WARNING: On May 15th, 2023, Red Rock Secured and multiple top executives at the metals firm were named in this SEC complaint. Please proceed with caution and do your due dilligence before making any investment decision. We are not financial advisors and nothing on this website should be considered investment advice. We will update this review with any new information as it becomes available.
Update - July 21, 2023: Red Rock Secured is now "American Coin Co." and as far as we know, is officially defunct and no longer in business as Red Rock Secured.
Red Rock Secured Review Summary
Red Rock Secured was an established gold IRA company that came under investigation by the SEC in 2023. Later, they rebranded as American Coin Co. This review is now out-of-date. Please do your own due dilligence on RRS before proceeding.
QUALITY
PRODUCTS
SUPPORT
FEES
SECURITY
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Key points from our Red Rock review:
- Stellar reviews across the board at ratings and reviews sites: A+ accredited business and 4.8/5 stars at the BBB, 4.9 stars at ConsumerAffairs, and 4.8 stars at Trustpilot.
- Unique promotions: Red Rock Secured promotions are unique. We love their Price Protection Plan, and so will you. It’s truly unique in the gold IRA landscape.
- Great selection: Red Rock Secured has a fantastic selection of bullion and gold investing products, but offers few details on each product on their website.
You can get started with Red Rock by grabbing their free investors kit here.
Red Rock Secured Video Review
Prefer video? Watch our in-depth review of Red Rock Secured below, or keep scrolling for the full written review.
Red Rock Secured Pros and Cons
What Is Red Rock Secured?
Red Rock Secured has been in business for 13 years. When it comes to experience in regards to managing retirement savings, the more, the merrier.
Red Rock appears to be one of the older companies of this kind we've come across. Despite this, they have little to no negative feedback (very rare in this space), which we'll cover in greater detail later.
Red Rock's CEO is Sean Kelly, whose background in finance appears to go back decades. He says that the 2008 financial crisis spurred him towards opening a company that facilitates physical precious metals investing for retirement. It's indeed an option that isn't readily available to everyone considering how standard 401(k) portfolio models work.
While we haven't come across any celebrity endorsements, which might be why they get less attention than other gold IRA companies, there are plenty of notable mentions. Inc 500 has them as the highest gold IRA company on their list, and they've also gotten some good press in publications like Fortune magazine.
What makes Red Rock Secured unique?
We did mention some unique positive sides to the company, and the first to get out of the way is undoubtedly their Price Protection Plan (learn more here). It applies only to those who open a gold or silver IRA with them, and not all transactions are going to be eligible.
The promotion is pretty straightforward and true to its name: it compensates the losses you might have incurred from gold and silver dropping in price in the first week of your account.
The compensation only applies to and is done with non-cusip gold, which is probably the kind you should be investing in anyways. Red Rock Secured's website elaborating on what non-cusip gold is and why it's important and preferred is yet another nice touch.
We've yet to see any company offer a promotion that looks anything like this, and it appears to apply to accounts regardless of investment minimum or amount lost.
In other words, you could get a sizable amount of gold added to your portfolio for free simply because gold or silver lost in price in your first week with Red Rock.
Gold and silver can be a lot more volatile than they're given credit for, and weekly 10% moves to either side are actually common. Therefore, Red Rock's price protection promotion that should appeal to everyone.
For current gold and precious metals prices, you can check out our gold and silver spot prices guide, and get an overview below:
Are There Any Other Red Rock Secured Promotions?
There are a few other things Red Rock Secured offers to new customers, which aren't quite as unique as the aforementioned but nonetheless come in handy.
Free Silver Offer: One such promotion is an offer of up to $5,000 of free silver, though the details aren't exactly clear and will require you to speak to a customer representative.
VIP Accounts: Red Rock also mentions that accounts with a precious metals investment minimum of $100,000 or over get some kind of special treatment, which is pretty standard for gold IRA companies. We’re not totally clear on all the details, so again, get in touch with one of their rep’s for the full details.
Waived Fees: Fees for your account can be waived anywhere from a year to a lifetime. In the latter case, it again makes Red Rock Secured the only company that comes to mind that offers this. Their fee structure is very competitive in general, and we'll go over it in greater detail in a separate section.
Get in touch with a Red Rock Secured rep here to discuss promotions.
