Platypus Platinum Coin
- American Platinum Eagle
- Platinum Maple Leaf
- 1 oz Platinum Bar
Palladium Products;
Here, you get two palladium products to choose from:
- Canadian Palladium Eagle
- 1 oz Palladium Bar
Cornerstone Bullion Fees:
Cornerstone Bullion has partnered with multiple IRA custodians. Hence, their fee structure depends on the custodian you go with.
- The Entrust Group: They charge a $50 set-up fee and a $199 annual maintenance fee.
- The Kingdom Trust Co: They charge no setup fee and a $120 annual fee.
- GoldStar Trust Company: They charge a $50 setup fee, a $75 minimum annual maintenance fee and a $100 annual storage fee.
- New Direction IRA: $30 setup fee and $150 account maintenance fee.
There is no information on their minimum investment requirement.
| Custodian | Initial Setup Fee | Annual Charges |
| The Entrust Group | $50 | $199 |
| The Kingdom Trust Co. | $0 | $120 |
| GoldStar Trust Co. | $50 | $75 (maintenance) + $100 (storage) |
| New Direction IRA | $30 | $150 |
Additional Highlights of Cornerstone Bullion:
There are several aspects of this company setting it apart from the competition. Here is a little overview of some of them:
Multiple Custodians to Choose From
One of the biggest highlights of Cornerstone Bullion is its partnership with multiple IRA custodians. Their preferred IRA custodians include:
- Kingdom Trust
- Entrust Group
- New Direction IRA
- GoldStar Trust
The IRS rules state that your precious metals IRA must have a custodian because they ensure that you comply with the necessary regulations.
You can choose the custodian depending on your preferences and requirements.
Secure Precious Metals Storage
Just like there are multiple custodians to choose from at Cornerstone Bullion, you get multiple storage facilities to choose from.
According to IRS rules, you cannot store your gold IRA metals at home. They must be stored in an IRS-approved vault.
Cornerstone Bullion lets you choose from the following storage providers:
- Idaho Armored Vaults, LLC
- Dakota Depository Company
- Brink’s Global Services
- CNT Depository
- Delaware Depository
Idaho Armored Vaults has a vault in Nampa, ID and Dakota Depository Company has one in Fargo, ND.
Similarly, the CNT Depository’s vault is located in Boston, MA and the Delaware Depository’s location is in Wilmington, DE. On the other hand, Brink’s Global Services has multiple locations: Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Jackson and Springfield Gardens.
Keep in mind that how much fees you pay would depend on which custodian and storage provider you choose.
Free Resources for Investors
Another good thing about this bullion dealer is the various free resources it offers to consumers. They have published the Precious Metals Guide 101 which covers the basics of precious metals investing.
For new investors, it’s a great resource as it covers many important topics such as, how you can store precious metals, what are the risks involved and what the types of precious metals are.
Apart from this guide, they have several more. Another unique resource is 5 Tips of New Investors.
Surely, the company has put in a lot of work in helping new investors get into precious metals.
Cornerstone Bullion Reviews and Complaints:
Although this gold IRA company has been operating in the market since 2009, there aren’t many Cornerstone Bullion reviews available online.
Nonetheless, the company has been able to receive an A+ rating on Better Business Bureau, a notable feat.
Moreover, Business-Consumer Alliance has rated Cornerstone Bullion as AAA, the highest possible rating on the platform.
I was only able to find 3 reviews on TrustLink for this company. All of them give the firm 5/5 stars.
The small number of reviews might deter a few investors. However, there aren’t any complaints against this company available online either.
Is Cornerstone Bullion Legit?
Pros:
- Multiple partnered custodians
- Received an A+ rating on BBB
- Reputed storage partners
- Offer platinum and palladium products
Cons:
- Share no pricing information on the website
- Very few online reviews are available
Cornerstone Bullion is a legitimate bullion dealer. The company has a decent collection of gold and silver IRA products coupled with a few platinum and palladium offerings. Their product selection includes some of the most popular IRA coins including American Eagle and Canadian Maple Leaf.
On top of that, the company partners with multiple reputed custodians including New Direction IRA and GoldStar Trust Company.
Also, you get to choose from multiple storage providers spread with locations all across the country including Salt Lake City as well as Nampa.
They have an A+ rating on BBB and a highly experienced leader. Their free resources can be pretty useful for many novice investors.
However, the company doesn’t share any pricing details on its website and hasn’t received many reviews online. This can cause some investors to ignore the firm and find someone else.
Investing in a gold IRA can protect you from economic downturn and inflation. The past performance of gold and other precious metals is indicative of it.
However, which IRA provider you choose plays a huge role in determining how much returns you get. That is why it’s vital to find a suitable and reliable precious metals IRA provider.
You should always check out multiple options before investing in a precious metals IRA. This way, you would have a better understanding of what to expect and what the industry has to offer.
If you’re interested, you can learn about the best gold IRA companies of 2022 on IRAEmpire.
Are you a client of Cornerstone Bullion? How was your experience with this company? Share it below!