Hard Assets Alliance Review

Hard Assets Alliance is a user-friendly trading platform for investors who want to buy and sell precious metals.

It offers flexible storage options and a wide range of accounts, but has high fees and lacks transparency.

Read this Hard Assets Alliance review to learn more.

The Verdict for Hard Assets Alliance

I’ve given them a rating of 7 out of 10.

Hard Assets Alliance is ideal for investors who want to actively trade precious metals.

The company has an online portal and integrated trading platform to give you access to global trading 24/7.

Compared to other gold IRA companies, storage costs are quite high and the company’s guarantees are limited.

It’s best for advanced investors who want to actively manage their own portfolio.

Category	Rating (out of 10)
Product & Service Offerings	8
Pricing & Fees	6
Guarantees	7
Customer Experience	7
Storage & Security	9
Account Setup & Maintenance	8
Reputation & Reviews	5
Overall Rating	7

In this review of Hard Assets Alliance, I’ve followed GIC’s detailed criteria for evaluating the precious metals platform.

About Hard Assets Alliance

Founded in 2012, Hard Assets Alliance is a precious metals marketplace that allows investors to buy, sell, and manage gold, silver, and platinum.

The company has 100,000 investors and manages $3 billion in assets around the world in places like Australia, the United States, Switzerland, and Singapore.

Hard Assets Alliance is operated by Gold Bullion International to provide a trustworthy precious metals trading platform.

The company values high-quality customer service and is on a mission to make investing in gold as frictionless as possible.

Hard Assets Alliance was founded by Savneet Singh and is managed by Gold Bullion International’s CEO Steven Feldman.

The rest of the company’s leadership team is not publicly disclosed. 

The company is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau and has a F rating.

Product & Service Offerings

Hard Assets Alliance offers a wide range of products and services that cater to investors who want to diversify with gold or save for retirement.

It offers a variety of accounts including a standard investment account, a gold IRA, business accounts, and estate and trust accounts.

The company works with Equity Trust Company to offer IRS-compliant gold IRAs. This gives investors the option to invest in gold while still saving for retirement.

On its marketplace, Hard Assets Alliance offers several types of gold bars and coins available for purchase.

This includes:

• American Eagle coin
• Canadian Maple Leaf coin
• South African Krugerrand coin
• American Buffalo coin
• Austrian Philharmonic coin
• Gold bars in a variety of weights

Hard Assets Alliance also offers other precious metals including silver, platinum, and palladium.

Their offerings include:

• Silver American Eagle Coin
• Silver Canadian Maple Leaf coin
• Silver Austrian Philharmonic coin
• Silver bars
• One ounce platinum bars
• One ounce palladium bars

While Hard Assets Alliance does offer a variety of precious metals, its platinum and palladium offerings tend to be more limited compared to silver and gold.

The company works hard to meet strict purity standards. All items sold on the platform must be at least 99.5% pure.

Gold and silver that is IRA-approved meets IRS guidelines.

Pricing & Fees

Hard Assets Alliance is a marketplace that brings a variety of vendors together. Fees and markups can vary based on which vendor you decide to purchase from.

There are no minimums but if you live in New York, you’ll need to make a purchase of at least $1,000.

Setup fee for IRA	$80
Wire transfer fee	$30
Custodian administration fee	$80 annually
Storage fees	0.7%/year of average daily asset value for gold, platinum, and palladium, and  0.8%/year for silver, or lower for higher value accounts.

Accounts are charged a standard account fee of $5 per month. Investors who elect for MetalStream automatic investments can get this fee waived.

Hard Assets Alliance charges a percentage-based storage fee that is collected every quarter. Gold is assessed at 0.7% fee while silver is charged 0.8%.

That means if you have $100,000 worth of gold in storage you’ll pay a $700 storage fee.

There are additional shipping and transaction fees that can vary based on which shipping career you use and where your products are shipped.

Hard Assets Alliance offers a buyback option to allow investors to sell their precious metals back to the marketplace.

There are no penalties for selling metals but depending on market conditions when you decide to liquidate your gold, you could lose value.

Guarantees

Hard Assets Alliance products adhere to strict purity standards to maintain IRS compliance. Its one ounce gold bars are 99.99% pure. 

Available products and pricing are kept up-to-date on their website. For home delivery, all orders are insured and require a signature.

The company maintains a user-friendly buyback policy. Investors can sell gold from their online account and lock in a buyback price based on current market rates.

Funds are settled in your account after three business days.

All of the investment options Hard Assets Alliance offers are backed by physical assets, reducing risk of default.

The company has a commitment to auditing every investment it manages in storage.

Customer Experience

Customer support can be reached by phone Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET toll free at 877–727–7387 or internationally at 646–530–8445.

You can also reach a customer representative via email at [email protected] or their online contact form.

