Lear Capital Review

Expert Review

In today's economic climate, investing in precious metals can provide security against market fluctuations and other related risks. But once you’ve decided to invest in these assets, picking a reliable investment partner among the endless options can be challenging. 

As a professional working in the precious metals industry for over two decades, I believe that thoroughly exploring a company's offerings before investing is vital. It ensures your investment aligns with your specific needs and requirements.

To aid you in this, the review will walk you through Lear Capital's offerings. Keep reading to uncover what has kept this trusted name strong in the industry since its start in 1997.

Lear Capital: A Brief Overview

Lear Capital, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California, is one of the leading precious metals companies in the United States. What makes this company among the best in the industry is its emphasis on maintaining a solid relationship with its customers. 

Lear Capital lets you buy, sell, and exchange precious metals with their best-quality physical products in gold and silver. Adding to it, the company also offers a personal account representative, a secure ordering environment, and real-time tracking services for the precious metals you buy with them. This includes their up-to-date spot pricing, precious metals news, and updates on economic events.

Another praiseworthy feature that makes Lear ahead of many competitors in the market is their pricing. With an industry-leading 'Price Advantage Guarantee,' they provide competitive pricing on gold and silver and complete buying transparency. 

You will receive a Written Account Agreement, a Phone Confirmation, and a Written Confirmation of your precious metals purchase with Lear under this three-step Price Advantage Guarantee. This is a rare feature that I haven’t seen at any other company offering in this industry. In fact, Lear Capital’s track record of making up to $3B in sales to date proves the credibility of its pricing and service quality.

What Makes Lear Capital Stand Out? 

Although Lear Capital does not offer palladium coins and other advanced investment options, I still found a wide variety of products and services on their website listed in gold, silver, and platinum categories. Let’s take a look at these products and services in detail: 

Premium Rare Coins

As I navigated through their easy-to-navigate website, I found that Lear Capital offers a wide range of investment options in the form of physical coins, bars, and bullions. Their premium rare physical gold, silver, and platinum coins are worth investing in for a diversified portfolio.

It is primarily because rare coins are a time-tested way to fight inflation and have been profitable for a long time. All this adds up to backing your financial future at times when paper money and even expensive gold coins struggle to maintain their value. 

Precious Metals IRA

Besides rare coins and bullions, Lear Capital also lets you invest in precious metals IRA while offering you complete assistance for money or rolling over a portion of your existing IRA. You’ll be assisted from start to finish — from helping you create an IRA account with a simple form to assisting in funds rollover and moving your assets to a safe depository. 

Moreover, Lear's precious metals IRA options provide the same tax benefits as a traditional IRA. From my experience, the standout aspect of investing with Lear Capital for an IRA account is their valuable resources. Their user-friendly and accessible materials regarding precious metals IRAs provide a valuable resource for investors looking to grasp this investment approach more effectively.

Storage Facility

As I looked into their storage and security options, I found that they store all their customer’s precious metals at Delaware Depository, a trusted name in the industry. Moreover, all the precious metals shipments delivered to and from the Delaware Depository are completely insured. 

This means that once you have paid for your assets, the company is responsible for securely delivering them to the storage facility of your given address. It’s important to note that Delaware depository has been the industry's top IRS-approved repository for storing precious metals since it became operational in 1999. 

Not to mention their storage services are insured by DDSC — one of the world's oldest insurance providers. This simply makes the state-of-the-art facility at the Delaware Depository the best choice for safe, secure, and confidential storage of your precious metals.

Price Charts

Another praiseworthy feature included in Lear Capital’s resources is its price charts and historical prices. As I looked into these charts, I found that Lear displays gold price charts for 24-hour spot gold, the historical price of gold in 30 days, and also the past year. 

In addition, you have the option to go back up to 10 years or select a specific date to view the historical price of gold. This helps in assessing market trends and identifying optimal investment times. The website also features similar price charts for other precious metals like silver, platinum, or palladium. I also came across a dedicated bulls and bears section since 1968 to help you evaluate the market fluctuations. 

Price Alerts App

To stay updated on price changes for your investment planning, consider using this valuable Lear Capital tool. Accessible through a price alert app on both iOS and Android devices, you’ll be notified of every price fluctuation that you specify. 

This feature allows you to set price alerts for the metals you intend to invest in. Once the metal reaches a certain value, you’ll receive an email notification. 

Drawing from my years of experience as a precious metals investor, I’ve found this tool highly useful for capitalizing on sudden price drops of assets I intend to include in my portfolio.

Sell Your Coins

For investors who want to sell their existing precious metals coins, Lear has your back. They offer accurate asset valuation, assisting you in liquidating your gold or silver coin portfolio. In my experience, this solution truly addresses a significant challenge within the industry, making it much easier to convert your precious metals into liquid assets when required. 

