IRA Financial Trust Review

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission when a reader opens an account through links on this page. The commission has no effect on what you pay or on what we publish. We are not a financial or tax advisor; consult a licensed advisor for your situation. Last reviewed July 2026.

What IRA Financial Trust actually is

IRA Financial Trust is the trust-company brand used by IRA Financial. The company holds legal title to IRA assets on behalf of the account owner, executes buy and sell instructions the owner signs, and files the annual tax paperwork with the IRS. IRA Financial does not sell coins or set dealer premiums.

The corporate address published on the irafinancial.com contact page is 5109 S Broadband Lane, Sioux Falls, SD 57108. The main phone line listed in that same public source is 1-800-472-1043. The company also lists a fax number of 1-605-415-4296 and an info email at info@irafinancial.com.

IRA Financial custodies non-metals alternative assets alongside precious metals, including real estate, private lending, cryptocurrency, and private businesses. The trust company itself is the same across product lines; only the account structure and setup fee change. Precious metals sit inside the same Self-Directed IRA account type.

The former irafinancialtrust.com URL now returns a 301 redirect to irafinancial.com, which we confirmed at fetch time in July 2026. The client portal domain app.irafinancialtrust.com remains active for existing account holders logging in to statements and buy instructions.

The directed custodian role, in plain terms

IRA Financial operates as a directed (passive) custodian. The company processes what the account owner signs. It opens the IRA, receives rollover money, and executes buy orders when the owner sends them in. It does not police coin premiums or underwrite the dealer choice.

This division of labor is why the custodian question and the dealer question are separate. IRA Financial can be an efficient custodian while the dealer paired with your account still charges a rich premium over spot. The two decisions deserve their own scrutiny before any paperwork is signed.

Under 26 U.S.C. section 408(a)(2), an IRA can only be custodied by a bank, a federally insured credit union, a state-chartered trust company, or an IRS-approved non-bank trustee. IRA Financial qualifies under the state-chartered trust company path in South Dakota (source: cornell.edu/uscode/408, checked July 2026).

The precious metals held inside the IRA must sit at an IRS-approved third-party depository under 26 U.S.C. section 408(m). IRA Financial does not physically vault metal on your behalf. The trust company holds the legal ownership record; the depository holds the physical bar or coin.

The South Dakota charter and what it means

IRA Financial states on its Security and Trust page that it is a South Dakota-chartered trust company regulated by the South Dakota Division of Banking (source: irafinancial.com Security and Trust page, checked July 2026). The South Dakota Division of Banking is the state agency that supervises trust companies chartered under South Dakota law.

South Dakota-chartered trust companies operate under state law and are subject to periodic examinations by the state Division of Banking. Capital rules, fiduciary conduct standards, and reporting duties are set at the state level. South Dakota has been a common home for trust chartering because of long-standing state trust law reforms.

For a Texas reader, using a South Dakota-chartered custodian is not a legal problem. Out-of-state trust companies serve Texas residents every day. What changes is the state supervisory relationship. The examiner sitting on top of IRA Financial is in Sioux Falls, not in Austin, if that geographic distance matters to the reader.

Separately, Texas has no state personal income tax on wages or on retirement account distributions (source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, checked July 2026). That means the federal ordinary income tax rate is the complete tax picture on a distribution from an IRA Financial account held by a Texas resident.

History, founder, and the Bergman origin

IRA Financial was founded in 2010 by Adam Bergman. Before starting the company, Bergman practiced as a tax attorney for close to a decade at national law firms, focusing on retirement accounts and alternative investments. He also holds a Master of Laws in taxation (source: irafinancial.com Adam Bergman bio, checked July 2026).

The company has grown its book to a self-reported 27,000-plus clients and more than 8 billion in assets invested through its platform. The precious metals product line sits inside the same Self-Directed IRA account type IRA Financial uses for its other alternative-asset custodial work.

Bergman is also the author of books on self-directed IRAs and has been quoted in financial press. Editorial appearances do not endorse pricing on any specific dealer purchase. The founder's tax background is a fair inference about the depth of paperwork discipline at the trust company; it is not a promise about metal returns.

The rebrand of the trust-company domain to redirect into irafinancial.com is a consolidation of brand rather than an ownership change. Adam Bergman remains named on the public site as the founder. Ownership arrangements at trust companies can change, so readers who want the current control structure should ask IRA Financial in writing.

Reported scale as published by IRA Financial

The irafinancial.com precious metals product page carries two headline scale figures. IRA Financial reports over 27,000 clients and more than 8 billion in assets invested through the platform (source: irafinancial.com precious metals page, checked July 2026). These are self-reported and were captured from the live site when this review was written.