Hard Assets Alliance has a 4.4-star review on Trustpilot from 89 reviewers. Users report a good customer experience with patient, kind, and understanding support staff who answer questions when setting up a new account.

Customers also report a strong vetting process to mitigate fraud and identity theft.

Hard Assets Alliance maintains a blog but does not offer a robust educational section.

Compared to other gold IRA companies which offer market reports, a new investors guide, or webinars, Hard Assets Alliance is limited in the educational material it provides.

The platform is user-friendly with a client portal to log in to check your investments. Hard Assets Alliance also offers apps on the App Store and Google Play.

Storage & Security

Hard Assets Alliance offers a wider variety of storage solutions than most gold IRA companies.

This gives you greater flexibility, especially if you are looking to invest in precious metals other than gold or store your assets outside of the United States.

You can choose from both segregated and non-segregated storage options. Hard Assets Alliance works with third-party vaulting providers including Brinks, Loomis, and Malca Amit.

You have the option to store your gold in one of the following cities:

• New York
• Zurich
• London
• Salt Lake City
• Singapore

Storage fees vary based on the type of metal you want to store and the value you have in storage.

Hard Assets Alliance assess an annual storage fee in the following amounts:

• Gold: 0.7% 
• Silver: 0.8% 
• Platinum: 0.6% 
• Palladium: 0.7% 

Hard Assets Alliance provides full insurance coverage. Each facility the company partners with offers tight security standards including round-the-clock monitoring, advanced alarm systems, and rigorous access control measures.

Investors have full ownership of metals in storage. You can request access to your gold at any time and have it shipped to you at your discretion.

Products purchased outside of a gold IRA can be shipped to your home. Full insurance is provided for these shipments and you’ll receive tracking information to check the status of your order.

Account Setup & Maintenance

To set up an account, choose what type of account you’d like to open.

Hard Assets Alliance offers the following account options:

• SmartMetals
• Precious Metals IRA
• Metalstream automatic investing
• Business
• Estate and trust
• Accredited investors

After you’ve selected an account option, follow the prompts to open an account. During this part of the process you’ll need to provide documentation to verify your identity.

This includes:

• Full legal name
• Social Security Number
• Contact information (address, phone, email)
• Proof of identification (driver’s license or passport)

Once your information is processed and your account is opened, you’ll need to fund it.

You can do this by linking an external bank account to your account, rolling funds over from an existing retirement savings account, mailing in a physical paper check, or connecting a crypto account.

To initiate a rollover, you’ll need to work with a customer representative.

They will work with your existing retirement account manager to process a rollover that follows IRS guidelines. This can take 5-7 days to complete.

After your account is opened and funded, you can begin making purchases on Hard Assets Alliance. Not all gold is approved for storage in a gold IRA.

If you intend to make a purchase for an IRA, work with a customer representative to ensure you invest in the right products.

Account holders get access to Hard Asset Alliance’s online portal. This allows you to manage your investments, including buying and selling gold on the SmartMetals marketplace.

Reviews & Reputation

Hard Assets Alliance is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau. It has an F rating and one 1-star review. The company has had one complaint closed in the last 12 months.

According to customer reviews, the primary complaints include not being able to close accounts that are part of an estate and difficulty transferring money from existing accounts.

The Hard Assets Alliance app has a 4.6 star review on the App Store and a 4.2 star review on Google Play.

Hard Assets Alliance maintains social media accounts on X, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Hard Assets Alliance Alternatives & Competitors

Hard Assets Alliance offers easy access to a variety of gold and gold-backed assets, but there are other gold IRA companies that might provide a better solution to meet your financial goals.

Goldco

Goldco is a better option for investors with large portfolios. It requires a minimum investment of $25,000 and charges a $50 setup fee.

The annual account administration fee is  $125 with storage ranging from $100 to $150 per year. Hard Asset Alliance’s storage fees could put a dent in your portfolio, making Goldco a cost-saving alternative.

Request free gold and silver guide

Noble Gold Investments

Noble Gold Investments is best for investors who want to invest in gold to hedge against inflation. Noble Gold offers Royal Survival Packs that can be shipped straight to your door and liquidated when you need access to cash.

Noble Gold Investments charges an $80 annual account maintenance fee and $150 for storage. There is a $20,000 minimum to open a gold IRA.

Request Noble’s free gold guide

Birch Gold Group

Birch Gold Group is good for new investors who want to rollover an existing retirement account. Birch Gold accepts rollovers from Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and 457(b)s.

The company charges $225 per year which includes an account setup fee, storage fees, and an annual account management fee.

Request Birch’s free gold info kit

Is Hard Assets Alliance a legit company?

Hard Assets Alliance is a legit company. Customers highlight a friendly customer experience and the ease-of-use to access accounts online.

Compared to other gold IRA companies, Hard Assets Alliance offers a wider variety of account types, assets to invest in, and storage options. 

For some investors this flexibility might be good while for others it might not be cost effective.

FAQs