Red Rock Secured Products
With Red Rock Secured you can purchase physical gold and silver investing products for your own collection, or you can purchase them and store them in a gold retirement account, aka, the gold IRA.
Let’s go through all the options.
Red Rock Secured Gold IRA
We’ve reviewed all the top Gold IRAs on this site, and the Red Rock Secured gold IRA offering ranks right up there with any we’ve seen. Precious metals IRAs are the core offering of RRS - their consultants will help you every step of the way for setting up your new gold IRA.
A gold IRA is typically a self-directed IRA (SDIRA).
SDIRA’s allow you to store alternative assets like precious metals, art, real estate, and more in a retirement account and provide many of the same advantages of a traditional IRA or 401(k). With traditional IRAs you can’t invest in alternative assets, but with an SDIRA you are permitted to direct which investments you want to hold so long as they meet specific guidelines.
As an example, with a gold IRA, you are only allowed to hold IRS-approved investment products in your IRA that meet a specific purity threshold.
Red Rock Secured has a minimum investment of $10,000 to start an IRA and you can add gold, silver, platinum, or palladium products so long as they meet minimum investment-grade purity standards.
Red Rock’s gold IRA works the same as any other:
- Start your SDIRA and fund your account. You can rollover, transfer, or use cash to get started.
- Choose your custodian and storage options.
- Purchase gold and precious metals products to be held in your IRA.
Red Rock Secured Physical Precious Metals Products
Red Rock's physical precious metals product offering is impressive but their website is a little underwhelming. A big “con” for us while navigating the Red Rock Secured website was a lack of product pages. It’s pretty hard to find more information about each product they offer.
The products are listed under 2 categories: bullion and premium.
Those familiar with physical precious metals might even prefer things listed this way. But those that aren't will obviously have to do some searching, and it would definitely be more convenient to customers if they didn't have to look elsewhere for info.
Though lack of pricing is common among gold IRA companies, it's also less-than-ideal that it isn't clear what is and isn't available during a specific time.
On the plus side, the inventory is impressive and has a wide variety of gold and other precious metals, along with quite a few gold and silver coins of numismatic value.
Here's what's in store for customers wanting to open a Red Rock Secured gold IRA as well as those wanting to make a regular purchase:
Bullion
- 1-oz Silver American Eagle
- 1-oz Gold American Buffalo
- 1-oz Gold American Eagle
- 1-oz Gold Bar
- 1-oz Gold Canadian Maple Leaf
- 1-oz Gold South African Krugerrand
- 1-oz Silver Bar
- 10-oz Silver Bar
- 100-Gram Silver Valcambi Bar
- 1-oz Silver Round
- 10-Gram Gold Bar
- 1-oz Silver Canadian Maple Leaf
- 10-oz Gold Bar
- Gold Bar 1-Kilo
- Gold Bar 50-gram Valcambi CombiBar
- Platinum Bar 1-oz
- Platinum American Eagle 1-oz
- Platinum Canadian Maple Leaf 1-oz
- Silver Bar 100-oz
- Palladium Bar 1-oz
- 1-oz Silver South African Krugerrand
Premium
- 1/2-oz Silver Canadian Red-Tailed Hawk
- 1/10-oz Gold Canadian Red-Tailed Hawk
- 1-oz Gold American Eagle Proof
- 1/2-oz Gold American Eagle Proof
- 1/4-oz Gold American Eagle Proof
- 1/10-oz Gold American Eagle Proof
- Gold American Eagle 4-pc Set
- Gold American Eagle 2-pc Set
- 1/4-oz Gold Rose Crown Guinea
- 1-oz Silver American Eagle Proof
- 1.5-oz Silver Canadian Arctic Fox
- 1.5-oz Silver Canadian Polar Bear
- 1.5-oz Silver Canadian Polar Bear & Cub
- 1.25-oz Silver Canadian Rose Crown Guinea
- 1.5-oz Silver Canadian Grizzly Bear
- 1/4-oz Gold Canadian Arctic Fox
- 1-oz Platinum American Eagle Proof
- 1/4-oz Gold Canadian Polar Bear & Cub
- 5-oz Silver America the Beautiful
- 1/4-oz Gold Canadian Gyrfalcon
- 1.5-oz Silver Canadian Gyrfalcon
- Gold British Queen's Beast 0.25-oz White Greyhound 2021
- 1/4-oz Gold Canadian Red-Tailed Hawk
- 1-oz Gold American Buffalo Proof – Current Year
- Franklin Half Dollar Circulated
- 1964 JFK Half Dollar BU
- 1964 JFK Half Dollar Circulated
- Silver Mercury Dime Circulated
- Silver Walking Liberty Half Dollar Circulated
- Silver Peace $1 – Circulated
- Silver Peace $1 – BU
- Silver 90% Junk by Face Value
Red Rock Secured fees
Red Rock definitely has one of the more appealing fee structures you'll come across in the gold IRA space. Here's an overview of the fees you can expect:
- $10,000 investment minimum to open a precious metal IRA
- $2,500 minimum to purchase precious metals outside of an IRA
- Low fees to open an account, account setup fee is $80
- Around $200 a year for custody and storage, which can be waived anywhere between a year and a lifetime: 10 years of waiving appears to be some kind of middle ground
- Free insured shipping with every purchase of physical precious metals
- A stated commitment to no hidden fees or markups, though the markup doesn't appear to be readily available
Red Rock Secured Custody and Storage
Red Rock Secured lists Equity Trust as their preferred gold IRA custodian while also mentioning Kingdom Trust as an option for those who qualify for a home delivery gold IRA.