The Contact and About pages describe live chat plus phone service available Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm Central Time. The site also displays media logos from Forbes, USA Today, CNN Money, Investopedia, and Bloomberg. Press appearances are marketing signals; they are not proof of any specific pricing or account outcome.

Client-experience ratings displayed on the site quote a 4.8-plus average from over 2,000 self-reported testimonials collected on the IRA Financial site itself. Because they are collected on-page, they are not third-party verified. Independent review platforms like the Better Business Bureau maintain separate records.

Scale numbers on custody platforms move quarter to quarter. Treat these figures as the point-in-time snapshot the website carried when we read it. Operational maturity is a fair inference from the number of forms and tax filings processed each year; it does not certify pricing on any specific dealer purchase.

IRA Financial fees for a precious metals gold IRA

IRA Financial publishes account pricing on its precious metals product page and in a downloadable IRA Financial Fee Schedule May 2026 PDF. The metals-eligible account for most retirement investors is the Self-Directed IRA, priced at 495 dollars per year with free setup and no transaction or asset-value fees.

The company markets this as a flat-fee structure. Many self-directed IRA custodians in the alternative-asset space charge asset-based fees that scale with account value. IRA Financial's 495-dollar annual is fixed regardless of balance, per its published fee schedule (source: IRA Financial Fee Schedule May 2026, checked July 2026).

Depository storage is not included in the 495-dollar annual. Physical metal held inside an IRA Financial IRA sits at an IRS-approved third-party depository, and the depository bills its own storage separately. Verify the storage line with the specific depository named on your paperwork.

Dealer premiums on the coins or bars are separate from custody fees and separate from storage. In first-year cost stacks on any gold IRA, the dealer premium over spot is often the largest single line. IRA Financial does not set that premium; the dealer does.

Self-Directed IRA, Checkbook IRA, or Solo 401(k)

Most Texas metals readers land on the plain Self-Directed IRA at 495 dollars per year. Setup is free under the current schedule, and the account holds IRS-approved gold, silver, platinum, and palladium alongside other allowed alternative assets. This is the tier the precious metals product page markets first.

The Checkbook IRA is a 495-dollar-per-year plus 999-dollar-setup structure that adds an LLC owned by the IRA. The account owner acts as manager of that LLC and can write checks against the IRA cash. It suits readers who want faster settlement on non-metal transactions and who are comfortable with the added compliance load.

The Solo 401(k) at 399 dollars per year plus 999-dollar setup is for self-employed readers with no full-time W-2 employees other than a spouse. It carries different contribution limits and its own Form 5500-EZ filing rules. Metals eligibility inside a Solo 401(k) follows the same IRS rules as an IRA.

Picking the right account at open is worth thinking about before the intake form is signed. Restructuring later is not free, and administrative work adds up. Reader intent, employment status, and the desired asset mix matter more than what the dealer defaults to on its onboarding call.

Estimate the annual fee drag on your own balance

Use the calculator below to enter your planned rollover balance and see the estimated IRA Financial annual carrying cost and fee drag as a percentage. The result is illustrative and rounds to the nearest dollar. Verify current fees at irafinancial.com before you sign.

Storage options paired with IRA Financial

IRA Financial does not physically hold IRA metal itself. The trust company holds legal title to the account; the physical bars or coins are held at an IRS-approved third-party depository named on the buy instruction. The specific depository routes through the dealer relationship in most Texas onboarding paths.

Depositories commonly named on precious metals IRA paperwork include Delaware Depository in Wilmington, Brinks Global Services with multiple U.S. sites, and International Depository Services (IDS) with a Texas vault in Irving. Some dealers also route to the state-owned Texas Bullion Depository in Leander for Texas residents who ask for in-state storage.

Storage segregation matters at intake. Segregated storage means your specific bars or coins sit under your name and you get back the exact pieces you shipped in. Commingled storage means you own a claim on like-kind metal from a pooled inventory. Storage pricing is set by the depository, not by IRA Financial.

What this means for a Texas reader

IRA Financial is chartered in South Dakota, not Texas. For a Texas reader, that changes the state supervisory home of the custodian without changing the federal tax treatment of the account. An IRA Financial IRA held by a Texas resident is still a valid IRA under 26 U.S.C. section 408.

Some Texas readers prefer a Texas-chartered custodian because the supervising regulator sits inside Texas. STRATA Trust Company is one such option, chartered in Austin under the Texas Department of Banking. IRA Financial is a different pick: a South Dakota-chartered custodian with a flat-fee marketing angle.

