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#1: Goldco- Our Top Recommendation
9.9/10
9.8/10
Today we'll be reviewing Lear Capital.
As you can probably guess by the tag line, they're a company that specializes in helping people to make investments in gold and silver.
Lear Capital offers a variety of investment services, and news and investor resources.
As with most precious metals investment companies these days, you can do business with Lear Capital online directly from their website.
This means that making investments into precious metals with them is a fairly straight forward process.
Let's take a look at what Lear Capital has to offer, and whether or not they're a good choice.
About Lear Capital
Lear Capital was by Kevin DeMerritt, a highly respected author and analyst.
It is his expertise in the field of investment that has built the company up into one of the most renowned and highly endorsed precious metals investment companies in the county.
The knowledge and insight of Kevin DeMerritt has made Lear Capital incredibly successful in the field of precious metals investment.
In fact, the company has helped investors do $3 billion in transactions, and continues to grow to this day.
One of Lear Capital's main objective is to help clients attain long-term financial security.
Not only do they allow the outright purchasing of gold and other precious metals, they also help clients to set up IRAs, and to do IRA rollovers.
This has led many to consider Lear Capital their one-stop site for long term investing.
Pros and Cons of Lear Capital
Since this is an objective review, we need to go over the pros and cons of investing with Lear Capital.
This will give you a good idea of the company's strengths and weaknesses, and whether they're a good fit for your investment plans. Let's start with the pros.
Pros & Cons Explained
PROs
Easy to Use Website
Many precious metals investment websites offer little more than a call to give them a call and some basic info on their services. Lear Capital's website on the other hand, has many options, and lots of information to help you make the right choice for your investment.
The great thing about this is that even though the website has a lot of information and options, it is still easy to navigate from the drop down menu up top. In addition to having resources for buying gold and sliver, and IRAs, it also has a "News and Investors Resources" center as well where you get a lot of useful information, similar to what JM Bullion has .
Free Investment Tools
Lear Capital is one of the few precious metal investment companies that supply you with free tools to help you make smarter investments. The "Smart Tools Suite" is found in the "News and Investors Resources" section of their site and include the following:
Inflation Calculator
Premium Coin Analyzer
Historical Chart Center
Spot Prices
Portfolio Comparison Calculator
RMD Estimator
Free Investor Kit
In addition to giving away tons of free information and tools, Lear Capital also has a free investors kit as well. This includes their "Precious Metals Guide," "Retirement Accounts" guides, and access to their exclusive news letter.
To get the free investor kit, all you have to do is sign up with some basic information including your full name, email address, address, and phone number. This will allow Lear Capital to send you the information.
Of particular value here is the investment news letter. It features market insights and special offers. Another great thing about it is that it also showcases the opinions of the industries best precious metal investment experts.
Sign Up Bonus
When you purchase $5000 or more with Lear Capital, they reward you by giving you an extra $100. This is done by using it as a credit against your purchase. In any case, it is a great bonus for investing with Lear Capital, and is definitely something most people will want to take advantage of.
CONs
Limited Investment Options
Lear Capital likes to keep things simple for investors. Due to this philosophy, they only offer investment options for gold and silver, not platinum, palladium, or other precious metals. This may be a drawback for some, but if all you care about is gold and silver, then it isn't an issue.
It should also be mentioned that investments are also limited mostly to coins. They do have some bar options, but they are very limited. Some people may argue that it really doesn't matter what form the precious metals take, but others might prefer bars.
Information Overload
Since Lear Capital gives away so much information on investment in precious metals for free, this could lead to "analysis paralysis" for some. On the other hand, those who are already familiar with gold and silver investment may have an easier time navigating the material, and deciding what's most important to them.
Overall, this is a pretty good "problem" to have, and is evidence of Lear Capital's commitment to their clients. The fact that they give away so much information to people who aren't even investing with them yet is an act of good faith that other precious metals investment sites could learn to follow.
Lear Capital Services
Like all precious metal investment companies, Lear Capital has a variety of services to help clients make smart investments for their financial future.
Let's go over Lear Capital's services so that you can get an idea of which ones are right for you.
Physical Metals for Purchase
This is Lear Capital's main service in which you can outright buy gold and silver coins.
That said, this service is divided into sections, and some may be better than others depending on you situation.
An example of this would be choosing to buy standard gold and silver coins, or maybe one of their limited bar options.
If that doesn't appeal to an investor, they may want to check out Lear Capital's selection of premium coins, or their IRA eligible coins.
Precious Metal IRAs
Speaking of IRAs, Lear Capital's other main service is their IRA and IRA rollover options.
These services help clients to either open a fresh IRA account, or to do an IRA rollover.
This is good for people new to investing in their financial future, and for those who may already have an IRA, but want to begin investing in precious metals.
Fees
Like most precious metal investment companies, Lear Capital has a few fees that you should be aware of. The first is the $160 annual fee.
This fee covers shipping, insurance, coin storage, and quarterly financial statements. It also covers 24/7 online account access as well.
As of this writing there are no application or transaction fees. However, this is subject to change.
Minimum Investments
Lear Capital also has a minimum investment limit like other precious metal investment companies.
The minimum for Lear Capital is $7500.
The good news about this is that it automatically qualifies new investors for the $100 bonus.
General Investing FAQs
Where is the Gold/Silver Stored?
Lear Capital stores their precious metals at the Brinks Depository that's located in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Is Lear Capital Trustworthy?
Lear Capital is a member of a number of reputable associations such as the Professional Coin Grading Service, the Business Consumer Alliance, and Trust Link. They are also approved by the Better Business Bureau.
Will Lear Capital Buy Back Coins from Investors?
Lear Capital cannot guarantee that they will buy back coins. If Lear Capital does decide to buy back coins, it will be done at market price when the buyback occurs.
What Makes Lear Capital Unique?
What sets Lear Capital apart from other precious metals investment services is the fact that they go above and beyond to educate their investors.
They do this with the previously mentioned "News & Investor Resources" section of their website, their news letter, and their free Investor Kit.
On top of all the free information that Lear Capital gives away, they also provide top tier customer support.
They do this by offering both a representative line, and customer care line that can be called. They also offer support through email as well.
The Final Verdict
After looking at all the facts and going over what sets Lear Capital apart from other precious metals services, it's easy to see that they have a lot going for them.
Their dedication to customer care, their no-nonsense gold/silver investment options, and their abundance of free info and tools really puts them at the top of the pack.
In the end we are giving Lear Capital a B+ rating for their gold and sliver investment services, right behind Birch Gold Group & Monetary Gold.
If you're interested in buying gold and/or silver, or want to start or rollover an IRA, then Lear Capital is a company definitely worth checking out. We first recommend Augusta Precious Metals & Goldco before any others, though.