Red Rock is one of the few companies you'll come across that offer a home delivery gold IRA, and probably the most reputable one. Metals must be stored in an approved storage facility such as a safety deposit box. We don’t personally recommend storing gold at home, but it’s an option.
The size and reputation of Kingdom Trust gives a lot of credibility to what is usually a suspect offering. However, it's important to keep in mind that the requirements for a home delivery gold IRA are very stringent and will disqualify most retirement investors.
Even those that might qualify will likely find it easier and safer to use a third-party depository.
Here, Red Rock Secured mentions Brink's and the Delaware Depository as options, but leaves room for more depending on your preferences just as in the case of custody.
A lot of retirement investors want to have their physical gold closer to home, or as close as it can be, and having your gold IRA company be willing to accommodate this is great.
Buybacks
Some companies are not forthcoming about whether they facilitate buybacks, while others say that buyback eligibility is assessed on a client-by-client basis.
While the latter might be true in Red Rock's case as well, it's nonetheless nice to know that they offer what seems to be a fairly inclusive buyback program to those who buy precious metals from them.
How To Invest With Red Rock Secured
First, investing is always risky, even with so-called safe haven assets like gold and precious metals, so make sure to contact your financial advisor before making any investment.
You can get started with RRS and open a gold IRA or purchase gold investment products with just a few simple steps.
- Schedule a one-on-one consultation with their representatives here, or if you want to learn more first, download their investors kit here
- Discuss your needs with their educator. Do you want to open an IRA, or purchase precious metal products for another reason? They’ll help you get started.
- If an IRA is your choice, choose which type of IRA you want to open. You can choose from a Roth IRA or traditional-style SDIRA.
- Transfer cash, or rollover from an existing IRA, and you’re good to go. If you want to do a gold IRA rollover, a specialist will help you with all the details of transferring over your IRA.
- Select a custodian and storage option, open your IRA, and select your gold or silver products.
How to Withdrawal From Red Rock Secured?
As we mentioned above, Red Rock Secured does have a buyback program, which lets you sell your precious metals back to the company.
You have to be careful, here. Just like with traditional retirement accounts, there are restrictions and penalties for withdrawing before you are 59 1/2.
To get started with a buyback, contact their representatives.
Red Rock Secured Reviews
The longer a company stays in business, the harder it is to avoid negative reviews. That's just the nature of dealing with an increasing number of customers. With 13 years in the business, Red Rock has done a pretty good job of keeping negative feedback to a minimum.
The reviews and ratings by both consumer watchdog sites and the customers themselves are overwhelmingly positive.
For starters, we have the Better Business Bureau (BBB), which gives them a 4.78/5 rating based on 90 reviews. They're also accredited with the company with an A+ rating, the highest mark.
On Business Consumer Alliance (BCA), they have a 5 out of 5 star rating based on 143 reviews, which is among the highest number of reviews we've come across on this site. They likewise have a rating of AAA, the highest possible.
Things aren't spotless on other sites, but they're pretty close. For example, Trustpilot gives them a 4.8 rating based on 162 reviews, 87% of which are 5-star ones and 11% of which 4-star. ConsumerAffairs gives them a 4.9 out of 5 star rating based on 135 reviews, most of which are 5 and 4-star ones. The lowest are 3-star reviews, of which there appear to be only a few.
