Vaulted Review

Vaulted is a digital gold dealer aiming to simplify the process of buying gold. But is it legit? Read this detailed review to find out.

	Buy and Secure Gold Learn More
	Overall Score	4.5
	Minimum Deposit	5.0
	Fees	4.0
	Customer Service	4.0
	Ease of Use	4.5
	Safety	5.0

5-point scale (the higher, the better)

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Pros and Cons

• User friendly mobile app
• Low fees
• No minimum
• Safe storage

• Only gold available

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Bottom Line

Simple, safe way to buy physical gold on your phone

Vaulted says that purchasing gold from their app is "less complicated than ordering a pizza."

It's an appealing claim, but is it true?
In this review, find out how easy using Vaulted actually is, what fees you can expect to pay, and how it compares to JM Bullion and the U.S. Mint.

What is Vaulted?

Vaulted is a mobile app that makes it easy to invest in gold. There is no investment minimum.

Vaulted is operated by International Collectors Associates LLC (ICA), which was founded back in 1972. The ICA and their owners, the McAlvany Financial Group, created Vaulted to give people a low-barrier path to investing in gold and access to experienced financial advisors.

Their platform combines the security and convenience of a smartphone app with the experience and know-how of experts in the precious metals world.

To date, the experts at Vaulted and ICA have helped investors buy over $2.5 billion worth of gold and other precious metals.

How Does Vaulted Work?

If you've ever used an investing app, then you already have a good idea of how to use Vaulted. Even if you're new to digital investing, it's still easy to get started.

Here's how it works:^[1]

1. Set up a Vaulted account through their mobile app (iOS, Google Play Store) or desktop site.

2. Provide a few bits of personal and contact information.

3. Link your Vaulted account to an existing bank account; this requires your bank and account number.

4. Fund your Vaulted account from your linked bank account. (You can also fund it wire transfer.)

5. Then, you're ready to buy gold. Just specify how much you want to buy, and complete your purchase.

   As long as you make your purchase within market hours, it should be processed nearly instantly.

Vaulted promises that when you use them to buy gold, you'll never pay more than 1.8% above wholesale price.

If you ever want to sell your gold, the process is just as easy. You can log into your Vaulted account, click the "Sell Gold" button, and you'll receive the same guarantee that the price you receive will be within 1.8% of the going market rate.

Amounts are measured in USD.

Fees to Look Out for

Here are the fees you can expect when investing in gold with Vaulted:^[2]

Transaction Fee: One-time 1.8% transaction fee charged with all buy and sell transactions.

Maintenance Fee: Annual maintenance fee of 0.4%, or 40 basis points, which covers gold storage with the Royal Canadian Mint, maintaining and improving the Vaulted app, and personnel costs for Vaulted staff and advisors.

Storage and Security

Vaulted customers' gold is stored with the Royal Canadian Mint. The Mint is run by Canada's AAA-rated federal government.

All holdings in the Royal Canadian Mint are counted quarterly and audited every year by the Government of Canada's Office of the Auditor General.

Gold is held in vaults and insured by Lloyds of London. Even in the extremely unlikely event that something happens to your gold, you'll be covered.

Vaulted also keeps extensive records of all customers' holdings, so even if they were hacked or compromised due to a technical issue, you would still be recognized as the owner of any gold you purchased with Vaulted. This includes physical copies that would be accessible in the event of a long-term power outage.

And if you prefer to keep the gold yourself? Vaulted customers can request physical delivery of their gold, which is shipped to them directly from the Royal Canadian Mint where it was being stored.

While Vaulted doesn't charge any fees themselves for the physical delivery of gold, customers will be responsible for the costs incurred to ship it. These include:

• $50 per delivery + $2 per bar paid to the Royal Canadian Mint
  
• Variable shipping fee (depending on carrier and delivery location); usually around $150 for FedEx next-day or second-day shipping to the continental U.S.

If the gold is lost in transit, it's covered by Vaulted's insurance policy.

It's possible to take delivery of amounts less than a 1-kilogram bar, which is how Vaulted gold is usually kept, but you'll have to pay in order to have it converted into smaller denominations of metal.

Vaulted gold is 99.99% (.9999) pure gold, and bears the hallmark of the Royal Canadian Mint.

Other Features

Vaulted also has a gold savings plan, called VaultPlan.

This feature allows Vaulted customers to implement the popular investment strategy known as dollar cost averaging, which involves making regularly timed purchases regardless of the current market price.

By purchasing gold at regular intervals rather than trying to time the market, they get an average price that more closely reflects the market over the long term, rather than at a specific point in time. Here's how it works:

1. Once you open a VaultPlan account, you can select how frequently you want to purchase the gold (like every month or every two weeks).

2. Then, pick a start date and lock in your plan.

3. Beginning on your start date, money will be automatically transferred from your linked account and used to grow your holdings of gold.

How Do They Compare?

Vaulted isn't the only place you can buy gold to invest in. Let's see how they stack up against some popular competitors.

JM Bullion
JM Bullion is a popular precious metals dealer founded back in 2011. They offer a much wider range of gold than Vaulted—coins, and bars from all over the world, including the U.S., South Africa, Mexico.

Users can buy IRA-approved gold as well, for retirement investing.

JM Bullion offers transparent pricing, so you can easily see where you're getting a better deal based on market price, and offers free shipping for orders over $199.

They offer storage through TDS Vaults, and support a wide variety of payment methods including credit card, PayPal, wire transfer, e-checks, and even some cryptocurrencies.

If you're looking for physical ownership and variety, JM Bullion may be the better broker. However, if you're simply looking for a quick and easy way to invest in gold as an asset, Vaulted is a solid option.

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The U.S. Mint
You may not know this, but it's possible to buy gold directly through the U.S. Mint. Their coins typically come in the form of commemorative coins and medals. They can function as a collector's item as well as a pure precious metal investment.

The biggest difference between the U.S. Mint and Vaulted comes down to pricing. Vaulted gold is sold at 1.8% above market price, while reports suggest that U.S. Mint markup is around 3%, making Vaulted the more affordable option for gold investors.

Bottom Line

Vaulted won't be the right platform for every investor looking to buy gold. First, their selection is strictly limited to gold bars from the Royal Canadian Mint, and you won't be able to buy coins or other metals as you would at other precious metals dealers.

However, if you're looking to buy gold as a pure asset—an investment only—and especially if you aren't interested in keeping it yourself, which would incur shipping costs, then Vaulted stands out as a convenient option.

You can make one-time or regular gold purchases that will be stored at the Royal Canadian Mint for safekeeping, quickly and easily through their site or app. Just sign up and connect a bank account to get started.

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