Texas has no state personal income tax (source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, checked July 2026). A distribution from an IRA Financial IRA at retirement is taxed at the federal ordinary income rate only, with no Texas state income tax layered on top. The custodian's charter state does not change that.

The Texas Bullion Depository (TxBD) in Leander is available to Texas residents as a storage venue for precious metals IRAs. It is state-owned and operated by Lone Star Tangible Assets. Ask the dealer whether IRA Financial paperwork can be routed to TxBD; the answer belongs on the buy instruction, in writing.

How to open an IRA Financial gold IRA

The typical intake path for an IRA Financial precious metals IRA runs through the irafinancial.com online application, often in parallel with a precious metals dealer that names IRA Financial as the trustee of record. The following steps describe what happens between the intake form and metal on your first statement.

1. Choose your account type. Metals-only readers usually pick the Self-Directed IRA at 495 dollars per year with free setup. Choose Traditional, Roth, SEP, or SIMPLE under the same account type. The account type sets the annual fee stack.
2. Complete the online application. The IRA Financial application at app.irafinancial.com collects identity information, beneficiary designations, and the funding source. The site markets an under-15-minute typical completion time.
3. Fund the account by rollover, transfer, or contribution. A rollover from a former 401(k), 403(b), TSP, or an existing IRA can move directly to IRA Financial. Direct trustee-to-trustee movement avoids the 60-day rollover risk under IRC section 402.
4. Send the signed buy instruction. Once funds are in cash inside the IRA, you sign a buy instruction naming the dealer, the coins or bars, the price, and the depository. IRA Financial does not select any of these for you.
5. IRA Financial executes the wire to the dealer. The trust company wires funds from the IRA cash account and the dealer ships the approved metal to the named depository. Actual timing depends on the completeness of the buy instruction.
6. Depository confirms receipt. The depository confirms receipt of the metal to IRA Financial and to you. That is the moment the account holds physical metal rather than cash.
7. Review annual statements and Form 5498. IRA Financial issues account statements and files Form 5498 with the IRS each May to report the account value. Form 1099-R follows in January of the year after any distribution.

Worked example: fee drag on a Texas rollover

Consider a 63-year-old former teacher in San Antonio who rolls 200,000 dollars from a former employer 403(b) into an IRA Financial Self-Directed IRA and buys IRA-eligible gold and silver coins. Setup is free under the current schedule.

The first-year custody-side cost is the 495-dollar annual account fee. Divided into 200,000 dollars, that lands at 0.25 percent per year on the custody line. IRA Financial's schedule states no transaction fee and no asset-value fee, so the custody line is just the flat annual.

Depository storage is separate and billed by the vault. That line typically runs in the 100-to-250-dollar-per-year range on similar accounts, depending on the depository and on whether storage is commingled or segregated. Verify the exact number with the vault named on your paperwork before you sign.

The dealer's own premium on the coins is separate and typically the largest single cost line in year one. IRA Financial does not set it and does not control it. At the point of distribution, no Texas state income tax applies to the retiree because Texas has no state personal income tax. Consult your tax advisor.

Security posture and the 2022 cyber incident

IRA Financial's Security and Trust page describes several layers of compliance and safeguards. These include Bank Secrecy Act, USA PATRIOT Act, and FinCEN-aligned Know Your Customer procedures, plus third-party independent audits, cybersecurity insurance, and fidelity bond coverage (source: irafinancial.com Security and Trust page, checked July 2026).

Client cash is described as held in segregated custodial accounts at depository banks, where uninvested balances are FDIC-insured up to the standard 250,000-dollar depositor limit pending further investment direction. Interest rates on cash are set at the trust company's discretion.

In February 2022, IRA Financial was the target of a cybersecurity incident that affected the company's cryptocurrency-account platform. Assets were subsequently recovered with the help of federal law enforcement. IRA Financial migrated its crypto platform to Bitstamp following the incident (source: publicly reported news coverage cited on irafinancial.com Security page, checked July 2026).

For a precious metals reader, the 2022 incident affected the crypto rails, not the metal-holding depository chain. Physical bars and coins held under IRA Financial paperwork sit at third-party depositories under Class 3 vault standards and are separately insured by those depositories. Ask for the depository's current insurance details in writing before you sign.

Balanced pros and cons

When IRA Financial is a bad idea for you

Frequently asked questions

By Harry's Coins Editorial. Independent, editorial. Last reviewed July 2026.