When it comes to the positive feedback itself, take your pick. Customers praise both Red Rock's pricing as a bullion dealer and their management of precious metals IRA accounts. A dedication to customer care is mentioned often, along with a general vibe of satisfaction that appears nearly uniform among reviewers.
Red Rock Secured Complaints
As of March 27th 2023, Red Rock Secured has a total of 7 complaints closed on the BBB in the last 3 years.
Reading through the complaints actually makes us wonder if they're worth mentioning to begin with. Each of the complaints was resolved to the customer's liking, with the majority of them revolving around customer support issues or service/shipping delays.
Some even say that they'd like to remove the complaint, which apparently isn't possible on the BBB. Either way, the Red Rock Secured team answered promptly to each complaint, showing that they take customer satisfaction and feedback seriously.
The BCA site has 1 complaint closed in the last 3 years, again to the customer's liking. This brings us to TrustLink. The 1-star profile there would have you believe that Red Rock is a scam company. However, deeper digging has revealed some kind of apparent dispute between Red Rock and the owners of TrustLink, which manifested in the form of a negative review profile. We’re not sure exactly what the story is behind this, but we’re willing to let it pass.
Red Rock Secured Alternatives
Looking for alternatives to Red Rock Secured? As we’ve mentioned, there’s no shortage of gold IRA companies choose from... but which is right for you?
Here's our top picks for 2024:
# 1 - Augusta Precious Metals (Most Trusted)
Augusta Precious Metals is our top gold IRA company recommendation. They have a great reputation, are great for high networth individuals, and have been around since 2012. They are almost completely focused on precious metals as their name suggests. Augusta Precious Metals is extremely well rated by both the Better Business Bureau as well as the Business Consumer Alliance.
We gave Augusta Precious Metals 5 Stars based on a number of factors, including: Team, Pricing, Support, Security, and Selection.
Pros
Cons
# 2 - American Hartford Gold (Best Customer Service)
American Hartford Gold is easily one of the most trustworthy gold IRA dealers, with near pristine ratings and reviews online, great product inventory, and super a super helpful team with great customer service. It's obvious they care about their customers. On the other hand, if you're looking for platinum or palladium, you're out of luck. We gave AHG 5 out of 5 stars.
We gave American Hartford 5 Stars based on a number of factors, including: Team, Pricing, Support, Security, and Selection.
Pros
Cons
# 3 - Birch Gold Group (Best Choice For New Investors)
Birch Gold Group is a company with almost two decades of history. They’re gold IRA specialists with a great reputation that charges low fees and has an excellent as well as easy buyback program. Birch Gold Group is recommended for new investors since they’re easy and efficient to work with, have low fees and you can start a gold IRA with them for as low as $10,000.
We gave Augusta Precious Metals 4.5 Stars based on a number of factors, including: Team, Pricing, Support, Security, and Selection.
Pros
Cons
# 4 - Lear Capital (Trusted and Established)
Lear Capital is one of the oldest names in the gold IRA industry. Founded in 1997, Lear has made a name for itself for many years as a trusted provider with a solid reputation in customer support and account management. We recommend them for all your gold IRA needs, but if you're looking for platinum or palladiums, look elsewhere.
We gave Lear Capital 4.5 Stars based on a number of factors, including: Team, Pricing, Support, Security, and Selection.
Pros
Cons
Red Rock Secured review - Verdict
With an investment minimum of $10,000 for a precious metals IRA and a $2,500 purchase minimum outside it, Red Rock is competitive as both a retirement account manager and bullion dealer. And that's just when talking about fees.
We weren't kidding when we said we feel this company can go up against any of the bigger names you might have come across in this industry.
To that end, maybe getting a celebrity endorsement here and there for better promotion wouldn't hurt. Everything we’ve seen indicates that Red Rock is a business you can trust with your retirement savings over the long-term.
The lack of product pages is probably the biggest gripe we have with the company, and it's something we wouldn't mind seeing a little more effort put in considering Red Rock's overall size. But honestly, this is just a user experience issue and not a deal breaker.
What we love the most about RRS is their price protection plan. We haven’t seen this anywhere else and it’s an awesome way to provide peace of mind to retirement investors who are apprehensive about market volatility.