Mailed Resources

Keeping investors up-to-date is the key strategy that helps Lear ensure its customers are connected with them for years. For this, they also feature a “Mail Me Free Information” option that directs customers to their free newsletter. 

After receiving the newsletter myself, I also received frequent emails from them with up-to-date information on precious metals, investment rare coins, and gold IRA accounts. Without a doubt, these valuable and complimentary resources played a crucial role in keeping me consistently informed about market trends.

Coin Encyclopedia 

If all this wasn’t enough, another cool feature I found when investing with Lear Capital was their coin encyclopedia. As the name suggests, this encyclopedia gives you access to visual images, descriptions, and history of the rare premium coins we’ve only heard about until now. This includes:

• All American coins
• The St. Gaudens $20
• The $2.50 “incuse” Indian
• The tiny $1.00 gold piece, and more. 

Educational Resources

Amazingly, Lear Capital’s emphasis on spreading knowledge and awareness among its customers doesn’t end here. Instead, their website is a gold mine of endless information and updates easily accessible through its sorted user interface. Some additional educational resources I came across include: 

• Blog & News: Although the company shares the latest news and updates about precious metals investment with their customers through email — you don’t have to be a customer to explore these details. Their dedicated blog and news section have helpful and value-adding content worth exploring for beginner and experienced investors. 
• Learning Center: Despite being a common and age-old investment option, there are many risks involved in precious metals investment. Coming from my decades of experience, I believe investors must understand these risks beforehand. To make this possible, Lear Capital’s learning center shares detailed insights about the history, differences, and risks that come with different precious metals investments. In fact, after thoroughly going through this learning center myself, I can say that it is a must-read for everyone.
• Keeping You Informed Video Series: Their "Keeping You Informed" Video Series delves into the basic facts, historical concepts, and the company’s policies about precious metals investing. This is an added advantage for beginners who want to familiarize themselves with the industry and make smart investment decisions.

How to Invest in Lear Capital?

Lear Capital’s investment process is also very straightforward. You don’t have to undergo prolonged procedures to open an investment account with them. Instead, consider the 3-step guide below to make that long-awaited investment with the company easily.

Step #1: Fill out the Online Form

Their website has a basic form available for opening an IRA account. This form only requires your name, personal details, residential details, etc. Just make sure you enter the correct details when filling out this form so Lear’s team can contact you to proceed. 

Step #2: Fund Rollover

After submitting the form, you must wait for the company’s team to confirm your request. While this can be a bit of a hassle because you cannot open an IRA account without this confirmation process, I believe it adds to your investment security and assurance. 

Once you connect with a Lear Capital representative assigned to you, they will help you roll over funds from an IRA or a 401k account to your precious metals IRA account. 

Step #3: Invest in Your Preferred Precious Metals

Once the funds are transferred, you can purchase your preferred precious metals directly from Lear’s website. After making a purchase, the company will once again confirm with you, as per their Price Advantage Guarantee I mentioned earlier. You can then verify your order to finalize the investment procedure and ensure the secure storage of your assets at their designated depository.

Lear accounts take only one business day to open, which — in my opinion — is one of the best parts about investing with them. This is also one of the fastest account-opening experiences I’ve experienced. However, it’s important to note that the fund rollover timing depends on your IRA custodian. Typically, this process takes a maximum of five business days.

Lear Capital Fees

From my years of experience, I’ve learned that transparent pricing is essential when choosing an investment partner. As a result, I was glad to find all the important pricing details about Lear’s services on their website. 

The company charges $280 for the first year to set up and maintain your IRA account. After that, you will have to pay $200 annually for the storage, insurance, and 24/7 accessibility of your account online. 

Lear Capital offers free set-up and storage for IRA accounts on limited mintage coins. This free service can vary depending on the amount of orders you make. For instance: 

• For orders of or greater than $10K, the $50 set-up fee is waived. 
• You will not have to pay the first-year fee on orders ranging from $25K - $50K. However, you will receive a reimbursement check after your asset’s first month in storage.
• On orders ranging from $50K - $75K, you will not have to pay the first and second-year fees.
• On orders ranging from $75K+, you will not be charged any fees for the first, second, and third years.

Lear Capital Rating On Consumer Sites

Pros & Cons

The Verdict 

Ultimately, Lear Capital is an excellent choice for a Gold IRA since they focus on educating their customers before they make a transaction. With their wide range of tools and educational resources, you can navigate the precious metals market and make the best investment decisions. 

On the flip side, Lear Capital does not offer too many investment options. If you’re looking for various investment options to diversify your portfolio, you won’t get much to explore here. 

With both positive and negative traits, I suggest you understand your investment needs and evaluate Lear Capital’s offerings accordingly. This way, you can invest if the company meets your requirements. I hope this in-depth review will help you make the ideal decision. For more potential companies to invest with, refer to my article on the best precious metals companies.

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