Goldstar Trust Company Review

Summary of Goldstar Trust Company

As a leader in the precious metals IRA industry, Goldstar Trust Company is one of the top custodians in the business. With more than 20 years of experience, they’ve opened more than 37,000 IRA accounts and counting, and they’re responsible for purchasing $1.9 billion worth of precious metals for their clients. Besides precious metals, Goldstar Trust also operates in a number of areas including investing in church bonds, church financing, Swiss annuities, custodial accounts, and other niches. They charge annual fees on a sliding scale, which is one of their major flaws according to investors.

An Overview of Goldstar Trust Company

This company is one of the industry leaders for self-directed IRA accounts. They started out in 1989 as Colonial Trust Company. In 2004, they officially became the trust-only branch for Happy State Bank and were renamed American Church Trust Company, which is one of the largest banks located in the Texas Panhandle. Goldstar Trust Company, in 2006, purchased American Church Trust Company and within a year they relocated to their current place of business in Canyon, TX.

About Goldstar Trust Company Management

The company doesn’t share too much information about its management on the web, but we discovered a video interview with the president of Goldstar Trust Company named John K. Johnson. You can check it out by clicking here if you’re interested. Or if you prefer, he also did an online interview with ASI Precious Metals Direct that you can find here. Visit their About Us page to discover even more information about company management.

Products & Prices from Goldstar Trust Company

The main regions of focus for Goldstar Trust Company include their areas of specialty, which is opening custodial accounts, precious metal IRA accounts, self-directed IRA accounts, publicly traded securities, church bond investments, church finance, Swiss annuities, private investments, and many other investment related areas of expertise. The following tables include the schedule of fees for their gold and precious metals individual retirement accounts. They include:

Precious Metals IRA

  • $50 One-Time Establishment Fee
  • $75 Minimum or $275 Maximum Annual Maintenance Fee
  • $100 Minimum and No Maximum Annual Depository Storage Fee
  • Exchange, Buy, or Sell = No Fee
  • Transfer In-Kind or Partial Distribution = $40 Plus the Cost of Shipping
  • Overnight Fee =$25 Per Transaction
  • Wire Fee = $25 Per Transaction
  • Full Termination Fee = $100 Flat Fee
  • Initial IRA Setup Fee = $225-$450, Depending on Account Value
  • Reoccurring Annual Fees = $175-$400, Depending on Account Value

Other Nonrefundable Fees Required with the Application

  • One Dollar per $1000 of Market Value Greater Than $100,000 or 10 Basis Points
  • One Dollar per $1000 of Precious Metals Value Greater Than $100,000 or 10 Basis Points

The holder of the IRA is responsible for insurance expenses and shipping and handling costs.

Please Note: Goldstar Trust Company bills each of their clients for annual fees based on a sliding scale. These fees increase as the value of your assets increase over time, so they become more expensive as the years go by. Most retirement investors feel a sliding fee scale is less than desirable. They prefer choosing companies that use flat rate annual fees like some of the other IRA custodians.

Contact Details for Goldstar Trust Company

Pages of Critical Importance on the Goldstar Trust Company Website

  • Schedule of fees – this page is an overview of the different type of IRA accounts and their fee schedule.
  • Precious Metals IRA – this page provides an explanation of the precious metals IRA setup process and the advantages of this account.
  • Precious Metals Storage – this page provides an overview of the three main depositories that Goldstar Trust Company does business with for precious metals IRA storage.

Learn about Their Competitors before Buying Anything

Overall, most investors believe that it’s best to allocate anywhere from 5% to 20% of their total retirement portfolio to investing in precious metals. You’ll invest this way for two main reasons that include hedging your bets against inflation, because the value of gold rises when the US dollar loses value. It’s also an excellent way to gain additional value to your total retirement portfolio many times over when a depression or recessionary environment rears its ugly head, kind of like the one we’re in right now.

What does this mean for retirement investors? At the end of the day, it tells you that you should really pay close attention to the way you invest, because this small portion of your retirement portfolio could end up becoming a major asset for your long-term retirement growth.

It’s fortunate that we have gone above and beyond to perform research on the top gold IRA custodians and the best precious metals IRA companies and we shared this information with you today. We provide comparison charts and guides that make it easy to determine which gold companies to choose because they are cost-effective, trusted, provide excellent customer service, and have years of experience and longevity in this industry.

Reach Out If You Represent or Own Goldstar Trust Company

It’s our mission to provide clear and error-free details about the companies we review on this website. We never aim to provide fake, outdated, or misleading information in any way, shape, or form. If you happen to notice something that is wrong or misrepresented about your company on this site, you should definitely contact us to let us know about the error. We will either remove the offending content or correct it with updated information at your behest.

Our #1 Favorite IRA Custodian in 2020 Is GoldCo

After reviewing numerous IRA custodians throughout the year, we ended up looking at more than 37 different companies before making our final choice regarding our favorite IRA custodian. We want our readers to easily discover the same information that we found through conducting their own research. You should pay attention to a company’s reputation, their history, their fees, their features and benefits, and whether or not they are a leader amongst other precious metals IRA custodians. Each of the companies that we looked at through research and review were ranked based on the following criteria:

  • Preferential partnerships with exceptional depositories and storage companies
  • Storage fees must be part of the annual fee and not in addition to other renewal fees or annual administration fees.
  • Account startup fees and setup costs.
  • Fee schedule – flat rate annual fees versus sliding scale annual fees.
  • Overall company reputation and presence in the industry.

GoldCo wowed us in all categories, and I urge you to read the GoldCo precious metals company review to find out more.

The Advantages of Investing with Goldstar Trust Company

  • This company has more than two decades of experience and manages nearly $2 billion in precious metals assets.
  • They have created and managed more than 37,000 individual retirement accounts, which is a huge number.
  • They offer a wide range of alternative investments that most financial institutions do not provide. They can help their customers invest in church bonds, private investments, Swiss annuities, and much more.

The Disadvantages of Investing with Goldstar Trust Company

  • The only major disadvantage is they charge their customers on a sliding scale annual fee and charge additional separate fees that other IRA custodians do not charge. These costs can really add up over time and become very expensive. This is particularly true as your account grows year after year and it retains more value. Your expenses become enormous after many years.